Friday, February 24th 5 - 8pm

Join the artists at ASiF for an evening showcasing new work by Resident Artist, Oil Painter, Jill Mahanna and the Foothills Ceramic Art Museum's (FCAM) Pueblo Pottery exhibition and lecture. Fine art, live music, food and wine to be enjoyed by all!

From 5 - 7pm: Main Gallery Exhibition and Live music by Gregory Young & Chris Coey playing a combination originals and classic jazz & blues covers on the vintage electric piano (Wurlitzer) and electric guitar.

From 6 - 7pm: Lecture on FCAM Pueblo Pottery Exhibition - PAQUIME REBORN: MATA ORTIZ AND SOUTHWEST PUEBLO POTTERY

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On Friday, February 24th from 5 - 8pm the Artists' Studio in the Foothills (ASiF) invites the public to a wine and food reception featuring a solo exhibition of oil paintings by ASiF resident Artist, Jill Mahanna and a new exhibition in the Foothills Ceramic Art Museum (FCAM), Paquime Reborn: Mata Ortiz & Southwest Pueblo Pottery Exhibit. 

The event will feature a lecture given by FCAM founder Kenneth Underwood at 6pm and live music by Gregory Young and Chris Coey starting at 5pm.

GALLERY EXHIBITION...
Oil Painter, and ASiF Resident Artist, Jill Mahanna's vibrant landscapes evoke the vitality of the natural world. Her large-scale paintings are at once a unique depiction of our forests and rivers, rocks and flowers and also an honoring of the land we live on. Each painting is a study in color and movement. Rapid brushstrokes and use of diagonals build form and create space that lead the viewer into the work. Eyes and imagination follow the paths through the woods, up the river, behind the rocks, in a compelling dance with nature. 

Jill's work beautifully conveys the vibrant, powerful, joyful aspects of nature and what can be found in our own backyard if we take the time to see.

MUSEUM EXHIBITION...
This exhibit features the ceramic art of over 45 artists from Mata Ortiz, Mexico and the Acoma, Laguna, Isleta, Jemez, Hopi, and Navajo peoples. Mata Ortiz is a little village in Chihuahua, Mexico near the ancient Paquime ruins. Paquime was "a towering capital, a focus of religious, political, commercial, and cultural power throughout the whole Gran Chichimeca between approximately

A.D. 1000 and 1400." (from The Many Faces of Mata Ortiz, by Susan Lowell) The hills surrounding Paquime were rich in clays, so the people made pots for every use. They decorated them with elaborate, fine-line patterns and figures.

In the 1960's in the nearby villlage, Master Potter Juan Quezada recreated the ancient process of Paquime pottery. Hetaught his friends and family. Soon they were innovating new designs and methods. Today there are hundreds of artists
in Mata Ortiz making museum-quality pots that have commanded the attention of art lovers and anthropologists worldwide.

The peoples of Southwest America have their own traditions of pottery making, from the fine-line geometries of Acoma to the pine pitch, fire cloud traditions of the Navajo. All are celebrated in this exhibit.

LIVE MUSIC & LECTURE INFO...
Starting at 5pm, musical guests Gregory Young & Chris Coey will play a mix of jazz and blues classics and originals on electric guitar and vintage electric piano.

A lecture given by FCAM founder Kenneth Underwood on the Pueblo Pottery exhibition will begin at 6pm.

FCAM's Pueblo pottery exhibit and Jill Mahanna's solo show will be on display through April 1st. 

Museum / Gallery Hours: Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11am to 4pm