‘Justine 1 – Jasper’s Curiosity’ by Beverly Branch 30 x 36″. Courtesy photo
STEP UP GALLERY News:
New Mexican artist Beverly Branch is a skillful painter and visual storyteller. Her one-woman show, opening Thursday is the culmination of Branch’s two year’s work painting portraits of three dozen women and their families. Each figurative oil painting is accompanied by a written story authored by its subject. What is notable about these women, is that they all live on the mesa west of Taos and Pilar unplugged from the national energy grid.
“OFF-GRID: Women of the Mesa, Figurative Oil Paintings of Empowered Women” is a painted story brilliantly illustrating how each woman honors the integrity of the land. These women and their families find ways to flourish with tenacity and heart, each one leaving a fascinating legacy.
The public is invited to attend the opening reception 5:30-7 p.m. Thursday in Step Up Gallery at Mesa Public Library. Branch will give a talk at 6 p.m. with Q & A to follow. Many of the people portrayed will attend the reception.
Many of the three dozen women are raising families in their homes on the Mesa. In the painting titled “Justine 1 – Jasper’s Curiosity”, mom, Justine speaks of her family:
“I treasure my children, our home, and this land, being an ally in harmony with nature, remembering that we are nature. I don’t think I’d be able to live the way we do on this land without being connected to it spiritually. Being a woman with two children is challenging. Being a single woman living off-grid is a whole other ballgame.
I’ve been amending soil, planting fruit and wind-break trees, implementing water catchment and solar power, building 18” thick earthen walls to make our home efficient while I work towards having the ability to grow vegetables and raise hens year-round. I am creating a completely self-sustaining system that will one day allow for simplicity.”
Among the people portrayed there are farmers and homebuilders, mothers and grandmothers, healers and spiritual seekers. They live in tipis and yurts, adobe homes and Earthships.
For the painting titled “Brenda M. – My Home is Alive” one woman’s story follows:
“Living off-grid is wonderful and also difficult at times. I live with my musician husband Charlie in a home we call an Earth Home on Cerro de los Taoses. The structure, dug eight feet into the side of a hill, is constructed in hogan style. My home is a living entity. A cacophony rises out of the earthen walls from Spea Multiplicata, the state of New Mexico’s official amphibian, when the blessing of rain arrives in sufficient amounts. These creatures wait for years to emerge. I gather them up and transport them to a local stock pond where they continue their circle of life. I grew up with respect for all living things. My life is intentional and thrives with an earth-based spirituality.”
‘Brenda M. – My Home is Alive’ by Beverly Branch 36″ x 60″. Courtesy photo
Branch was trained as a classical painter and studied illustration in Connecticut. Her work has been collected by museums in South America and Europe, as well as in private collections in the United States.
“I can’t wait for people to see these paintings and learn these stories,” Branch said. “They show us that there are alternative ways to live and feel.”
The large paintings in this exhibit are showcased beautifully in the generous interior space of Step Up Gallery. Branch is no stranger to painting large work, including very large murals. The works of art in this exhibit range in size from 18” x 24” to 3 by 5 feet.
Step Up Gallery (https://stepupgallery.org) is on the top level of Mesa Public Library in Los Alamos, at 2400 Central Ave. The gallery is open the same hours as the library: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday.
