Danne DeBacker’s Compulsive Creativity

When you walk into Danne Debacker’s house, you might think, “this man is compulsively creative”.

Danne and his "Cube Eater"

For example, he replaced the door to his studio with one that looks like the opening of a submarine. He invents wacky games like the “cube eater.” It’s a cube with a big toothy mouth.  Kids toss numbered cubes into the mouth and learn how to add. When he turned nine his birthday present was a series of traditional Japanese watercolors lessons. He has homemade trains and guitars all over his house.

His paintings, featured in the “Old West, New West” exhibit at the Karen Wray Fine Art Gallery maintain this sense of fun. He calls them “landscape stories.” Titles like Jemez Mountain Brook Shark and Vision of Victory hint at the narrative in the painting. He makes his own frames, because it saves him time and money and adds value and character to the paintings.

A lot of Debacker’s art is commercial – logos and website design. But he also has a knack for accidentally making things that people feel compelled to buy.

In the seventies, he moved to New Hampshire to help his stepfather who had just had a heart attack. They were hanging sheetrock in a building that used to be a hardware store, and he was annoyed because people were looking into the windows at them all the time.

His solution? He built a model train set with foam to put in the window as a Christmas decoration.  That way people wouldn’t look at them while they worked.

It was a small town and his train set was a big hit. People kept stopping to look at it and it was on the front page of the paper. He wondered if he could sell it.

He was just reaching into the window to put a $500 price tag up when a guy, jogging by, knocked on the window and said, “Can I write you a check right now?”

When he showed the check to his wife and she told him to make more train sets!

He had to.  The jogger went home to get his car and DeBacker left the price tag in the window. Within hours six people were ready to buy a train set.

In his current home he needed a place to put his lawnmower, so rather than build a regular shed, he built a plywood train caboose and painted it green. As soon as he was finished, a guy screeched to a halt in front of his house and said, “That is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.  How much is it?”

Even though he just needed a place to put his lawnmower he ended up selling three train sheds for $1,500 apiece.

He’s always been creative, but he argues that creativity isn’t something that you’re born with. “Being able to create art is not a matter of talent,” he said. “It’s something that you learn to do.”

Meet Danne DeBacker at the opening reception for “Old West, New West,” from 5-7 PM on Friday, April 29 at the Karen Wray Fine Art Gallery, 2101 Trinity Drive, Suite B-2. His paintings will be on exhibit, along with the work of Tim Althauser, Cindy Valdez, Kathy Hjeresen and Connie Pacheco. 2101 Trinity Drive, Suite B-2.

Tim Althauser's New Life as an Artist

On April 29th from 5-7pm Karen Wray Fine Art Gallery will have a reception for their exhibit, "Old West, New West," featuring the works of local artists Tim Althauser, Danne DeBacker, Cindy Valdez, Connie Pacheco and Kathy Hjeresen. 

“It feels like I’ve won the lottery every time I sell a painting… and now it’s happening more and more often,” said Nambé painter, Tim Althauser.

He recently sold a painting to a collector in Dallas and a big painting to another collector in San Francisco. He has ten paintings in the Downey Gallery on Canyon Road in Santa Fe, and he may have already sold the half-finished painting on his easel.

It’s no surprise that his work is so popular. He captures the liberated feeling you get when you’re out in nature, gazing up at the sky and listening to the breeze in the leaves. The aspens in his paintings are incredibly lifelike and realistic; you would think he has spent his entire life staring up at trees . . .

 . . . And the fact is, he has. Before becoming an artist, Althauser cut timber and built log houses in Arizona and Colorado for over 15 years.

Then at the age of 38 he suffered a severe brain hemorrhage. He had to learn to walk and take care of himself. Nevertheless, he returned to work within a few months, trying to work as hard as he always had. He simply didn’t know what else to do with his life.

With the encouragement and support of his new wife, Loretta, he was able to make the transition to a new life as an artist.

In 2003, Althauser and his friend David Davila (a chainsaw artist who got him into painting after he had his brain hemorrhage) were eating lunch at Maria’s, in Santa Fe, when he met Loretta. “I noticed a lady across the room. We looked at each other. We smiled.  And then she got up and ran out of the restaurant!”

“He was looking at me and I was getting so uncomfortable,” said Loretta, who had abandoned her meal because she was feeling so bashful. 

“I had nowhere else to look!” protested Althauser. A month later, she was his waitress at another restaurant, and couldn’t “run off”.  They’ve been together ever since.

When Loretta found out that he was teaching himself to paint she insisted that he quit building log homes, and paint.

He started with cowboy boots and churches, but found that he could put so much more into his art when he painted what he knew: trees. He has spent so much time in the woods he doesn’t even have to look at a tree to paint one. “With leaves, without leaves, it really doesn’t matter.”

If you look close, unexpected colors like lapis lazuli and genuine malachite are threaded through the trunks of his trees. He said, “My paintings aren’t abstract, but there are a lot of colors that don’t belong there, but it enhances the beauty.”

“I wouldn’t be an artist if it weren’t for my wife, Loretta,” said Althauser. “I didn’t know if I could pull it off or if I could do it.  Having Loretta say ‘I think you could sell it’ made all the difference. It’s stunning to have someone who believes in you.”

Dream workshop for Seniors - Tomorrow

When Eugene Kovalenko met his wife, Birgitta, in 1976, he had a dream about how she was going to play a big role in his life. The couple corresponded by mail until 1993, when they got married. 

These days, the first thing that they do in the morning is to share their dreams.  Doing this makes it possible to get to know each other at a deeper level and helps them understand where the other person is in life.

When Kovalenko met Birgitta, he was just beginning to understand the profound impact that dreams can play in real life.

Several life-changing nightmares prompted him to keep track of his dreams. He continued the practice for over forty years. During that time he developed a unique system for recording and analyzing dreams, called CREEI, that fosters creative and spiritual growth and also helps you identify problems and issues. When a dream is puzzling, disturbing, or thought provoking, CREEI offers a technique to help you gain further insight.

On Wednesday, December 15^th, from 10:00 am- 2:30 pm, he will present a free dream workshop at the Senior Center Conference Room. The workshop will give senior citizens an opportunity to share the wisdom of their dreams and learn how to find deeper meaning in any dream.

Kovalenko has presented dream workshops in many situations, such as church groups and business groups who are facing a morale or operations problem. After experiencing a dream workshop, many groups have wanted to continue on with more in-depth dream seminars.

This is the first time Kovalenko has presented a dream workshop tailored to a specific age group. By doing so he wants to “honor the elders” by giving them the opportunity to put their visions and concerns upfront and thus have a shot at showing us the way. He said, “I don’t know what will happen. I’m confident that they’ll see something valuable that they’ll want to pursue.”

The workshop is limited to ten participants, who will come with a dream in mind (they don’t have to share the contents of their dream). “I find that if people are motivated enough to bring a dream, that dream will have a meaning that they’re not even aware of,” said Kovalenko. “They will see themselves in a way they never thought of.”

Coming together as a group is one of the things that make dream workshops so rewarding.  For Kovalenko, discussing dreams is a powerful way to connect with people. “When my children tell me a dream, I know who they are, what they’re feeling – sometimes even before they do,” he said.

He plans to form a group called the Los Alamos Deep Democracy Open Forum (LADDOF) to encourage spirited, involved and motivated community discourse.

He explained, “[Los Alamos] is very cerebral, thinking and rational. By discussing dreams we provide a place for the spirit, for the emotions, for a whole different dimension. Los Alamos has a slogan ‘Where discoveries are made.’ So far it seems like people think of those discoveries as being inventions, technology and hardware.  I want there to be more of a spiritual discovery…. to open the door to discussing spirituality and show people how to find their spirituality through the creative process.”

Fresh Start for Two Local Artists

Fresh Start for Two Local Artists

By Mandy Marksteiner

On November 19^th from 5-7 pm, two artists who will be welcomed into Karen Wray Fine Art Gallery at their holiday open house and reception. Their work couldn’t be more different: Janice Parker Muir paints landscapes that transport the viewer to a peaceful place and Pat Soran is a master woodworker who makes wooden vases and jewelry boxes. But they do have one thing in common… they’re both reinventing themselves.

Pat Soran sitting at a desk that he made

Pat Soran is a retired nuclear engineer who has found a new side to himself through woodworking. He said, “Though I am an engineer at heart, I find that designing graceful, creative wooden objects has brought out a new side of me that I did not know existed.”

He first became interested in woodworking many years ago when he needed a relaxing hobby to help him unwind from his stressful job. He made furniture for his family. When his daughter got married he fashioned a bed as a wedding gift, and later made a rocking cradle when the couple had their first baby.

After retirement he brought his woodworking to a more artistic level by applying to a two-year woodworking course at the Northwestern Woodworking Studio in Portland, Oregon. Gary Rogowski, a regular contributor to Fine Woodworking magazine, taught the course. “It really opened my eyes to the artistic side of woodworking,” said Soran. “We were encouraged to see the lines and angles of the product and to stretch our imaginations to the beauty of the finished product.”

Upon completing the course, Soran became an accredited Master Woodworker.

Being a part of an art gallery is like being in a whole new world. “It’s interesting to be in the same room with well known artists like Sec Sandoval, Janice Parker Muir, Richard Swenson and Karen Wray. I like it!”

“I’m pleased that Karen is going to carry my pastels,” said Janice Parker Muir, who is well known for her landscapes in oils, pastels and acrylics.  “It’s motivational for me because I’m going through a major transition phase in my life.”

Even though the Muir’s fresh start is a result of events that were out of her control, she is open to the next stage of her artistic career.

Last year Janice’s studio was flooded four times and her rotator cuff surgery was unsuccessful, which means she will now have to overcome physical limitations to create art.

“The way I’ve done art in the past – I can’t do it anymore,” she said. “I’m not sure where I’m going from here, as far as my style. I have to remain true to my emotional connection to the environment, the sky and nature. That’s still part of who I am. I’m just not sure what it’s going to look like.”

She plans to get back into the studio on the first of the year. “The new year will truly be a new start.”

The community is invited to see Muir’s original pastels and Soran’s sculpted wooden boxes and vessels at the Holiday Open House from 5-7 pm on November 19^th at Karen Wray Fine Art Gallery, 2101 Trinity Drive, Suite B-2. 

There will also be exciting door prizes, refreshments and new artwork with lower prices for gift giving by Secundino Sandoval, David A. Trujillo, Richard Swenson, Melissa Bartlett, Sue Ellen Hains, Lene Bryson, Bhasweti Gewhas, and Karen Wray. The Exhibit will continue through February.

The Fuller Lodge will Be showing children's art next week

The Magic Flute at the Santa Fe Opera

Last Saturday Quinn and I went to opening night of The Magic Flute at the Santa Fe Opera to celebrate Quinn's birthday (which was about a month ago). It was the first time I've seen The Magic Flute, or been to the Santa Fe Opera, so it was a great experience. 

It's so cool to drive down a windy desert road to get to the opera. The stage is curved and the back is open, so when we sat down we saw the sun set over the mountains. As it got dark, fireflies were twinkling around the colorful birds that they had set up. 

I was surprised at how funny the opera was. Especially the opening scene where the prince (gosh, I left my program in the car.... and I forgot all the characters' names!) was struggling in a giant snake's mouth. Three women came out and saved him and then spent the next five minutes arguing over who should stay and look over him - because he was so good looking. 

I think, or at least I gather from hearing about other people's trips to the opera, that the Santa Fe Opera likes to mix and match their costumes, using different time periods. In this case, it made it really obvious what different characters would be like. The Queen of the Night and her ladies were dressed in lavish full dresses, like Queen Victoria. The bird catcher, Pappageno, was wearing a baseball cap and a t-shirt and dorky shorts that came mid-calf - he was just a regular guy. The bad guy, a guard who was constantly trying to rape the heroine, was dressed like a Nazi. The people who were in the hall of justice were dressed like founding fathers, or puritans, and in their scenes there was a big table that took up most of the stage that reminded me of paintings of the signing of the Declaration of Independence or the Last Supper. In contrast, the hero and heroine were dressed very simply. 

I've listened to The Magic Flute, but it wasn't until I watched it with the lovely benefit of having a translation right in front of me, that I could make a connection between the music and the characters. The Queen had by far the most virtuosic part. I noticed that when she really started singing her complicated high pitched runs, she was in the process of trying to get someone to do her bidding. The first time she was convincing the hero to rescue her daughter. She said, if you do this, she can be yours forever, and after saying "forever"she just went off with her voice. The prince was just nodding, like you do when someone's talking and talking. Anyway, those high notes were very convincing because the prince did what she asked. 

But then later, she did the exact same thing when she was trying to talk her daughter into stabbing the leader of the hall of justice. She sang the same high notes, but they sounded a little more desperate and crazy this time. 

Anyway, we had a great time!

Jackie's Dream - In Memoriam

I just wanted to share Michelle Stump's newest blog post. She's made a new greeting card in memory of Dr. Kristine Weaver, a vet from Los Alamos, MN.

Jackie's Dream - In Memoriam