I selected this beautifully crafted Armchair (it has no official title) as the source artwork for my contribution to the Gallup New Deal Art Virtual Museum project. As Project Director Rose Eason informed me, we sadly do not know the name of the maker. Much, if not all, of the furniture for the New Deal Art was made through workshops, where artisans were employed on an hourly basis to essentially “mass-produce” works. They weren’t credited as artists.
I had already been thinking about creating an artwork with a geometric layout when I was invited to participate in this project. This striking chair was the perfect inspiration. I was drawn to the clean lines in the basic structure of the chair, as well as the “tulip” spindles, and the carved decorations.
There are also less obvious geometric shapes that are a result of the carpentry, such as small squares, rectangles, and circles in the joinery. All these elements provided ideas for this response artwork, which I hope reflects my high regard and respect for the skill and dedication of the original artist.
The non-traditional use of paper is the unifying element of my work, regardless of subject matter. Except for some occasional under painting, paper supplies all the color. Sometimes a paper is just the right shade; otherwise multiple layers and combinations are required to achieve the right hue and intensity. Organic papers are infused with natural colors and textures which add their own beauty – some thin enough to function as a glaze, others heavy and difficult to control. Every canvas is an experiment.
Virginia Primozic is an artist working in the paper medium, currently living in Gallup, NM. Her work encompasses landscapes, portraits, florals and abstracts, as well as “car portraits.”
Like many people, her first experiences in art were with crayons and finger paint, but unlike some, those early endeavors were guided by her mother, also a professional artist. While collage artists like Matisse and Peter Blake are influences for her, Virginia also draws inspiration from painters such as New Mexico artists Bill Baker and Edward Gonzales.
Virginia enjoys painting New Mexico scenes, but also chooses a variety of subjects that are meaningful to her, impress her with their intensity and color, or communicate simple truth, goodness, and beauty. She considers her work successful if it touches more than the viewer’s eye and draws them into a shared moment, memory, or emotion beyond the limited expression of the subject.
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Gallup and McKinley County are situated on the ancestral and current homelands of the Diné and Ashiwi peoples.
Gallup’s New Deal art collection consists of over 120 objects created, purchased, or donated from 1933 to 1942 through New Deal federal art programs administered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to support artists during the Great Depression.
The Gallup New Deal Art Virtual Museum features three types of exhibits, combining traditional and non-traditional approaches to illuminate academic, creative, and individual understandings.
Gallup’s New Deal art collection includes works by a demographically, professionally, and stylistically diverse group of named and unnamed artists.
Image Use Notice: Images of Gallup’s New Deal artworks are available to be used for educational purposes only. Non-collection images are subject to specific restrictions and identified by a © icon. Hover over the icon for copyright info. Read more
