Community Calendar

Exhibition open through May 30
Artist Talks: May 16th 4:30-6:30

“How can the art of jewelry making become a bridge that tells our personal stories and strengthens the bonds within our community?

“Jewelry making ignites storytelling and community connection! The Jewelry Uplift initiative promotes creativity and teaches new skills, builds relationships, and creates stronger communities. Jewelry Uplift opens a wellspring of inspiration that brings the hands, minds, and spirits of our Albuquerque community closer together. We are dedicated to enhancing educational experiences by providing and encouraging sustainable community partnerships, alumni mentorship, exploratory theme based workshops, art show participation, professional jewelry opportunities and so much more! Jewelry Uplift is an example of what is possible for students, teachers, families and communities. Jewelry Uplift is ALL of us!”

ABOUT JEWELRY UPLIFT
Jewelry Uplift is a Community School program that represents an innovative approach to arts education that transcends traditional classroom boundaries. Founded in 2023 by Lisa Gillett, Jewelry Instructor at Albuquerque High School, and Eddie Donato, an AHS alumnus and artist, Jewelry Uplift exemplifies how educational initiatives can serve as catalysts for community engagement and student empowerment. The Jewelry Uplift program operates on the principle that innovative educational opportunities and project based learning serve as “synapses”—creating vital connections between students, educators and the broader community, highlighting that learning occurs most effectively when multiple pathways of knowledge and experience intersect. Lisa and Eddie began with a classroom transformation, which reflected the evolving jewelry program by bringing students, families and community partners together to help fund and breathe a vibrant energy into Jewelry Uplift. In the Spring of 2025, Lisa and Eddie, with the support of Rio Grande Jewelry and volunteer instructors, began offering free community jewelry classes that give people of all ages an engaging space to learn new skills, nurture their creativity and forge authentic connections.

Exhibition open through May 30
Artist Talks: May 16th 4:30-6:30

“What will remain of care, labor, and memory in 100 years? Echoes of Care: Vessels of the Future envisions a speculative archive where acts of nurturing, witnessing, and transformation persist beyond a century. This exhibition builds upon my interdisciplinary practice in printmaking, digital media, and community-engaged art to examine how personal and collective histories are carried forward—through objects, ritual, and the evolving role of women as vessels of survival and connection.

“The works presented are a synthesis of print-based installation, textile works, and experimental digital media, creating a bridge between past and future. In this imagined future, what we make and leave behind—both tangible and intangible—holds the imprint of care. Through layered prints on fabric, interactive digital pieces, and a participatory community element, this exhibition explores themes of sustenance, resilience, and remembrance as they shape a future landscape.”

ABOUT ALEXA WHEELER
Alexa Wheeler is an artist, educator, and Master Printer whose work explores the intersections of printmaking, digital media, and communal storytelling. Born in Minnesota, she has lived in Los Angeles, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Texas, and Brooklyn before settling in New Mexico 25 years ago to study at Tamarind Institute. Her practice spans traditional and emerging technologies, engaging themes of care, resilience, and transformation. She earned a BFA in Printmaking from Pratt Institute, followed by a Master Printer Certificate from Tamarind, and later completed an MFA in Electronic Art at the University of New Mexico. She has collaborated with artists worldwide and teaches as a Principal Lecturer in Fine Arts at the University of New Mexico–Valencia. Her work often invites participation, fostering connections between personal history, collective memory, and future possibilities.

JOHN BEECH | Across the Surface
May 29 – June 27, 2026
Opening Reception with the Artist
Friday, May 29, 2026, from 5-7 p.m.
Charlotte Jackson Fine Art
“A Conversation with John Beech and David Chickey”
Saturday, May 30, 2026, from 2-4 p.m. at Charlotte Jackson Fine Art

They are not just black and white photos. The subject matter is urban: city streets, industrial sites, alleyways, warehouse facades. Within them is the accumulated flotsam and jetsam of human life in a city: dumpsters, random pieces of abandoned furniture, bits construction equipment. But each photo is also ground for the artist's intervention: blobs and washes of paint, ink marks, strips of tape.

We humans take things for granted: a street, a chair, the passage of time. How long since you really saw that alley, that tree? The Photo-Paintings and Monotypes of John Beech do just this. They challenge our preconceptions, providing the jolt, the pause, that invites us to pay closer attention. These works confound our sense of what a photo is, what a painting is, and how we see art and the world. Across the Surface provides a survey of Beech's Photo-Paintings and Monotypes from across the decades and dovetails with the announcement of a new book about this particular body of work forthcoming from Radius Books in spring 2027.

Beech's art brings together expected and unexpected in ways that allow the viewer to see anew and to experience a whole beyond the sum of these disparate parts.

JOHN BEECH | Across the Surface
May 29 – June 27, 2026
Opening Reception with the Artist
Friday, May 29, 2026, from 5-7 p.m.
Charlotte Jackson Fine Art
“A Conversation with John Beech and David Chickey”
Saturday, May 30, 2026, from 2-4 p.m. at Charlotte Jackson Fine Art

They are not just black and white photos. The subject matter is urban: city streets, industrial sites, alleyways, warehouse facades. Within them is the accumulated flotsam and jetsam of human life in a city: dumpsters, random pieces of abandoned furniture, bits construction equipment. But each photo is also ground for the artist's intervention: blobs and washes of paint, ink marks, strips of tape.

We humans take things for granted: a street, a chair, the passage of time. How long since you really saw that alley, that tree? The Photo-Paintings and Monotypes of John Beech do just this. They challenge our preconceptions, providing the jolt, the pause, that invites us to pay closer attention. These works confound our sense of what a photo is, what a painting is, and how we see art and the world. Across the Surface provides a survey of Beech's Photo-Paintings and Monotypes from across the decades and dovetails with the announcement of a new book about this particular body of work forthcoming from Radius Books in spring 2027.

Beech's art brings together expected and unexpected in ways that allow the viewer to see anew and to experience a whole beyond the sum of these disparate parts.

JOHN BEECH | Across the Surface
May 29 – June 27, 2026
Opening Reception with the Artist
Friday, May 29, 2026, from 5-7 p.m.
Charlotte Jackson Fine Art
“A Conversation with John Beech and David Chickey”
Saturday, May 30, 2026, from 2-4 p.m. at Charlotte Jackson Fine Art

They are not just black and white photos. The subject matter is urban: city streets, industrial sites, alleyways, warehouse facades. Within them is the accumulated flotsam and jetsam of human life in a city: dumpsters, random pieces of abandoned furniture, bits construction equipment. But each photo is also ground for the artist's intervention: blobs and washes of paint, ink marks, strips of tape.

We humans take things for granted: a street, a chair, the passage of time. How long since you really saw that alley, that tree? The Photo-Paintings and Monotypes of John Beech do just this. They challenge our preconceptions, providing the jolt, the pause, that invites us to pay closer attention. These works confound our sense of what a photo is, what a painting is, and how we see art and the world. Across the Surface provides a survey of Beech's Photo-Paintings and Monotypes from across the decades and dovetails with the announcement of a new book about this particular body of work forthcoming from Radius Books in spring 2027.

Beech's art brings together expected and unexpected in ways that allow the viewer to see anew and to experience a whole beyond the sum of these disparate parts.

JOHN BEECH | Across the Surface
May 29 – June 27, 2026
Opening Reception with the Artist
Friday, May 29, 2026, from 5-7 p.m.
Charlotte Jackson Fine Art
“A Conversation with John Beech and David Chickey”
Saturday, May 30, 2026, from 2-4 p.m. at Charlotte Jackson Fine Art

They are not just black and white photos. The subject matter is urban: city streets, industrial sites, alleyways, warehouse facades. Within them is the accumulated flotsam and jetsam of human life in a city: dumpsters, random pieces of abandoned furniture, bits construction equipment. But each photo is also ground for the artist's intervention: blobs and washes of paint, ink marks, strips of tape.

We humans take things for granted: a street, a chair, the passage of time. How long since you really saw that alley, that tree? The Photo-Paintings and Monotypes of John Beech do just this. They challenge our preconceptions, providing the jolt, the pause, that invites us to pay closer attention. These works confound our sense of what a photo is, what a painting is, and how we see art and the world. Across the Surface provides a survey of Beech's Photo-Paintings and Monotypes from across the decades and dovetails with the announcement of a new book about this particular body of work forthcoming from Radius Books in spring 2027.

Beech's art brings together expected and unexpected in ways that allow the viewer to see anew and to experience a whole beyond the sum of these disparate parts.

JOHN BEECH | Across the Surface
May 29 – June 27, 2026
Opening Reception with the Artist
Friday, May 29, 2026, from 5-7 p.m.
Charlotte Jackson Fine Art
“A Conversation with John Beech and David Chickey”
Saturday, May 30, 2026, from 2-4 p.m. at Charlotte Jackson Fine Art

They are not just black and white photos. The subject matter is urban: city streets, industrial sites, alleyways, warehouse facades. Within them is the accumulated flotsam and jetsam of human life in a city: dumpsters, random pieces of abandoned furniture, bits construction equipment. But each photo is also ground for the artist's intervention: blobs and washes of paint, ink marks, strips of tape.

We humans take things for granted: a street, a chair, the passage of time. How long since you really saw that alley, that tree? The Photo-Paintings and Monotypes of John Beech do just this. They challenge our preconceptions, providing the jolt, the pause, that invites us to pay closer attention. These works confound our sense of what a photo is, what a painting is, and how we see art and the world. Across the Surface provides a survey of Beech's Photo-Paintings and Monotypes from across the decades and dovetails with the announcement of a new book about this particular body of work forthcoming from Radius Books in spring 2027.

Beech's art brings together expected and unexpected in ways that allow the viewer to see anew and to experience a whole beyond the sum of these disparate parts.

JOHN BEECH | Across the Surface
May 29 – June 27, 2026
Opening Reception with the Artist
Friday, May 29, 2026, from 5-7 p.m.
Charlotte Jackson Fine Art
“A Conversation with John Beech and David Chickey”
Saturday, May 30, 2026, from 2-4 p.m. at Charlotte Jackson Fine Art

They are not just black and white photos. The subject matter is urban: city streets, industrial sites, alleyways, warehouse facades. Within them is the accumulated flotsam and jetsam of human life in a city: dumpsters, random pieces of abandoned furniture, bits construction equipment. But each photo is also ground for the artist's intervention: blobs and washes of paint, ink marks, strips of tape.

We humans take things for granted: a street, a chair, the passage of time. How long since you really saw that alley, that tree? The Photo-Paintings and Monotypes of John Beech do just this. They challenge our preconceptions, providing the jolt, the pause, that invites us to pay closer attention. These works confound our sense of what a photo is, what a painting is, and how we see art and the world. Across the Surface provides a survey of Beech's Photo-Paintings and Monotypes from across the decades and dovetails with the announcement of a new book about this particular body of work forthcoming from Radius Books in spring 2027.

Beech's art brings together expected and unexpected in ways that allow the viewer to see anew and to experience a whole beyond the sum of these disparate parts.

JOHN BEECH | Across the Surface
May 29 – June 27, 2026
Opening Reception with the Artist
Friday, May 29, 2026, from 5-7 p.m.
Charlotte Jackson Fine Art
“A Conversation with John Beech and David Chickey”
Saturday, May 30, 2026, from 2-4 p.m. at Charlotte Jackson Fine Art

They are not just black and white photos. The subject matter is urban: city streets, industrial sites, alleyways, warehouse facades. Within them is the accumulated flotsam and jetsam of human life in a city: dumpsters, random pieces of abandoned furniture, bits construction equipment. But each photo is also ground for the artist's intervention: blobs and washes of paint, ink marks, strips of tape.

We humans take things for granted: a street, a chair, the passage of time. How long since you really saw that alley, that tree? The Photo-Paintings and Monotypes of John Beech do just this. They challenge our preconceptions, providing the jolt, the pause, that invites us to pay closer attention. These works confound our sense of what a photo is, what a painting is, and how we see art and the world. Across the Surface provides a survey of Beech's Photo-Paintings and Monotypes from across the decades and dovetails with the announcement of a new book about this particular body of work forthcoming from Radius Books in spring 2027.

Beech's art brings together expected and unexpected in ways that allow the viewer to see anew and to experience a whole beyond the sum of these disparate parts.

Please join us for our art opening and fundraiser for On the Rise – Works by Artists in Early and Mid-Career, curated by Regina Held, featuring 300 works from painting to photography and realism to abstraction by 14 New Mexico artists who are someone to watch.

40% of each art sale is tax-deductible and goes to the New Mexico Cancer Center Foundation supporting our patients’ non-medical needs during their battle with cancer. A special fundraiser with food truck, door prizes, snacks and live music by Lady Fingers and a Thing'r Too as well as The Kipsies Acoustic in collaboration with the Albuquerque Folk Festival. Free event and free parking.

The art exhibition runs through August 21, 2026. After the public reception, gallery visits are by appointment only, regina@gallerywithacause.org