by Eva Dameron
Daily Lobo
ArtHaus66 wants people to know about contemporary Spain.
Cristina Clarimon, who runs the gallery with her husband, Craig Alinder, said they have a niche nobody else has in the city - exhibiting artists' works from Spain.
"The idea is to give people in Albuquerque an overview of what's going on in Spain right now in the art scene," she said. "When people here think of Spain, they think of flamenco and bullfighting. That's all valid, and that's still part of what Spain is, but there's so much more of what's going on in contemporary Spain that doesn't reach here."
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While she also showcases artists from Placitas, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Los Angeles and New York City, Clarimon said the art scene can get redundant.
"A lot of art you see in Albuquerque is a rotation of the same artists who go from gallery to gallery, and if you go to First Friday, you tend to see the same work," she said. "So, we want to be completely, perhaps, even out of step with that trend and have things that are really new and have never been seen in Albuquerque before. I'm booked until January 2009, and I get so giddy when I think of the shows that are coming up."
She said ArtHaus66 is in a dodgy part of Central Avenue, but she hopes the area will one day be revamped.
"They're doing the whole revitalization of Central and Nob Hill, and it's slowly creeping up Central," she said. "So, we're hoping that we can start bringing people up Central into the area and have that building as an arts destination. It has a long way to go, but Nob Hill five years ago didn't look the way it looks now. The type of businesses that were located there and the living situation - they didn't have the lofts and the upscale businesses."
Clarimon said she grew up in Spain and studied art at the oldest university in Madrid.
"I have lots of contacts of friends who are artists out there," she said. "I have a painter from the Canary Islands. She's in her early 20s, and she's very talented."
Evan Small, a local artist who sells his work at ArtHaus66, said Clarimon and Alinder make a great team because they understand the business as well as the creative side of owning a gallery, unlike some galleries that are all business.
"He does a little bit of everything as a business manager, and she's an amazing artist herself," Small said. "They both understand the artistic process. They've started to have a little bit of an international market. They offer Albuquerque a good look at a well-rounded art collection that is slightly toward the avant-garde."
Local painter Joie Villeneuve has an opening reception from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday at ArtHaus66 called "The Sacred Lotus Garden." She paints gigantic acrylic works, some 6 feet by 9 feet, of colorful lotuses.
"The lotus represents levels of consciousness," Villeneuve said. "The unfolding petals suggest the expansion of soul. Because the lotus plant grows with its roots in the mud and its blossom above water, it holds great spiritual promise."
She said it's been easy as an artist to work with ArtHaus66.
"The thing I'm most impressed with is that they really make a great effort to understand the artist and the art," she said. "They make a considered effort to do that, which isn't typical of a lot of galleries. But with ArtHaus66, it's about the work and the artist."
ArtHaus66
6320 Linn Ave. N.E. (on the corner of Central Avenue and San Pedro Drive)
Monday-Friday
10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Saturday
11 a.m.-3 p.m.
