Gretchen Wachs

Gretchen Wachs is a Santa Fe artist working in an abstract expressionist tradition. Her glazed ceramics and mixed media paintings on panel are strongly influenced by her connection with nature and a meditative expression of the sub conscious. The seduction of the clay and the immediacy of painting are the inescapable confrontations that compel Gretchen's work and process. "As I see it, art is about being awake and present," she says. "I have come to realize that when I am able to let go and trust, something wonderful can happen." The duality of awareness and emotional expression define her work and give it an inescapable balance between traditional form and abstract imagery.