[PROMOTIONAL SPOTLIGHT]
Every October/November issue we organize our annual collector’s edition featuring top exhibitions, collector insights and an array of fine art that is available on the market. In this promotional spotlight, we are featuring artists connected to the American Southwest at six galleries. They work in a variety of styles and capture the essence of their subject matter through paint and sculpture.
Barbara Meikle Fine ArtSanta Fe, NM(505) 992-0400 | meiklefineart.com
New Mexico-based artist Barbara Meikle earned a Bachelor of Arts in painting and printmaking at the University of Denver and studied watercolor at Cambridge University in England. For the past 20 years she has owned Barbara Meikle Fine Art in Santa Fe, which features her colorful paintings of wildlife and landscapes. “The grand vistas of the Southwest constantly inspire me, and they are also under attack. We need to protect our wild heritage from development that will forever change its historic significance,” says Meikle. “I want to capture the essence of what we go to nature for—the serenity, beauty, and a chance to pause, to reflect on the meaning of life for all of us humans and for the planet as well.”
Blue Rain GallerySanta Fe, NM & Durango, CO(505) 954-9902 & (970) 232-2033 | blueraingallery.com
Doug West, who works with layered color and fine details, creates landscapes of the Southwest that are “evocative meditations on place, memory and humanity’s connection to the natural world.” This October 9 to 23, Blue Rain Gallery will host its next solo show for the artist. Of his work, West says, “The Southwest is my rich palette for creative inspiration. Time spent out on the land is where I feel most grounded. Watching the sky’s changing light, with heroic cloud forms overhead…these feed my artist’s eye. I love that the land here is exposed and wide open to long, distant horizons.” Gallery owner Leroy Garcia adds, “His extraordinary attention to detail gives collectors a connection to the landscape. It is an unmistakable quality that sets his work apart.”
Giacobbe-Fritz Fine ArtSanta Fe, NM(505) 986-1156 | giacobbefritz.com
The mixed-media sculptures of Geoffrey Gorman are whimsical in both their materials and how he brings life to his animal subjects. Gorman, who is represented by Giacobbe-Fritz Fine Art and will have his next solo show, Desert Dwellers, there in November, grew up on a horse farm outside of Baltimore that was often surrounded by an assortment of domestic and wild animals. As the gallery explains, “Wood, rusted metal, wire, cloth and found objects become the bones, skin and character of his creatures. His patinas and imperfections of artwork suggest age, memory and history. The result is a combination of humor, curiosity and a slightly mysterious sense of another world.”
The Great Western Cattle Trail GalleryWoodward, OK(580) 216-2416 | thetrail.gallery
This September, The Great Western Cattle Trail Gallery in Wooward, Oklahoma, welcomed artist Lori Jones as one of the newest artists on its roster. Jones, who grew up in the high desert of Colorado on a family ranch, knew from an early age that she wanted to be a cowgirl and an artist. Her work is authentic through her own life and experiences on ranches showing the ups and downs and the beauty in the everyday. She “enjoys the beauty of color found in pastels and watercolor” but the “versatility and stark contrasts created by pencils and charcoal” are what have made it her medium of choice. On November 6, from 4 to 7 p.m., the gallery will host a reception for the artist.
Legacy GalleryScottsdale, AZ & Santa Fe, NM(480) 945-1113 & (505) 986-9833 | legacygallery.com
Born in Santa Fe and a descendent of New Mexican ranchers, contemporary painter Alvin Gill-Tapia finds his inspiration in the architecture, landscape, light and cultural history of his home state. He studied textiles in Europe and painting, drawing and anatomy in New York before returning to New Mexico and developing his distinctive, simplified style. Central to his canvases are often the adobe churches, pueblos and historic structures that he simplifies into geometric forms, shadows and fields of color. Gill-Tapia uses gold, silver, copper and other metal leaf to capture “New Mexico’s ever-changing light, giving his paintings a luminous, modern quality while honoring history, community and place.”
Maxwell Alexander GalleryPasadena, CA(213) 275-1060 | maxwellalexandergallery.com
The open spaces of the American Southwest have been a catalyst for the design-forward paintings of Utah artist Brett Allen Johnson. Keen to avoid faithful observation, Johnson translates the sense of place. “I am not often a painter of literal places,” he says. “I regularly invent entire works or paint them from memory. I like to invite observers into a world which is merely similar to the one they know, an adjacent world. Perhaps, the adjacent West.” Beau Alexander, owner of Maxwell Alexander Gallery, which represents Johnson, explains, “He’s able to simplify and accentuate the landscape in ways that make them remain a fine artwork. Along the lines of [Georgia] O’Keeffe, Johnson is able to take an everyday subject and make it even more interesting than it was in real life.”
This story appeared in the October/November 2026 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Subscribe today to read every issue in its entirety.
The post Gallery Row | Director’s Choice appeared first on Southwest Art Magazine.