A stroke of hope: 'Gallery with a Cause' benefits NM Cancer Foundation patients

Jun. 24—Step inside the New Mexico Cancer Center to see the work of 17 blossoming artists.

The center's Gallery with a Cause is showing 360 works by emerging artists, with 40% of each sale targeted toward the New Mexico Cancer Foundation. The money supports patients' non-medical needs.

Photographer J. Alan Constant started working in composites about a year ago. A 2021 Albuquerque transplant from San Francisco, he created "Offering" by combining an abstract image with a more traditional photo.

"I took an abstract image and the picture of the hand is from a sculpture in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico," he said.

"When I do things, I don't really have a specific idea in mind," he continued. "It looks like the hands are reaching out, giving something to the viewer."

A retired process server, Constant has worked in photography for 45 years, including stints in commercial photography in interior design.

"I've learned by the seat of my pants," he said.

Constant's work has been featured in a solo show in Mill Valley, California and in the Albuquerque Museum's Arts Thrive fundraiser.

Originally from Mexico, Rosario Glezmir paints expressionist images of women from her Nambé studio.

"It's a series I was making with woman," she said. "All my work is related to women and the resilience in women."

The cat in her painting is her own, named Ruti from her "Senses" series.

"It was trying to depict how we connect with life, how we interact with life through the sense," she said.

Until 2017, painting was her hobby.

"I got divorced after 32 years of marriage," she said. "Life changed completely; I had to reinvent myself. We think we have one life but there are many things we can do."

Glezmir took painting workshops in Oaxaca and Tijuana, Mexico. She has exhibited in Baja, California, in San Diego and in Paris, France.

"I use a lot of color, but maybe that's because of my culture, where there is color everywhere," she said.

Kirsten Harvey painted "Duet at Dawn" after taking a photograph of the cranes at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.

"We went there in the early morning to see the animals," the Albuquerque resident said.

Harvey's compunction to paint began in the fifth grade. Her career spanned radio, TV, school counseling and owning her own medical device company. Now retired, she has taken workshops in her first love. Today she concentrates on landscapes, florals, birds and seascapes.

She and her husband travel the globe. She takes photographs and paints from the results. She has painted scenes from Greece, Africa and nine countries across Europe.

Compulsively creative, she also sings and acts.

"I'm just a very creative person," she said, "And if I didn't do that I would just feel lost. I can share my gift."

As for painting, "It's an escape," she said. "It's very calming, it's very soothing. I love to be out in nature."