NEW GROUNDS Print Workshop & Gallery

3812 Central Ave SE  Suite 100B;  Albuquerque, NM, 87108, (505) 268-8952

 

Adabel Allen

 

Artist Statement



"The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are." - Joseph Campbell

      In spite of (or because) I've been an artist, musician, poet and actor all my life, if someone where to ask me "who are you?" I might have to answer: "I'm a Joseph Campbell-ian at heart." Partly inspired by the famous anthropologist Joseph Campbell who spent his life studying cultures and myths throughout time in order to find universal human experiences and metaphors despite our differences, I found myself stumbling upon birds as my universal archetype in an attempt to reconcile the different perspectives around me in a visual realm where they could meet. Inspired by birds and my everyday encounter with this wildlife, I found we find have countless ways to study or derive meaning and stories from their existence and our relationship to them.

My insatiable thirst for knowledge to understand how we observe and find meaning in the natural world is what drives my visual work.  Equally, spending time in and working from nature stirs awe, fascination and helps me to continually heal from any mental or physical difficulties I've encountered. To parallel and convey these multiple experiences, meanings and studies, I often use multiple matrixes and media in my artwork.

The beauty of the image of birds for me is that whether we study the world around us from a scientific or a spiritual perspective (or in my case both) each person can bring their personal meaning and experience to my work while sharing something in common that exists in both the "real" world and in our imaginations and hearts. It is my hope, at the least, this experience begins with a sense of beauty, inquiry, hope and peace.

 

 

 

Om namah shivaya – “ I honor the place in you where the universe resides. And when you are in that place and I am in that place, we are one.”

 

 

 

    

Biography

 

Date and Place of Birth: 6/9/69, Santa Monica, CA

 

Education:

2006: University of New Mexico: Bachelor of Fine Arts in Printmaking, Summa Cum Laude with Honors

1987-89: Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York: Foundation Art

 

Additional Art Education:

Encaustic Monotype Printmaking Workshops with Paula Roland in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Etching and Advanced Etching at New Grounds Print Workshop, Albuquerque, New Mexico

 

Major Solo Exhibitions:

2009: Convergence, New Grounds Gallery, Albuquerque, NM

2006:  The Nature of My Art, Honors Thesis Show, Harwood Art Center, Albuquerque, NM 

2006:  The Inward Flight, The Space Between Gallery at The Source, Albuquerque, NM

2006:  Ascension, Java Joe’s, Albuquerque, NM

2005:   Impressions, Albuquerque Press Club, Albuquerque, NM

1999:  Works on Paper, Albuquerque Press Club, Albuquerque, NM

 

Major Group Exhibitions:

2009: Gravure-The New Medium, New Grounds Gallery, Albuquerque, NM

2008:Made in New Mexico, Wolverhampton College, Wolverhampton, U.K.
Made in New Mexico, Proyecto Ace, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Introducing New Members, New Grounds Print Workshop Albuquerque, NM

         Made in New Mexico, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts

2007:  Originals, Harwood Museum, Taos, New Mexico (Juried by New Mexico Committee for National Museum for Women in the Arts)

2007:  Compassionate Ground, North Fourth Art Center, Albuquerque, NM

2006:  Nina Bean Memorial Art Show, New Mexico Fairgrounds Fine Arts Building, Albuquerque, New Mexico

2006:  Featured Artist at Festival of the Cranes, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, San Antonio, New Mexico

2005:  Festival of the Cranes, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, San Antonio, New Mexico

2005:  Nina Bean Memorial Art Show, New Mexico Fairgrounds Fine Arts Building, Albuquerque, NM

2004:  Nina Bean Memorial Art Show, Albuquerque, NM

  

Major Collections:

Wolverhampton College, Wolverhampton, U.K.

Proyecto Ace, Buenos Aires, Argentina

University of New Mexico Children's Hospital, Albuquerque, NM

Benedictine University, Lyle, Illinois

Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque, New Mexico

University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

 

Awards and Grants:

Fine Arts Prize – Albuquerque Academy

Outstanding Senior Student; Department of Art & Art History (Senior Fine Arts Prize Finalist for University of New Mexico

Marva Bailey Vollmar Fine Arts Scholarship

Dean’s List – Five Occasions

Two Certificates of High Achievement – University of New Mexico Honors Department

Granted Participation by Portfolio Interview to Tamarind Institute Collaborative Printmaking Course

 

For Graphic Design and Illustration work:

Library of Congress selected poster for their permanent collection that Adabel Allen co-created and illustrated

Publication in three books and four magazines for recognition of graphic design and illustration work

   

Gallery Representation:

New Grounds Print Workshop, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Occasions by Design, Scottsdale, Arizona

 

Publications:

 

Adabel Allen, in addition to being a professional artist, musician and self-published poet has made a living (and has been recognized for her accomplishments) as a graphic designer, computer production artist and illustrator. She has been awarded and published for outstanding design, illustration and production in the following publications:

 

Books:

International Logos and Trademarks Three, Supon Design Group, pp. 71, 110

Fresh Ideas in Brochure Design, Alekzander, Terri. pp., 48, 64, 89

Great T-Shirt Graphics, Rockport Publishers, pp. 21, 60

 

Magazines:

Print, “Print’s Regional Design Annual,” 1997, p. 142

Step by Step Graphics, vol. 13, No. 2, “Design Process Annual, 1997”

Graphis, Poster Annual, 1997, p. 42

How, “The Bottomline Design Magazine, International Design Annual, “ April, 1997, pp. 77, 139