Ventana Fine Art

A staple on Canyon Road for 39 seasons, Ventana Fine Art showcases contemporary American painting and sculpture in a historic red brick schoolhouse. This month, it is showcasing a two-person show, By Design (Aug. 19–Sept. 5), featuring the works of Cassidy Watt and Martha Braun. Both are from Ventana's stable of artists. Inspired by his industrial hometown, Watt created metal sculptures that appear like totems of color fields as he patinas, torches and hammers his mediums of aluminum, copper, steel and brass. “Metal yields, but it also endures, allowing each piece to tell its unique story,” he says in his artist statement. Ventana has paired Watt's colorful creations with Braun's abstract expressionist works. The former interior designer picked up painting after she retired to Santa Fe. She often incorporates handmade papers and glazes into her works, lending them multiple textures and sheens. “I attempt, in each painting, to offer a unique and delicate sense of balance and tension that at once excites and then quiets the mind,” she observes in her artistic statement.