The Artist’s Touch

Painter Gary Byrd and his wife are inspired by colleagues and friends within their New Mexico home.

By John O’Hern | Photography by Francis Smith

Gary and Karen Byrd’s home is nestled in the Sandia Mountains east of Albuquerque, New Mexico. At the end of the drive is his painting studio. He has been painting since 1993. After successful careers in the oil and gas industry, he and Karen retired and built their home in the Southwest in 2012.

On the far left in the living area is Bear River, oil, by Nicholas Coleman. Beneath it is Ram, steel, by Austin Casson. Healing Touch, bronze, by Liz Wolf is to the right of the door. Above the arch are, left to right, Ebony Beads, oil, by Gayle Nason; Laguna Bowls with Kachina, oil by Michael C. McCullogh; and Chili Relleno, oil by Patricia Dobson. In the hallway are, top to bottom, The Unknown, oil, by Logan Maxwell Hagege and Rancho de Taos, oil, by Kim Wiggins. In the nicho is Halfway to the Headwaters, oil, by Chad Poppleton. Above it is Mule Deer, bronze with harvested antlers, by Paul Rhymer. On the chest in the foreground is Grizzly Walking, bronze, by Raymond Gibby. “Growing up in Oklahoma and Texas, we were right on the border of the Southwest,” Gary relates. “We’d turn on the TV and there were Westerns, Bonanza, Maverick, Rawhide. My father was a veterinarian so there were always critters around. We spent a lot of time working cattle on ranches. My dad bought a ranch, a ranchette really, and we kept our horses there. I had boots and hats but going to school in McAlester, Oklahoma, there were the city kids and the ranch kids and the ranch kids were kind of looked down on. At Oklahoma State, there were a lot of ranch kids and I wore my cowboy boots and hats.” After a career dressed in suits, he and Karen are now comfortable in their jeans and boots in the Southwest that they have always loved.

In the back courtyard are, left to right, Jumping Jack Flash, bronze, by Paul Rhymer, and Beauty of the Harvest, bronze, by Martha Pettigrew.

In the principal bath is Hopi Basket Maker, oil by Jimmy Abeita (Navajo), next to Kolob Contrasts, oil by Stephen C. Datz, above Winter Bloom, oil by Nathanael Volckening and Gary Byrd’s, Turquoise and Gold, oil.

“I lived in Dallas,” Karen explains. “My mother was heavy into elaborate French antiques. I probably got my first taste of artwork through her. Toward the end of her life, she began to like Southwest art. Gary did some paintings for her.”

The couple often visited the Southwest and when they built their house, they built it for art. As we sat in their living room with large windows facing the mountains to the west, I marveled at how perfectly Chad Poppleton’s Halfway to the Headwaters fits in the nicho behind Gary and Karen. The nicho orginally held one of Gary’s paintings which was smaller, and when the Poppleton came along, it seemed made for the space.

“Those two riders are the painters Doug Monson on the left and Charles Dayton on the right,” Gary points out. “It’s the first painting Chad did after he was inducted into the Cowboy Artists of America and he signed it with ‘CA’ after his name. We all did a workshop together.”

In the dining area above the sideboard is Hallowed Ground, oil, by Don Oelze. To the right are, top to bottom, El Grande, oil, by Bill Cramer and Quiet Ride, oil, by G. Russell Case. Visible through the archway is Time of Quiet Waiting, oil, by Jerry Jordan, and on the right is Passing Through, oil, by Roseta Santiago. The bronze sculptures are, left to right, Chicken Hawk in Repose, mounted on a reclaimed post, by Paul Rhymer and Chiricahua Apache by Scott Rogers. The table and chairs were created by Jason Scott.

I was also intrigued by what I thought was the carved mantle above the fireplace. What I thought was a carving, though, is a bronze relief by Walt Horton. The patina perfectly matches the color of the wood of the massive mantle.

“We were up in Beaver Creek, Colorado, and saw this piece hanging above the restroom in Walt Horton’s gallery,” Gary says. “It was interesting and reasonably priced. When we got it home we wondered ‘What are we going to do with this? It’s too cool to just slap on the wall.’ For some reason I thought of the mantle that had no personality and we bolted it to the mantle. It’s one of those deals where you have something you get almost on a whim and it becomes one of your favorite things.”

In the entry, Light of the Desert, oil, by Jeremy Winborg hangs above a chest by Jason Scott. On the chest is Maiden from Second Mesa, bronze, by John Coleman. The painting on the right is Children of Chimayo, oil, by Kim Wiggins. Beneath it is Barn Parliament, bronze on reclaimed post, by Paul Rhymer.

In the bedroom of the casita are, left to right, A Golden West Moment, oil, by Joseph Orr; Songstress of the Sundance, oil, by Mike Desatnick; and Acoma, Show Low and Tonto Pots, oil, by Greg English.

In the front courtyard is Raven Celebrates Inventing the Wheel, bronze and grindstone, by Paul Rhymer, and Hopi Maiden, bronze, by Felicia.

Above the mantle is Stan Davis’ The Patriarch. They had been considering a more colorful Davis (Karen is drawn to color) but Gary pointed out that this more subtle piece is a more important painting. “It’s got soul to it,” he adds. On the hearth is Paul Rhymer’s whimsical bronze, Flying Burrito Brothers—three owls on a bit of prickly pear cactus. “Gary wanted to buy that,” Karen says, “but I thought we had enough animals and asked him to hold back on it. Two years later we walked into the gallery and I saw it in the flesh and fell in love with it.”

The couple’s give-and-take complements their similar tastes. They rarely disagree. “One time Gary wanted a piece of sculpture that I wasn’t crazy about,” Karen admits. Gary adds, with a wink, “It’s now in my office so Karen doesn’t have to look at it.”

Hyram Joe’s Lakota Sioux Beauty, oil, hangs above Scott Rogers’ Hopi Pot Maker, bronze, in the back entry. To the right of the door are, top to bottom, Navajo Colors, oil, by Dennis Ziemienski and Looking East, oil, by Jeremy Winborg. Through the window and above the fireplace is Headdress, copper, by Greg Gowan and Raven, bronze, by Jim Eppler.

“I was a landman in oil and gas and was pretty successful at negotiating contracts,” Gary explains. “I was fair and people would do business with me again. When we’re buying art, the galleries know we’re going to negotiate but they know were going to be fair. You deal with people you like and you trust.

William Haskell’s acrylic, Transformation, hangs in the principal bedroom next to John Meister’s oil, Mood Lighting.

“We’ve become friends not only with the artists but also with the gallery people. Jen Rohrig at Manitou Galleries in Santa Fe, Cyndi Hall at Legacy Gallery in Santa Fe and Carol Wiesner at Legacy in Scottsdale have been very helpful. They’ll send us an email with pieces they think we might like. They’re informative and that makes you want to do business with them.”

In the hallway, Chul Yong Lee’s The Baby’s Tail, oil, hangs in a nicho. On the floor is Buck McCain’s bronze The Apache 34. Hanging on the right is Roseta Santiago’s oil Kissed by the Sun.

Hanging above the mantle is The Patriarch, oil, by Stan Davis. The bronze relief on the face of the mantle is Elk Crossing by Walt Horton (1949-2010). To the right on the hearth are Flying Burrito Brothers, bronze by Paul Rhymer and Sister Moon, bronze, by John Coleman. Rhymer’s bronze, Takoma, is on the coffee table.

The collectors control the intense light of the Southwest with light-filtering glass and shades. The right light, though, can bring a painting to life. “We bought a Jimmy Abeita painting of a Hopi basket maker and hung it in our bedroom but it looked kind of dingy. We moved it to a wall in the bathroom where there is more light, and the colors popped.

With the knowledge they have gained, they’re astute collectors of paintings and sculpture. They also have a large collection of Pueblo pottery that they’re beginning to learn more about. Much of it has been purchased at the Henderson Store just down the road in Golden, population 19. “We enjoy the pottery very much and support the Native artists who keep this tradition alive,” Gary comments.

In the entry, Sun Prayer, oil, by Don Oelze hangs in the nicho. Yawning of a New Day, bronze, by Paul Rhymer, sits on the chest. Beyond the archway are, left to right, Yesterday and Tomorrow, oil, by Jerry Jordan; The Offering #3, bronze by Liz Wolf; Nature Will Once Again Provide, oil, by C. Michael Dudash; and Bound for Cover, bronze, by Tim Shinabarger.

Sometimes things just happen. “Do you see those owls outside on the patio?” Gary points out. “I bought them from a guy who was carving them outside a gas station!”

The collectors maintain an art-buying budget. “We can’t go in and say no matter what it costs we want it and we want to take it,” Gary explains. “We have paintings we’ve spent considerable amounts of money on but they are things that really meant a lot to us. It was an emotional thing. Our art here is what we can really afford, really love and really enjoy. We see it every day and it gives us great pleasure every day.” —