For She Remembers, Kwani Povi Winder’s upcoming solo show at King Galleries, the artist is presenting 25 paintings that offer a look into the past. Her focus is on the ancestors and the ancestral places and creations of the Santa Clara Pueblo, where the artist spent her summers as a child.
Standing Strong, oil on linen, 20 x 13 in. Image courtesy of King Galleries.
“The works are inspired by the people, landscapes and photographs I remember from the days spent on the reservation,” Winder explains. “There will also be some new work featuring the pottery of my grandparents and great-grandparents. I come from a long line of potters and attribute my gift in art to them. I have started to gather their pottery. It’s been a tender experience to hold a piece of earth from their creation, to see the polish lines where they rubbed the clay smooth, and trace the carved lines and markings with my fingertips. I want to remember them, honor them, preserve their works with my art and share the beauty of our Santa Clara home.”
From Her Hands I Remember, oil on linen, 36 x 23 in. Image courtesy of King Galleries.
In a nutshell, each piece for the new show is directly tied to a moment in the artist’s past. They are “intimate works that each tell a story that I want to remember,” the artist adds. For instance, the piece All That Remains is a scene from the cliffside at Bandelier National Monument, where Winder and her family experienced a special moment.
“On this evening, my family were some of the last visitors left at the park,” she shares. “I remember how still and quiet the moment was as the sun retreated from the sky. As I walked back to our vehicle, I happened to glance back at the cliffs and saw the normal light-tan rocks look as if they were on fire… I noticed the sun touch the small pueblo house still standing there…It was a sobering moment watching the last touch of orange leave and twilight envelope the landscape. I tried to imagine what it would have looked like back then.”
Black Mesa Grandeur, oil on linen, 31 x 25 in. Image courtesy of King Galleries.
Also important to Winder’s work is her color palette, which is inspired by the red, green and turquoise colors of the Southwest, “because, to me, they feel like home,” she says. “For this show, I [also] focused on really using my brushstrokes to convey texture, juxtaposing the smoothness of [the pottery scenes] against the feeling of a stucco wall, or the movement of the clouds in the sky against the steadiness of an ancient home. I want collectors to fully experience the richness I see in these things.”
All That Remains, oil on linen, 20 x 16 in. Image courtesy of King Galleries.
One such piece, the powerful portrait Standing Strong, involves familiar pottery designs, like eagle feathers. “I am searching how to bring the three-dimensional aspect of the pottery designs into a two-dimesional space,” she says, “And I try to reconcile the very graphic designs into a realistic and representational painting.” In the painting From Her Hands I Remember, she paints another portrait of a woman, but with a pottery piece placed on top of the subject’s head, further conveying the theme of familial history and the connection to earthly creation.
Visit King Galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico, from August 11 to 21 to enjoy the full spectrum of the show. —
King Galleries 130 Lincoln Avenue, Suite D » Santa Fe, NM 87501 » (480) 440-3912 » www.kinggalleries.com
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