Full Spectrum: NM Pastels
Full Spectrum: NM Pastels and Summer Market celebrates the versatility and contemporary relevance of pastel as an artistic medium through works by New Mexico artists Sarah Blumenschein, Natasha Isenhour, Julia Lambright, and Vasili Katakis. Presented in conjunction with the 26th and final in-person conference of the International Association of Pastel Societies (IAPS), the exhibition highlights how today's artists are expanding beyond traditional pastel subjects to explore abstraction, perception, dream imagery, and geometric form. Isenhour explores the geometric elements in landscape, Lambright uses layered marks and color to examine memory and self-perception, Katakis creates luminous visionary landscapes inspired by the natural and spiritual worlds, and Blumenschein transforms everyday objects into studies of shape, color, and structure. Opening June 13, 2026, the exhibition is accompanied by a Summer Market featuring artist demonstrations, local artisans, and community partners, offering visitors an opportunity to experience the creativity and diversity of New Mexico’s arts community.
Sarah Blumenschein is a New Mexico artist known for her luminous pastel paintings that transform everyday subjects into studies of color, light, and atmosphere. Working primarily from observation, she creates still lifes, landscapes, and botanical compositions that balance careful attention to form with a sensitivity to mood and place. Drawn to the medium for its immediacy and depth of color, Blumenschein often explores the interplay of light across reflective surfaces, flowers, and carefully arranged objects. Her work has received numerous national and international honors, including the Grand Prize in Pastel Journal's 2010 Pastel 100 competition, Best of Show awards from the New Mexico Masterworks competition and the Pastel Society of New Mexico National Exhibition, and recognition from the Pastel Society of America and the International Association of Pastel Societies.
Born and raised in the Soviet Union, Julia Lambright earned a BFA and MFA with distinction from the University of New Mexico. Trained as an oil painter, she returned to Russia to study icon painting and egg tempera techniques. Her work draws on portraiture, floral imagery, and the visual language of seventeenth-century icons to examine memory, trauma, and joy. Over time, her interest in material processes led her to soft pastel, a medium that supports experimentation and direct mark-making. Through color, surface, and gesture, Lambright explores sensation, perception, and personal experience while leaving space for multiple interpretations. She lives and works in Albuquerque, New Mexico.