Page Coleman came to Mesilla from Albuquerque in 2018, buying a historic building in Mesilla and completely renovating it. As an artist, as her place was being renovated, she had no space to work on her painting so she channeled her energy into creations of wire and found bits and pieces.
“I just cranked out critters,” she said.
As she walks around her gallery showroom space at 2424 Calle de Parian, her energy is palpable. She talks about her critters like they are alive and this brings them to life in the eyes of the viewer.
“I swear they get around,” she said. “And these are a little different. I started doing little nasties – if you walk by, they will grab you. And the other ones are these shrubs and bushes.”
She imagined her critters moving through the shrubs and bushes, then moving right up into the drawings hung above them.
In direct contrast to her active, busy critter creations, her artwork is stacked against some of the walls ready to show and these paintings are minimal and striking. There are glowing orb landscapes and stark, naked trees. Her paintings are glowy and calm – “landscapey,” she said.
Gallery Page Coleman, is officially opening with an open house from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 14. After that she is taking visitors to the gallery by appointment. The work on display features her artwork spanning 40-plus years including new charcoal drawings and lots of wire critters.
Born and raised in Greeneville, Tennessee, Coleman earned her art degrees in Virginia and Wisconsin, eventually ending up in Albuquerque in 1982. She worked in the arts there until moving to Mesilla.
“I had never heard of Mesilla and a friend of mine was living here so I drove down,” she said. “I thought it was great.”
Having gone from managing small to bigger and bigger gallery spaces with many artists in Albuquerque, Coleman finally said enough was enough, and downsized, moving to Mesilla. She just wasn’t enjoying the business anymore.
“I really just wanted to quit from that and move down to this little town,” she said. “I thought it was just charming.”
So now she has her space, with adobe shapes, a rock wall and art creatures hanging around corners to be discovered next to fences and hanging in windows. Her little studio is full of found items with which she builds her critter structures and thinks about her next paint series.
Her work can be found on her website at pagecolemanart.com.
