SANTA FE, NM.- A solo exhibition of new work, The Galisteo River Basin Paintings, by Anne Appleby opened at Charlotte Jackson Fine Art on May 1 and extends through May 31. The gallery is located in Santa Fe’s Railyard Arts District at 554 South Guadalupe Street.

To see takes effort. True seeing is passive but active—requiring participation and engagement. In a world of endless information, countless images—from advertising logos to Instagrams to selfies—hit us at a rate of at least two per minute. But what do we see? Amidst this wash of visual information, to stop – to see – is extremely rare. We become numbed to our world. In this context Anne Appleby’s stunning minimalist paintings are a wake-up call, an antidote to the overload of modern life.

Each of the works included in The Galisteo River Basin Paintings comprises two or more canvases hung side by side or, as in the case of Dalea, two above, two below, or with Winterfat, with six pieces set two across and three down. The architecture created by the patterning of the canvases is intriguing—allowing the white space of the wall to become a part of the whole, as well as enhancing a sense of depth and space. Each of the canvases focuses on a single color, although each contains rich subtly and hints of other colors emerging from within. For example, one of the canvases in Dalea is a soft tan, but from its center a hint of blue shines. In Navajo Muhly a pale off-white panel seems to emit a lavender glow. Appleby uses multiple layers of paint, an average of thirty, to create these nuanced shades. Near the end she adds a layer of wax to cut glare. The viewer can trace a history of the layers at the edges of the canvas, where small hints of the under-painting are visible.

While each individual canvas focuses on one hue, combined they show the different colors of the plants that give the works their names. It won’t be hard to identify the pale beige and soft silvery green of Winter Chamisa, or the orangey brown of an acorn in Scrub Oak, or the glowing red of Scarlet Pentstemon. One canvas may highlight the particular shade of the flower, another the leaf, another bark or seed from various stages within the seasons and life cycle of the plant— so that the piece as a whole brings these colors together to give a larger, more complete view.

For Appleby the titular reference to particular plants is not randomly assigned but direct and purposeful. Each of the pieces included in The Galisteo River Basin Paintings comes from Appleby’s daily walks through the Galisteo Watershed just south of Santa Fe, and her interactions with the plants that line her path. Through the season, as these plants awakened into their spring fullness, Appleby observed their shifts and hues, noting differences with weather or changes of the light.

Appleby’s interest in plants, as well as her use of minimalist art to express their wholeness, comes from her time studying with an Ojibwe elder in Montana. For the Ojibwe, knowledge of plants is a key aspect of their culture. The Ojibwe have a tradition of creating large bandolier medicine bags in which to put the samples of plants that they collect. These bags are intricately beaded with vivid colors depicting abstract or geometric representations of different plants over the whole life cycle (seed, flower, fruit, leaves). Appleby’s use of the plant’s colors and different aspects of their life cycle within one piece was inspired by the bandolier beadwork.

The attention and focus that Appleby brings to her study of these plants is translated seamlessly into the works of art they inspire her to create. The intensity of color, the glow from within, the breathing space these works discharge, serve to draw the viewer in closer, to engage them in that elusive participatory act of seeing. The eye may rest on each canvas separately until finally, in a moment, there is a transitory experience of the whole—all at once the disparate colors, space, and light come together. Walking out of the gallery the viewer might suddenly notice the world around them— the cottonwood leafing out, the daffodils along the sidewalk, the sky streaked by clouds—as vividly real. Appleby’s pieces have the ability to teach us, to remind us to pay attention.