Margi Lucena
ARTIST STATEMENT
I've always drawn and painted. When I was little, I would watch my Dad at his easel. The smells of paint, turpentine, and linseed oil were as comforting as the smell of home cooking. In recent years, I have found the pure color and amazing versatility of pastels have made it my favorite medium.
The amazing and magical landscape of New Mexico keeps me simultaniously grounded and floating on air. The light, atmosphere and color in the southwest are constantly changing.
Whether I am painting en Plein Air or in the studio, I try to express what I see and how I feel about the beauty of the natural landscape that surrounds me. My goal as an artist is to establish a connection between my expression of what is before me, and you, the viewer.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
The light and color of the southwest landscape captivate Margi Lucena and are the enduring subjects of her illustrative pastels on panel. Her intimate works convey an honest admiration for the desert, its rocks, canyons, cactus, trees, and skies. As she says, “I try to paint what I see and how I feel about the beauty of the natural landscape that surrounds us.” Painted mostly en plein air, Margi’s work empathetically details the characteristic qualities of light and shadow in the New Mexico landscape throughout all four seasons; the thin cold of winter and the lush heat of summer. Margi rapidly captures the shape of cool color in canyon shadows and the brevity of warm highlights on the edges of chamisa plants or cactus. With a fast and gutsy approach she achieves a rendering of the essential qualities that make the central and northern New Mexico environment particular and enchanting.
Margi’s alluring surfaces are texturally intriguing. Chalk pastels, her medium of choice, are pure pigment with minimal binder added, and display saturated color in a drawn mark; they are gritty and often gestural. The panels’ surfaces are further embellished with a toned and textured primer, allowing the chalk pastel to visually protrude from the flat surface. She frames her work soon after a piece is finished to protect it and intentionally uses the clearest anti-reflective glass that allows her colors to be viewed at their greatest intensity.
The impermanence of color and light as well as the fleetingness of the seasons are often the subject of Margi’s landscapes. Christine Proskow, who writes for the Pastel Journal, admires Lucena’s pastels and states that “No matter which season she seeks to portray, Lucena is adept in apprehending both the obvious and hidden beauty in the landscape around her…with a sensitivity that reveals her awe and fascination with her environment.” Many of the places she depicts are well-known landmarks in the New Mexico landscape, such as the Rio Grande Gorge near Taos and the distinctive ridges that surround Ghost Ranch, Georgia O’Keefe’s home and studio. She revisits several locations annually, such as the Bosque del Apache, to capture new color, new seasons, and a fresh take on the geography of the arid desert.
Margi has exhibited in numerous regional juried exhibitions, including the National Pastel Painting Competition. She is a Signature Member of the Pastel Society of New Mexico and in 2011/2012 won the Pastel Society of New Mexico National Competition. Margi Lucena resides in Socorro, NM.
Selected Exhibitions
2012 Masterworks of New Mexico, Juried Show
2012 Pastel Society of New Mexico National Competition
2011 Masterworks of New Mexico, Juried Show
2011 Pastel Society of New Mexico National Competition
2009 18th Annual National Pastel Painting Exhibition, PSNM, ABQ, NM
2008 New Mexico State Fair Hispanic Arts Exhibition, Juried show
2008 Masterworks of New Mexico, 2008 Juried Show
2008 17th Annual National Pastel Painting Exhibition, PSNM, Albuquerque, NM
2007 16th Annual National Pastel Painting Exhibition, PSNM, Albuquerque, NM
2007 New Mexico State Fair Fine Arts, Juried Show, 3 works accepted
2007 Deming Arts Council Presents Margi Lucena and Natasha Isenhour, Deming, NM
2007 “Visions” Pastel Show, Pastel Society of NM, Mark Zoeller Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2007 Plein Air New Mexico Annual Paint Out and Sale, Mark Zoeller Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2007 Masterworks of New Mexico
2006 15th Annual National Pastel Painting Exhibition, PSNM, Albuquerque, NM
2006 Expo New Mexico State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition
2006 Plein Air New Mexico Annual Paint Out and Sale, Plein Air New Mexico Gallery,
Bernalillo, NM
2006 Harvey House Museum, Belen, NM, Fine Artists of Valencia County Invitational Show
2006 Geronimo Springs Museum, T or C, NM, Solo Show
2006 New Mexico Arts and Crafts Fair, 2006 Exhibitor, Juried Show
2006 Wildlands Art! Exhibit and Fundraiser for the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance,
2006 Albuquerque Arts Alliance Gallery
2005 14th Annual National Pastel Painting Exhibition, PSNM, Albuquerque, NM
2005 National League of American Pen Women (NLAPW) Art Show, Geronimo Springs
Museum, Truth or Consequence, NM
2005 New Mexico State Art Exhibition, NLAPW, New Mexico State Fair Fine Art Exhibition,
Albuquerque, NM
2004 "New Directions”, Margi Lucena and Skeeter Leard, Macey Center, New Mexico Tech,
Socorro, NM
2004 Rio Grande Arts and Crafts Festival, Expo New Mexico. Albuquerque
2004 Socorro County Public Library, Solo Show, Socorro, NM
2004 Painting Demonstration, Cobolt Fine Arts Gallery, Spring Arts Festival, Tubac, AZ
2004 Blue Canyon Annual Art Show, Magdelena, NM, Group Show
2003 Margi Lucena and Skeeter Leard, Macey Center at New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM
Magdelena Spring Arts Festival, Magdelena, NM
2003 “Socorro County Chamber of Commerce Presents Margi Lucena,” Solo Show
Awards
2012 Masterworks of New Mexico, New Mexico Statehood Award
2012 1st and 2nd in the Pastel Journal 13th Annual Pastel 100 Competition in Landscapes
2012 Pastel Society of New Mexico National Competition, 3rd Place
2011 Masterworks of New Mexico, Juried Show, Winner PSNM Excellence in Pastel
2011 Pastel Society of New Mexico National Competition, 3rd place
2010 The Pastel Journal, Pastel 100, Landscape Division, Honorable Mention, Judge Paul
Murray
2010 Fine Art Studios Online (FASO), Second Place Overall, Judge Brian Blood
2010 FASO, Outstanding Pastel, Judge Brian Blood
2009 17th National Pastel Painting Exhibition, 2009, PSNM
2009 Artisan Santa Fe Award, Judge Colette Odya-Smith
2008 New Mexico State Fair Hispanic Arts, First and Second Place, Pastels
2007 New Mexico State Fair Fine Arts, Second Place, Pastels
2006 15th Annual National Pastel Painting Exhibition, PSNM, Mount Vision
Pastel Award, Judge Glenna Hartman
2006 New Mexico State Fair Fine Arts, Third Place, Pastels, Judge Paul Murray
2006 New Mexico Arts and Crafts Fair, Best New Exhibitor Award, Judge Dan Stouffer
2005 New Mexico State Exhibition, National League of American Pen Women, First Place,
Judge Deborah Christensen-Secor
2004 Magdalena Spring Arts Festival, First Place and People’s Choice Award
2004 Socorro County Fair, Second and Third Place Awards, Socorro, NM
2003 Socorro County Fair, Judges Award, Socorro, NM, Judge Fern Morris-Vetter
1996 Grand Lake Artists Show, First Place Oils, Grove, OK
1994 “NEOshow” Best of Show, Neosho, MO
Events, Articles
2010 New Mexico Cancer Center, Invitational Art Exhibit, "Sunlight" 10 paintings, March
2010 Masterworks of New Mexico, 12th Annual Exhibition, Hispanic Arts Building Expo New
Mexico, Albuquerque, NM , April
2010 Millicent Rogers Museum, Taos, NM Group Show of Signature Members, Pastel
Society of NM, May
2010 New Mexico Cancer Center Invitational Art Exhibit, 'World Views", June
2010 Southwest Art Magazine, Plein Air Issue, June
2010 Pastel Journal Magazine, September/October Issue
Professional Affiliations
Pastel Society of New Mexico, Signature Member
Pastel Society of America
Plein Air Painters of New Mexico
Women Artists of the West, Associate Member
National League of American Pen Women, Fine Art
