Artists' Corner

Kit is a multidisciplinary, native New Mexican artist who has spent his entire adult life in Albuquerque. He initially pursued a degree in illustration and graphic design, and has since explored many modes of artistic expression. He is an accomplished illustrator and designer, an award-winning ballroom dance instructor, and a seasoned martial artist. His greatest passion for the last decade has been participating in and helping to develop the local burlesque scene; he’s performed across the Southwest and up the Pacific coast. Kit is also deeply invested in his spiritual journey, and provides tarot and oracle readings for all those seeking guidance. He is currently pursuing another degree in computer information systems, specializing in IT support.

The series presented here is Kit's debut public showing of his fine art photography, and represents the arc of his foray into photography. Like many across the world when the COVID-19 pandemic was declared, Kit spent much of his free time outdoors with his dog, Theia (who appears in the exhibited piece "the babiest"). It was a time of stopping to smell the roses, figuratively and literally, and appreciating the natural beauty right outside the door. Kit would send pictures of the neighborhood to friends across the country who have never visited the Land of Enchantment, and, in those years, couldn't be sure they would ever be able to. As compliments poured in, Kit leaned into photography as an art form more so than a means of documentation. Armed only with a Samsung Galaxy A52 and detachable lenses, Kit began to explore his neighborhood and other sights in the city with great gusto. He believes firmly in the use of smartphones as a legitimate means of photography, and in the resonant beauty of the mundane, the ordinary, the every-day. 

Artist Statement

My name is Jennifer DeSantis, but you can call me LadyJennD.

I’m a visual DJ. Much like a DJ mixes sounds to create songs, I sample images and text, then combine them to find where they meld, where they mesh. Bits and pieces of random media translate my messages, find their groove, and become whole as my visual songs.

Collage is life. It’s creating order out of chaos, and finding order in the chaos. Entropy enters, entropy retreats. I remix. Re-image. Reimagine …

I mix from items people normally overlook, such as publications long forgotten and discarded. I love to work with antique and vintage papers—the feel and smell, the particular colors/inks used back in the day possess such a je ne sais quoi. Working with these papers also gives me a way to travel back in time, to take something that existed and honor it while also giving it a fresh, new life! I like to blend patterns and ideas that seemingly wouldn’t “go together,” and prove that notion wrong.

I layer on imagination, depth, and sub-text.

I want you to hear my visualization as I express it, not necessarily with words, but with the flow of colors and symbols as a dazzling array of details synched to create an overture, a symphony, or the track you keep coming back to, for its hold on you connects you to something greater, something beyond …

Many of my pieces reflect the oddities contained in the philosophic subconscious and have levels of meanings I hope sing to you, resonate with you. My art comes from the mind, absolutely, but with the heart, and soul speaking in tandem, humming simultaneously. ~ LadyJennD

There is innate rebellion in collage. Destroying something. Creating something out of that destruction. It is liberating! ~ LadyJennD

CONTINUUM
 

Merriam Webster defines “continuum” as: noun

1: a coherent whole characterized as a collection, sequence, or progression of values or elements varying by minute degrees

I originally intended to call this series of meticulous and oh-so-loved works on paper “A Feeling of Fantasy,” as I felt so free and focused, and yes, IN LOVE, with the process and outcome of each one of these peculiar collages. Sure – there were some quite challenging moments and some unintended changes in direction, but I have always compared collage to life, and this series proved no different. 

These one-of-a-kind collages are odd and absurd. Inspired by the Dada movement, they are full of whimsy…They are nonsensical and bizarre; they reveal themselves as dream-like symmetries and asymmetries of decadence. The titles can explain who or what they are, but much is left unsaid, to let your imagination play, frolic, and find new points of intrigue in these surreal-ish compositions. 

The pieces comprise a series featuring much of the same types of imagery/ephemera and qualities (i.e. anthropomorphism), and thus, are a continuum in and of themselves. 

They are a mash-up of time/space, with elements from as long ago as 1909, all the way up to the last decade.

I love them. I do love ALL my art, but there is something so special about these pieces: the delicacy of all the paper on paper; the focused attention to placement; the symmetry … the geometry: the circles and ovals so meticulously drawn and deeply cared for, like eggs waiting to crack. There is no varnish, leaving them more vulnerable, just like you and I … 

I want you to feel the freedom and free-spiritedness I felt while creating ALL of them, letting the subconscious imagination take over in the process. These works, as odd and as absurd as they are, make my heart and soul FEEL something intense and beautiful. 

 

There is primal human and animal and even botanical nature prevalent in the entire Continuum series. Rich in symbolism, there is much to decipher in each of these cohesive and unique dreamscapes. 

Welcome to my brain. 

Enjoy the ride on Continuum.

Love. Always. 

LadyJennD

Estevan moved from Las Vegas, New Mexico to Albuquerque in 2007 to attend UNM where he earned a bachelor’s in fine arts in 2014. He swiftly took himself to the world of Drag where he could branch out and excel in the realms of make-up, clothing, sleight of hand, and pageantry. Estevan served as Empress 26 and is well known locally and nationally for his performances, pageant wins, and community service. Estevan shared his design skills at Pottery Barn, where he worked for nearly fifteen years, at our very own Uptown ABQ location. He now works from home in HR, for the Forestry Service of the Department of Agriculture.

In 2024, Black Wall Gallery hosted Estevan’s first show, for which he created 61 original acrylic works on canvas. Most recently he helped with set creation at Adobe Theatre for “The Red Velvet Cake Wars.” He is ecstatic to work with Soft Corners Studio Center for his second show, and to have his first two shows in one year! To say Estevan is overjoyed is an understatement. All these blessings he greatly appreciates, and he hopes his art fills viewers and collectors with joy!

I am a multimedia artist who creates portals to other dimensions, often with the goal of repairing my inner child or connecting with communities. Inspired by the symbolism of Greek mythology, my depictions began as highly embellished memorials of stolen trans people as a way of reclaiming their lives on this plane but grew to wearable metalworks, installations and furniture. In the final semester of my BFA, I discovered my own roots in Greek mythology, while working with laser etching, memories emerged of growing up in Ithaca, New York, a town rich with ancient Greek symbolism. My own rebirth (through a series of circumstances as well as navigating newly surfacing memories of C-PTSD) brought me to an affinity with Persephone and the continual cycle of life and death. Through laser etching hand drawn images onto mirrors, I was able to create works that reflected this well guarded past. 

Since graduating from UNM in 2022, I have continued my love affair with glass. Creating reverse laser etched mirrors, often gilded with foil leaf, captures the style of my hometown of Ithaca, NY, rich with art deco and art nouveau architecture and design. Laser etching glass creates “ghosts” that project when light filters through them, the same “ghosts” that reflect in mirrors when exposed to light. These projections remove the objectivity of my work, allowing all who witness my shadows to possess them momentarily, while simultaneously proving that no one permanently can. I have also fallen in love with oil painting on glass using pigments, which aid in antiquating my palette, and create a sense of time lapse within my work. Together, my pieces strive to create places of beauty and connection informed by my childhood that was not. 

My pigments were purchased at the estate sale of a late transcendental writer and artist, a sale I worked personally. Not one to order painting supports, I prefer to find them at the estate sales I work, allowing me weeks to connect with their previous owners. This evolution of my work has increased my relationship with my queer ancestors, particularly, a great uncle who was disowned from my then Southern Christian conservative family for being gay. He was also an artist, antique collector and gardener. Like me, he grew up poor and often struggled with having a stable income, yet somehow knew how to surround himself with the finest things (through being an estate’s caretaker). In this process, my work has stepped away from queer human bodies and moved on to reflect the queerness of the flora and fauna of upstate New York that protected me as a child, to the global species in peril and species lost, including humanity, to the human response of late stage capitalism, and to the natural continual apocalypse of the earth hirself.

Born in the Philippines in 1980, Tippi Hunter grew up in North Dakota and currently resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico. At age seven, Tippi became interested in radio music and the role of a disc-jockey, and began drawing and has not wavered in creativity or music production since. Holding a B.A. in Fine Arts, Tippi is a multimedia creator and visual storyteller at best producing not only creative writings or comics but also animations, video art, and musical sound art. Tippi also produces a podcast called Beat Central, featuring continuous music mixes, and remixes of popular songs. Tippi first deejayed at a middle school function in North Dakota with their large home stereo, and then continued to provide musical entertainment in high school, as well as professionally for private functions, and at clubs, bars, theaters, and other fine establishments while living in New Mexico. Tippi's artistic inspirations include the Discworld Graphic Novel illustrated by Stephen Ross, DJ such as Miss M, Tiesto, David Guettta, as well as the works of such creative individuals as Scott McCloud, and Jessica Abel, just to name a few. Tippi studies sacred geometry, astrology, metaphysics, numerology, occult science, symbolism, and most importantly, their own vivid dream landscape. Tippi is an avid fan of esoteric non-fiction & philosophy such as The Field by Lynne McTaggart, as well as fictional works such as Richard Linklater's Waking Life, and Ken Russell's Altered States. Tippi seeks to produce thought-provoking, revolutionary short stories, comics, musical mixes to make you dance, and other creative works.

Tippi is an avid birdwatcher and holds great respect for the little animals all around us.