'Architecture of Beauty': Artwork supports New Mexico Cancer Center Foundation

Gallery With A Cause is showcasing 360 works by 16 New Mexico artists to support the New Mexico Cancer Center Foundation.

“The Architecture of Beauty — Works by Prominent NM Artists” features a diverse range of artwork and is on display through Nov. 21. Gallery with a Cause is in the New Mexico Cancer Center, displaying artwork throughout the building for patients to enjoy and to raise money for the foundation. The gallery is open to the public by appointment only.

Donna Loraine Contractor, a weaver, has been featured in the show in the past and said it feels nice to know her artwork is helping to improve people’s situations.

“I love to do this show, because the people that see it, most of them have some kind of illness that they went through,” Contractor said. “After the show or during the show, I get a lot of emails from the patients saying, ‘Your work uplifts me. It makes me feel better.’”

Regina Held, gallery curator, is responsible for gathering, displaying and selling the artwork to the public.

“The main purpose is to have something beautiful to look at while you’re waiting for your treatment, which can be very scary,” Held said.

Held said her goal is to “provide a space that’s serene and beautiful and also entertaining.” She focuses on lighthearted art and avoids anything “hardcore political” or about cancer.

“I like to bring in art that is maybe a little bit humorous, occasionally thoughtful, and maybe, I wouldn’t say provocative, but I like to make people think, too,” Held said.

Artist Colleen Gregoire said the public can preview the show at www.gallerywithacause.org.

“I’d encourage people to go to the website, because all 16 artists, all of their paintings are on the website,” she said.

Gregoire was in the show in 2023 with paintings of architecture and is returning this year with plein air landscapes. She said she has a closer connection to the cause this year.

“The experience has been a little more meaningful this time, because I have a good friend who’s dealing with cancer,” Gregoire said. “So it’s just nice to be involved in something that helps people who are having challenges covering the costs of certain things.”

For Holly Roberts, who works in collage, the show is a chance for local artists and their work to be recognized.

“As artists … you want people to see what you do,” Roberts said. “And if you don’t have some kind of venue, I think you just kind of curl up in on yourself and feel terrible.”

She hopes that the artwork on display will encourage people to see art in different ways.

“What I would hope is that they would see the art, be interested, enjoy it, hopefully want to take one home,” Roberts said.