'I'm just going to keep painting': Artist Sofia Savage embraces the line between representation and abstraction

Within the translucent bands of color in Sofia Savage’s paintings, much is suggested, but nothing is said.

The retired graphic artist creates acrylic and mixed-media pieces, crossing and embracing the line between representation and abstraction. Landscapes appear yet recede. Rectangular blocks of color suggest ghostly divides between the tangible and the spiritual.

“At my core, I always was an artist,” she said.

Savage grew up in tiny La Jara (population 272), where her family formed a cyclone of creativity. Her mother was both a painter and a potter. Her father penned short stories. The family also knew Ross Carla Ward, the owner of the Tinkertown Museum in Sandia Park.

'I'm just going to keep painting': Artist Sofia Savage embraces the line between representation and abstraction

“She was like my mentor,” Savage said. “She was a very independent, capable woman, and I really liked that.”

Savage earned an associate’s degree in graphic design at Central New Mexico Community College and worked in that field until her retirement six years ago.

One day, she read the Wallace Stevens poem “Sunday Morning,” where he discusses the nature of the afterlife and the role of God and nature in the creation of paradise.

“I thought, ‘I’m going to paint that,’ ” Savage said. She bought an easel, some brushes and paint. She fell into an even more contemplative place after the death of her mother.

“I was thinking how close we are connected on the other side of the veil,” she said. “It’s an expression of interconnectedness between spirituality and each other.”

Gallery owner Roy Johnson sold eight of Savage’s paintings at her first show.

“She’s fresh; she’s young,” he said. “She’s a young painter. She’s trying to find herself. They’re so calm; they’re serene. They’re the kind of paintings you want to see when you wake up in the morning.”

Her wide bands of paint act as horizon lines, creating a sense of symmetry and balance. She doesn’t sketch out her compositions, preferring to load her brush and see what happens. Sometimes a window view from her home studio provides inspiration.

“I consider them more of a semi-abstract landscape,” Savage said. “I’m influenced by the colors and textures in New Mexico. I love the sense of symmetry and balance. For me, it’s very calming.”

“Moon Kissed” is a diptych created with acrylic over plaster on canvas. “Sunset Hues” began with another window view from her High Desert home. “After the Rain” is more metaphorical than literal.

“It was representing the times when you finally emerge from a great struggle or crisis, and you arrive at a different place after the storm,” she said.

Sumner & Dene staged Savage’s first gallery show in July. She’s unsure of the next step when its doors close Oct. 31.

“I’m just going to keep painting.”