Pigments of imagination: New Mexico Watercolor Society's Signature Member Show 2025 features 90 works by 40 artists

The New Mexico Watercolor Society is showing the best of the best during its 2025 Signature Member Show at Weems Gallery and Framing.

Visitors can vote for their favorite piece as part of the People’s Choice Award at the gallery, located at 5935 Wyoming Blvd. NE. An opening reception will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 10, and the show can be viewed from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, starting Jan. 10, through Feb. 1.

Pigments of imagination: New Mexico Watercolor Society's 2025 Signature Member Show features 90 works by 40 artists

There will be 90 pieces by 40 signature watercolor society members featured in the show. The show will be judged by watercolorist Jane Fritz, who is a signature member of the society.

“This is sort of a new thing for us,” said Sally Harris, NMWS Signature Member Show at Weems co-chair and file master. “They have had signature shows in the past that were not associated with the expo show that we have every year, but we decided this year that we wanted to do something more with signature members, to promote the idea that being a signature member was a prestigious thing to do, and to give us more opportunities to show art in the community. We solicited a lot of different venues and we’re very happy with what Weems provides. They seem to be an excellent gallery with a great reputation, and we’re really excited to be working with them for the first time.”

The NMWS signature group is composed of 140 NMWS members who have been juried into at least 5 NMWS sanctioned shows over a span of 5 years. Signature membership is permanent as long as artists remain a society member. Most signature members live in New Mexico. Members who live out-of-state ship their works to local shows, according to Harris, who approached Weems to host the show.

“I was looking for another venue for a larger show, and they were an option, but there were some limitations in the way they would be able to show things for a larger show,” Harris said of Weems. “I thought, ‘Why don’t we just try a smaller show and see how this works on the signature member show?’ We anticipated having about 40 to 60 entries, and we ended up with over 90, but we’ve been able to eliminate some down to 90. So we’re very happy with the response we’ve gotten, and I think it’s going to be a beautiful show.”

Some of the art featured has already shown in other shows.

“There’s some great stuff in the show,” Harris said. “I’m very impressed with it. Some of the things in the show have already been juried into other shows, and that’s OK. This is not fresh, brand-new stuff. This is stuff that people are proud of and have done over the years. So in some ways, we’re showing even a larger scope than what we often will show in a typical show.”

Harris will have her work featured in the show included her piece “iLab” that she created in honor of her pet Labrador retriever.

“That was my pet, that was my Lab,” she said of the piece. “She passed away a couple years ago and I’m still very sad about it, but that’s her.”