Harold Joe Waldrum

P A I N T I N G S, L I N O C U T S & E T C H I N G S

There is a beautiful place in the United States of America. It is in northern New Mexico between the two mountain ranges. This place is called 'The Cradle.' Its people, the land, and its elements are special and peculiar. I find the genius of this place reflected in the churches.
H. Joe Waldrum

In 1980 Waldrum began to sketch and paint the Spanish churches of northern New Mexico. His decision to focus on the sacred adobe structures of the high desert was the critical breakthrough in his art. For Waldrum the churches represent the physical and spiritual reality of the Penitente people of New Mexico -- the focus of their personal faith and a pervasive part of their daily lives. In 1982 he wrote: "The people of this area have focused their collective thought on their churches. As an artist it is my job to distill that focus until it communicates." Patricia Janis Broder, The American West:The Modern Vision, (Little, Brown & Co., Boston)

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