Fifth Annual Group Exhibition
July 8 - August 1, 2025
Reception: July 11, 5-7pm
Strata Gallery is pleased to announce its Fifth Annual Group Exhibition, featuring new and recent work by a selection of its Established Artist Members from across the country. The exhibition opens July 8 and will run through August 1, celebrated with a public reception on Friday, July 11, from 5:00 to 7:00 PM. This annual summer show highlights the range and vitality of artistic practices represented within the Strata community.
Founded in 2021 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Strata Gallery has established itself as an artist-run space dedicated to showcasing work based on merit rather than market trends. Located in the heart of Santa Fe’s downtown plaza, Strata provides a platform for artists who continue to push their practices in bold and thoughtful directions. Members are selected through a rigorous peer-review process led by professional artists and educators from institutions across the country.
This year’s exhibition features the work of fifteen accomplished artists:Bernice Ficek-Swenson (MN), Carlos Canul (TX), Charles Rosenthal (NM), David Olivant (NM), Elaine Duncan (NM), Frank Trocino (NM), Grant Johnson (CA), Jane Shoenfeld (NM), Jeannine Spooner Kitzhaber (MN), Lin Medlin (TX), Lita Kenyon (WA), Michael Donnelly (NM), Millian Giang Pham (AL), Shelby Shadwell (WY), and Susan Stephenson (CA).
The works in this year’s exhibition reflect a wide-ranging, deeply thoughtful engagement with the world we live in. Some artists respond directly to urgent global and political realities. Carlos Canul’s stark, poetic drawings address the violence unfolding in Palestine, while Grant Johnson’s photographs trace the visible effects of climate change on the natural world. Bernice Ficek-Swenson’s soil-based compositions echo the layered history of the land itself, reminding us of the quiet power of environmental memory. Michael Donnelly’s photographic essays explore shifts in American culture and the evolving nature of image-making.
Others turn inward, exploring identity, perception, and personal narrative. Millian Giang Pham weaves text and imagery into visual puzzles that examine cultural barriers, while David Olivant and Frank Trocino use shifting forms and emotional depth to explore what it means to connect with others. Material and process are central for artists like Jane Shoenfeld and Susan Stephenson, whose works hover between observation and abstraction, as well as for Lita Kenyon and C. J. Rosenthal, who embrace texture, spontaneity, and surface.
Elaine Duncan approaches painting as a form of movement and rhythm, often incorporating sand for added texture and play. Lin Medlin’s luminous landscapes evoke places of spiritual and emotional resonance, while Jeannine Spooner Kitzhaber’s refined compositions explore balance and formal tension. Shelby Shadwell’s hyperrealist drawings invite a visceral reaction, balancing the uncanny with the beautiful. Whether working in photography, painting, drawing, or collage, each artist brings a distinctive voice to this rich and thoughtful reflection on contemporary experience.
Join us this summer at Strata Gallery to experience a compelling range of perspectives and practices from artists committed to exploring the complexities of our time.
Strata Gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday – Saturday. For more information about Strata Gallery, the current exhibit, and the future schedule of events, please visit the Strata Gallerywebsite, Instagram, or Facebook.
