sa国际传媒官网网页入口

In recent decades, sa国际传媒官网网页入口 has become a world center for the art of pastels, having hosted more International Association of Pastel Societies (IAPS) conventions than any other city. When IAPS returns to Hotel sa国际传媒官网网页入口 in Old Town for its flagship biennial convention, they will also present 鈥淧astelWorld,鈥� a free, public exhibition of rigorously juried pastel works by members of pastel societies from around the world.

The convention first came to Santa Fe in 1999 and since then has been held in sa国际传媒官网网页入口 12 times. 

鈥淭hat鈥檚 been our imprint. And the exhibition has been a major part of it,鈥� Richard McKinley, IAPS president, said. 鈥溾�� It鈥檚 a very festive event. It鈥檚 like a big family reunion for pastel on a global scale.鈥�

Caprise Cooper, president of the Arkansas Pastel Society, serves as the exhibition chair this year. She is responsible for managing the artist submission and jurying process, coordinating shipping and logistics through festival partner Weems Gallery and overseeing the installation and judging of the exhibition.

鈥淚 came (to the convention) two years ago for the very first time, and I was on cloud nine the entire time,鈥� Cooper said. 鈥溾�� It鈥檚 just an amazing opportunity.鈥�

Participating artists come from as far afield as China and Australia. The 2026 exhibition includes 175 works across two divisions: 87 in the open division and 88 in the master circle division 鈥� from a submission pool of hundreds. As Cooper explained, the open division is open to anyone who is a member of a participating pastel society, whereas the master circle division is reserved for those who have achieved 鈥渕aster circle鈥� status within IAPS.

鈥淚f you are accepted into the show (in the open division), you receive a point. If you also win an award in that show, you receive a point. Once you receive five points, you are considered a master circle pastelist. So, you become part of this elevated level of artists based on the work that you鈥檝e done,鈥� Cooper said.

This year鈥檚 judge, Sylvie Poirson, is the president of Art du Pastel en France, a prominent pastel society. She will be awarding prizes, including a best of show award called the Prix de Pastel for both divisions, which carries a $2,000 cash prize.

McKinley said pastels have gone in and out of favor as an artistic medium over the centuries but are currently experiencing a renaissance.

鈥�(Maurice) Quentin de La Tour was producing pastel (works) 100 years before (Edgar) Degas, and we all know what a debt we owe Edgar Degas for propelling the medium back into the forefront,鈥� McKinley said. 鈥淏ut during the rococo period in France (when de La Tour was working), pastel artists were the toast of the town. The only reason they fell out of favor was because of the guillotine. (Pastel) artists were guilty by association of being the favored artists (of the aristocracy). 鈥� So, it then laid dormant until Degas resurrected it again.鈥�

Pastel societies began cropping up in the 1970s, McKinley said, and since the publication of Pastel Journal in the early 2000s, interest in pastels has only grown.

鈥淧astelWorld鈥� will feature a range of genres, from landscape to portraiture, and styles ranging from photorealism to abstraction.

鈥淓arly on, the majority were representational and more realistic, but over my time and service of being involved, it鈥檚 become more contemporary, which is very exciting,鈥� McKinley said. 鈥淭hat also speaks to the relevancy of the medium, that it is being picked up more and more by younger generations. 鈥� So, there are more and more abstracts and works with more of a contemporary bent, versus the old classicism.鈥�

McKinley and Cooper both said that representational works are still the majority, but visitors will discover a rich variety of styles and approaches.

Cooper鈥檚 own work was accepted into the open division this year. Among her favorite subjects are rusted cars, including a 1951 Mercury that Cooper found at a house she bought in 2018.

鈥淪omeone had cut the back off and put a Dodge truck bed on it, and I thought, I have never done a car, but I鈥檓 going to try this because I just loved the scene,鈥� Cooper said.

She has been making pastels of old cars ever since, as well as other works that reflect her local surroundings.

Pastel artists are often attracted to the medium鈥檚 immediacy, which does not require specialized tools or knowledge of paint mixing. They simply pick up a pigmented stick and begin making marks 鈥� a process that McKinley likens to prehistoric cave painters.

鈥淧rehistoric humans picked up pigments. They picked up dirt. They picked up earth tones and ochres and siennas and carbon, and with a little spittle they would sometimes form it into pads and little sticks and begin making marks,鈥� he said.

McKinley has toured some of the original cave painting sites in France and been inspired by them.

鈥淎s humans, we want to communicate. 鈥� And it鈥檚 interesting, (thinking about) those caves, because we don鈥檛 know exactly what they were doing it for 鈥� if they were offerings to the gods or whatever 鈥� but once found, we know that somebody was there. And they鈥檙e giving us some symbols of what they saw. I think every artist at their core is motivated by that sense of wanting to communicate with someone else.鈥�

鈥淧astelWorld鈥� opens on Wednesday, June 17, and runs through Saturday, June 20, at Hotel sa国际传媒官网网页入口.

Logan Royce Beitmen is an arts writer for the sa国际传媒官网网页入口. He covers visual art, music, fashion, theater and more. Reach him at lbeitmen@abqjournal.com or on Instagram at .