Blog

R. Melinda Hoffman was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Chicago's gritty, vibrant inner city. Her passion for creativity led her to the School of the Art Institute, where she studied art, photography, and fashion design. After retiring from a prolific career in fashion as a designer, set builder, art director, visual manager, and buyer, Hoffman forged a new path as an artist, showcasing her works at galleries, travel shows, and now form & concept. Read her interview to learn more about her practice and what inspired her latest exhibition, Accoutrements, Amulets, Adornments.

Ekin Balcıoğlu is a visual artist and editor, and the owner of Old Bones - Gallery for Clay and Textiles in Arroyo Seco, NM. On the heels of The Mortal Coil, Balcıoğlu sat down with us to discuss her partnership with ceramicist Max Massey, the connection between her heritage and sgraffito iconography, and her bathing magazine, Hamam. 

TinTin (Tin Maung Htwe)  is a natural artist. He has never set out to define the work he makes. He simply creates, remaining receptive to the varied influences in his life, from the political turmoil of his home country of Burma to his experiences rubbing elbows with the artists of NYC's underground art scene, to becoming a father and relocating to the Southwest. Although he's label-averse — as you will see in this interview — TinTin is a humble Renaissance man capable of synthesizing ideas and materials to create provocative art. This interview between TinTin and our communications director has been snipped from a longer artist interview from 30 November 2024, one day after the opening of the artist's latest exhibition Rodeo Drive, on view until 15 March 2025.

 

The Mortal Coil is a group exhibition of sgraffito vessels by Ekin Balcıoğlu & Max Massey & ceramic tile vignettes by Em Kettner. Together this curation of works demonstrate how craft, often relegated to the far corner of art history, has long been responsible for the objects that inform our understanding of material culture and art. Read the foreword to the exhibition written by Spencer Linford, communications, and preview works from the show in their curatorial context. The Mortal Coil is on view at form & concept from 2.28.25 to 5.3.25.

Jacks McNamara is a genderqueer, neurodivergent writer, artist, activist, podcaster, educator, performer, and healer based on the Tewa land called O’ga P’ogeh and also known today as Santa Fe, New Mexico. McNamara is the co-founder of The Icarus Project, a participatory adventure in radical mental health and mutual aid now known as The Fireweed Collective. In 2012 Jacks was selected as a Lambda literary fellow, and their first book of poetry, Inbetweenland, was released by Deviant Type Press in 2013. Jacks hosts the podcast So Many Wings, which is a series of conversations at the intersection of transformative mental health and social justice.

 

In this brief interview of 6 questions, we catch up with Jacks McNamara and discuss their latest exhibition, The Poetics of Growth, as well as process, inspirations, new art directions, and more.

Paulina Ho is a New Mexico-based multidisciplinary artist & designer working in numerous mediums, including ceramic, paper, and acrylic paint. Her graphic-forward style combines representational figuration and abstract expression to translate the experience of private emotions and thoughts into three-dimensional objects. Composed of distorted proportions and perspectives and exaggerated color, shapes, and scale, Ho's fantastical visual universe converts our solitary experience of consciousness into relatable caricatures that achieve a charming balance of whimsy and existentialism.

 

In this brief interview of 5 questions, we get the backstory to Ho's first project space show Character Development (on view until October 15th). Catch a glimpse of how Ho's studio practice came to be and get the low-down on the best pizza in Santa Fe.

Rosemary Meza-DesPlas' My Hair Story: from Brunette to Gray uses the medium of hair as a tool to understand the sexualization of Latina bodies, gender-based burdens, & the relationship between sex, violence, and women in popular media. Read statements about the exhibition from Meza-DesPlas and gallery communications director Spencer Linford. Meza-DesPlas' exhibition is on view at form & concept through 31 August 2024.

New Mexico-based artist Rosemary Meza-DesPlas' is a  an intersectional feminist and multidisciplinary artist known for her hair-drawing practice. Read her artist statement to learn more about the ethos behind her expansive studio practice.

A Feast to Remember is a sprawling mixed media exhibition that features monumental paintings and fanciful ceramic creatures by Santa Fe-based interdisciplinary artist Jenny Day. This is the second exhibition in a yearlong series spanning the second floor of our dual gallery. Each themed showcase interweaves editioned works on paper from Zane Bennett Contemporary Art with contemporary craft objects from its sister collection, form & concept.

A Tenuous Thread is a retrospective encompassing five decades of creative output by master weaver Bhakti Ziek. Read statements from Ziek and curator Jordan Eddy, and virtually explore the show in our new exhibition guide. A Tenuous Thread is on view at form & concept through April 26, 2024.

Eric Cousineau is a photographer with artistic and commercial practices. He holds a degree in photography from Oakland Community College and received a BFA from College of Santa Fe in 2003. Cousineau studied with documentary and art photographers David Scheinbaum, Steve Fitch, Nancy Sutor, and Tony O’Brien. Born in Iowa City and raised in Flushing Michigan, Cousineau currently resides in Santa Fe, NM.

 

As part of Cousineau's participation in form & concept's latest group show Salt Pillars, the artist treated curious patrons to a discussion of previously unexhibited photographs and selected works from his American Motel series. The talk was moderated by gallery director and curator Jordan Eddy. The following transcript is excerpted from that talk, and has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Andrés Mario de Varona is a first-generation Cuban-American artist who was born in Miami and now lives and works in Northern New Mexico. Since relocating to the high desert, Varona has been obsessed with life, imbuing his recent work with a palpable sense of resilience that lies beneath the raw, mysterious surface of the images he creates.

 

As part of Varona's participation in form & concept's latest group show Salt Pillars, the artist treated curious patrons to a discussion of selected works from his TRIALS series moderated by gallery director and curator Jordan Eddy. The following transcript is excerpted from that talk. The transcript is a dialogue between Varona, Jordan Eddy, and to a certain extent, TRIALS family member Marcia Reifman. The transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Art enthusiasts and political activists gathered at form & concept on September 9th to witness internationally acclaimed artist Chaw Ei Thein perform a conceptual piece within her solo exhibition WANTED. The performance aimed to convey the social and political realities of living under a military dictatorship. Relive the performance with these event shots by Byron Flesher. 

 

DISCLAIMER: THIS POST CONTAINS SENSITIVE IMAGERY. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Friends, family, collectors, journalists, and curious art enthusiasts gathered at form & concept on August 18th to celebrate the return of local legend and internationally renowned artist Armond Lara. Relive the magic with these event shots by Byron Flesher.

Susan Aaron-Taylor is an artist and educator working in craft sculpture on the threshold of consciousness, an intangible place where psychological visions and lived experiences mix in various ratios to create objective reality. A communicator by vocation, Aaron-Taylor calls forth, sustains, and shares the fleeting knowledge uncovered in dreams through her sculpted felt works. These works tend toward the autobiographical and use Jungian psychology, shamanistic practices, and a sense of universal spirituality to expose the common, intangible threads that link humans to one another.

Read a Q&A with Tom and Ravenna Osgood about their joint show, Our Place: to the moon and back on a rocket ship from Rome, compiled from Tom’s last interview. Light-hearted in character, this conversation paints an intimate portrait of Tom’s rich life and Ravenna’s promising artistic career. Stop by form & concept on April 28th from 5-7 pm to experience Tom and Ravenna’s cosmically connected art space.

We are forever grateful to the Osgood family for allowing us to conduct this interview in their home. The interview transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.