Featured Artist: Margarete Bagshaw

Margarete Bagshaw-Tindel (1964-2015) embodies the creative spark passed from generation to generation. Both her grandmother, the world-renowned painter from the 1930s Pablita Velarde, and her mother Helen Hardin, painter extraordinaire out of the 1960s, spread their spiritual passion on canvas. Though Bagshaw-Tindel was intimidated by the fame of her direct ascendants, the strength of her personal creativity, passion, and commitment is seen in her astounding, innovative soft-focus pastels.

Though some of her work is reminiscent of her mothers-the use of color and the circular form-she leaps way beyond her legacies in making her own statements about her perspective on life. ""I keep myself solid through prayer and meditation,"" Bagshaw-Tindel says.

Many of her paintings are inspired by creation stories and her interest in the concept of creation and completion-Gods creation, the creation of humanity, and the Pueblo creation myth. ""Just like my grandmother and mother, art is my passion, and you cant really do anything well unless you are passionate about it,"" she says.

Bagshaw-Tindels career is skyrocketing because she has been unusually patient about its evolution, taking her time to understand painting both in detail and from an overall perspective. ""Since I have begun painting with oil, I have a whole new appreciation of artists and a deeper commitment to the medium. My oils show a maturity I have not experienced before. Oil talks back; pastel does not,"" she laughs. ""I feel I am moving on from former chains to the past, to new insights of my own.""

Bagshaw-Tindels work speaks of the spirit that exists in all true Native American fine art, one of the characteristics that set it apart from so much art produced today and why these art forms become so precious to contemporary collectors.

Trailblazing, visionary, and incredible, Blue Rain Gallery in Santa Fe, NM is proud to display Margarete Bagshaw's abstract paintings.