Dancing Colors and Fluid Brushstrokes: An Interview with Watercolor Artist Jeanette Iskat

We are thrilled to have the opportunity to interview Jeanette Iskat, a talented watercolor artist who lives in Villa Nueva, New Mexico. Jeanette's beautiful and captivating paintings are showcased in Wolf Martinez Gallery, and we are excited to learn more about her creative process, inspiration, and artistic journey.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your background as a watercolor artist?

I am a certified peer support worker, someone with lived experience with addiction and mental health issues who provides support to people in crisis. I am also a writer, Painter, activist, and farmer. . I live in rural New Mexico and have lived here for about 14 years. I moved from Los Angeles. I have lived all over the world, but love living in New Mexico.

What drew you to the medium of watercolor, and what do you enjoy most about working with it? I saw watercolors at the O’Keeffe Museum during my first visit to New Mexico. I was not interested in them as a medium until I saw how abstract and messy she was with hers. I took a class at Santa Monica College and fell in love with the medium. Since seeing those paintings, I have found multiple watercolor artists whose work I greatly admire.

Your upcoming solo exhibition at Wolf Martinez Gallery is titled 'A Journey Through Dance.' Could you share with us the inspiration behind this theme? During the pandemic, I was in a critical services role at my job. I had to be very safe and only went to work and home. I love to watch people dance and often carry sketchbook with me. I began painting during my lunch hours and after work, and the theme of dance kept coming up for me. I had an abundance of photos of my friends, family and neighbors, dancing, and that eventually turned into the show.

Specifically, you mentioned being inspired by flamenco dance performances. How has flamenco influenced your artwork, and what aspects of the dance do you try to capture in your watercolor paintings? I learned about Flamenco through Vicente Grieco, an accomplished singer and teacher in the Flamenco cantante style. He invited me to my first show, with La Emi. I was in love with it from the first and found myself sketching during the performance. I focus on the color, the incredibly beautiful movement, and all of the lovely colors of the costumes. There are many styles of dance in this show but there is definitely a Flamenco focus.

Watercolor impressionism is a unique style. How would you describe your approach to creating impressionistic watercolor pieces? I love the interaction between water and the painter with watercolors. Water will have its way and you cannot control what it will do. But you can learn the ways it might behave and go from there.

Could you walk us through your creative process? How do you translate the energy and movement of dance into your artwork? I paint multiple paintings at once. I will prep my paper and layout multiple materials. Then, I do under drawings. I work on multiple pieces because so much of watercolor is doing things in an order of operations, with small things to each one, concurrently. I often listen to music while I paint and focus on remembering how that dancer made me feel watching them.

What challenges, if any, do you encounter when working with watercolors? How do you overcome them? Watercolor is a very challenging medium. It’s about what type of paper you’re using, what brush, the temperature and how fast it dries, which style of watercolor medium! I have learned to paint through my frustration and fear. There are moments when I am sure I have ruined a piece, so I just go ahead and really ruin it. In doing that, I often find something really powerful and good.

Are there any specific techniques or methods you employ to achieve the desired effect in your watercolor paintings? I love capillary action, how the pigment meets the water. Think about when you add cream to black coffee and you’ll have an idea of what it looks like. I will often paint with clean water and a very clean brush and create a shape and then add pigment and let the colors decide what they wanna do.

I also like to mix my watercolor mediums within a single piece so I might be using watercolor, crayons, gouache, metallic ink, etc. I like to play around with different kinds of paper. There’s a lot of black paper in the show because it helps capture the mood of seeing dancers in a club or on a stage.

The location of your solo exhibition is Albuquerque, New Mexico. Do you find any particular connection between your artwork and the local culture or environment? This show is so New Mexico focused. I have dancers at fiesta’s in Las Vegas and Villanueva, Flamenco in Albuquerque in Santa, Fe, ceremonial dancers from the plaza in Taos (done with their permission) … at least 90% of the dancers are of our communities in New Mexico. I take as much joy in seeing a small dancer at their first flamenco recital as I do watching a couple two step at a fiesta.

What do you hope viewers will take away from your exhibition, 'A Journey Through Dance'? I really worked hard to include all of the dancing that brings me joy and all dancing brings me joy. I hope people feel the beauty that is dance. I think dance is one of the best things that humans do. Pure joy and movement.

On a personal note, the show opens shortly after the one-year anniversary of my father’s death. I did not get to be present when he passed and he was my first art teacher. I hope he would be proud of the work.

Are there any future projects or artistic endeavors you're excited about and would like to share with us? I am very excited to be painting big, which is very challenging and difficult with watercolors. I have been refining techniques over the last couple of years and I’m really looking forward to see how I might make some really good big watercolors.

Lastly, could you tell us about any upcoming events or exhibitions where our readers can see more of your work? You can find me under my name on Facebook underwater is my church on Instagram. I am also working to update my webpage which is jeanetteiskatart.com. I show regularly with a Wolf Martinez Gallery, and often at

Alas de Agua, in Santa Fe.

Xo j

Thank you, Jeanette, for taking the time to share your insights and experiences with us. Your passion for watercolor painting is truly inspiring, and we appreciate your willingness to answer our questions. We look forward to seeing more of your incredible artwork and wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

A Journey Through Dance: Solo Exhibition by Jeanette Iskat

The Wolf Martinez Gallery is proud to present "A Journey Through Dance," a solo exhibition by watercolor artist Jeanette Iskat. The exhibition will run from June 10-24th, 2023, and it promises to be an exciting and inspiring showcase of Jeanette's beautiful and captivating paintings.

The opening reception for "A Journey Through Dance" will be held at the Wolf Martinez Gallery on June 10, 2023, from 3-6 pm. The event promises to be a celebration of art, music, and dance, with refreshments and live entertainment to set the mood for the exhibition. It's an opportunity to meet Jeanette Iskat in person, learn more about her artistic process, and connect with other art enthusiasts.

The exhibition will be open to the public for two weeks, giving everyone a chance to experience the magic of Jeanette's art. And stay tuned for an upcoming online interview with Jeanette, where she will share more about her artistic journey and what inspired "A Journey Through Dance."

So mark your calendars for June 10th and make sure to visit the Wolf Martinez Gallery to experience the beauty and joy of "A Journey Through Dance" by Jeanette Iskat. It's an exhibition you won't want to miss!

Celebrating Ancestral Truths: A Journey Through Art and Activism with Israel Haros Lopez

Welcome to the Wolf Martinez Gallery blog! We're thrilled to feature an interview with the inspiring artist, Israel Haros Lopez. With firsthand experience of migration and life as a Mexican American, Israel brings a unique perspective to his work as a mentor, educator, and activist. Despite facing academic challenges in high school, Israel's determination led him to earn degrees in English Literature and Chicano Studies from UC Berkeley, followed by an MFA in Creative Writing from California College of the Arts. His interdisciplinary approach to art includes poetry, performance, music, visual art, and video making, all of which explore the layered realities of border politics, identity politics, and historical interpretation. Join us as we delve into the world of this multifaceted artist and learn more about his impactful work.

Can you tell us a little about the work you'll be adding to the upcoming "The Contemporary West" art exhibition at Wolf Martinez Gallery? What themes or ideas does your work explore, and what inspired you to create these pieces?

My current work is exploring a couple of key concepts, some of which have been at the core of what I've been working on for years and others that are more current in my practice. As a Chicano artist working primarily in drawing and painting, one of the key things for me is exploring both contemporary and ancestral iconography which deals with the personal and the political. In our D.N.A. resides our ancestral images and it's up to those that choose to fill the role of artist to extract them from the ethers. Colonization, Capitalism and all the other isms want us to believe that we are detached from these realities but through discipline, meditation, practice, prayer our knowledge and ancestral truths is accessible to us. Some of the pieces that I am currently working on involve sacred geometry as an essential tool for balance both internally and externally. The systems of oppression that surround our presence want us to live in fear, scarcity and out of balance. My work addresses these issues by immigration, ancestral memory, amnesia and re-interpretation of histories. I am currently working with Luchadores whose ancestral and contemporary narratives are tattooed on their bodies. I am creating portraits of shadow figures that speak to ancestral pain. I am becoming more invested in the human body and mural landscape, trying to see how that comes through both on a small canvas, large canvas and a public wall.

We understand that you are part of Alas de Agua Art Collective. Can you tell us more about what it entails? How does working as part of a collective differ from working as an individual artist, and what benefits does it offer? I'm the co-founder of Alas de Agua Art Collective. I am the current Art Director and hope that someone in the local community will take over this position soon because my intention with the Alas de Agua Art Collective was to empower BIPOC artists to access resources in our community. We have been historically marginalized from artistic opportunities. The Collective is about finding the means around these barriers. To use our individual and collective force to remember that we have abundance. Currently we are working on some monumental collective art pieces. We are working large-scale 6 foot by 9-foot, 9 feet by 12 feet etc, in an effort to create plans for future murals. We challenge each other by trying to figure out organically how to incorporate different stylistic approaches on a canvas. Alas de Agua Art Collective is many things to many people. For some of us , it's a place of professional and artistic development. For others, Alas de Agua, which translates to Wings of Water, is a place to hang out, sketch and paint. We are trying to fill in different artistic needs for barrio artists. We hold weekly workshops on different topics, ranging from basic art skills to grant writing, business for artists, how to prep your work for gallery and museum level shows. I started this collective because I personally experienced to a lot of barriers in the both the nonprofit art world and the for-profit art world. I am personally a prolific artist and have seen how these oppressive systems create extra hurdles for artists of color. At the end of the day, I feel like my art practice and art try to create momentum, memory and inspiration for my community. My community is represented by artists of all colors and shades, all walks of life. Ultimately, it's important for all of us inside and outside this collective to recognize our privilege and artistic abundance. I find myself trying to daily engage in community art practices and appreciate the access and power that social media has in allowing others to access my personal practice. I feel like I rarely work in the vacuum of a solo artist. All of it is a tightrope act, of balancing personal, individual art practice and community art practice, trying to create a weaving of reciprocity that fuels both me and the artist community I interact with.

Your work often addresses a multitude of historical and spiritual layered realities of border politics, identity politics, and the re-interpretation of histories. How do you incorporate these complex themes into your work, and what message do you hope to convey through your art?

First and foremost, I hope that my work sings the songs of my ancestors. Those indigenous and Mexican ancestors that were raped, tortured, hung and continued to be abused. At the end of the day, despite colonization, despite all the continued efforts to separate us from the land and ancestral truths. I pray that my work is relentless. That it speaks to the fact that we are still here, alive, abundant, creating. Indigenous Excellence, Indigenous Existence is Indigenous Resistance. As a Chicano whose ancestors are Raramuri, Huichol, Mexican and whomever crossed our path 500 years ago. I acknowledge that I am a mix of both triumph and defeat. I try to make the work speak to all the layered complexities of this. Whether painting a paletero cruising the barrio behind a mural, a contemporary sacred geometry piece exploring ancestral motifs, a family attempting to desperately cross the border in front of American and Mexican Militia. The work dances, fights, struggles, cries, prays, hopes and sings out the complicated existence of Mexicans, Latinos, Chicanos and Indigenous bodies in the Americas before, during and after this nation we currently call America. How did your relationship with the Wolf Martinez Gallery develop, and what do you appreciate most about working with this gallery?

I met Manuel and Carolyn when they attended a show, I did years ago. I immediately fell in love with their humble commitment to support Raza Artists. I appreciate both of their amazing discipline to their craft as artists while still trying to help others be honored and paid their worth. It's been such an inspirational mirror as me and my wife Isabel Ribe continue to support Artists while also maintaining our own artistic practice. I appreciate the diverse scope of the work that they show and the inspirational technical quality, along with powerful messaging present in both Manuel and Carolyn Wolf Martinez work. We need more folks doing this work the way they are doing it. Both on the gallery business side and the artistic side of things. It feels like such a blessing and perfect home for my work.

You have brought fellow Alas de Agua members from Santa Fe to visit the Wolf Martinez Gallery. How does exposure to contemporary art impact the members, and what do you hope they take away from these experiences?

I have taken other Alas de Agua Members to the gallery to get inspired by all the layers of what is happening in the space. To me it feels like such an amazing home for both up and coming artists and established artists. We need more spaces like this. I wanted to invite other artists to bear witness to the level of professionalism and the bridge between so many different worlds that the Wolf Martinez Gallery is. I hope that Alas de Agua members get to come into the space, feel their place and find that they belong not only in this gallery but in all gallery/museum spaces that they deem worthy of them. Wolf Martinez Gallery is a place where individual artists get to flip the script, because it is run by two amazing artists who have experienced the good, bad and the ugly of the art world, they treat their artist with the utmost love and respect. I want Alas de Agua Artists to come and feel how they deserve to be treated not only as Wolf Martinez Gallery, not only at Alas de Agua Art Collective, but to set that as a standard of how they should be treated in all art spaces. Too often artists are treated as a commodity and it's important to find and create spaces where our humanity, our peace, our dignity, and our spirit remains intact.

Can you tell us a little about where you're from and what brought you to New Mexico? How has your background and upbringing influenced your work as an artist and educator? I was born and raised in East Los Angeles, California. I was raised by my Mexican mother. She crossed the border over and over and worked menial jobs in the U.S. My dad is Mexican also, born and raised in Chihuahua and has worked in the United States primarily as a Mexican Fast-Food Cook. Their hard-working hands and back guide my work. My ancestors guide my work. The artwork itself is not mine. I'm just the vessel from where it comes through. I went to UC Berkeley and got a degree in English and Chicano Studies. I went to California College of the Arts and got a M.F.A. in Writing. I am a tlacuilo. I am a poet and artist. I go between both worlds. Along my poetic journey I ended up touring and traveling to New Mexico and thought I would come live here after I "retired." The creative synergy of East Los Angeles and the city of Los Angeles that never sleeps definitely drive my prolific energy. I think going through Roosevelt High School and watching how poorly we were educated definitely drives my need to help others "get educated." Our ancestral modes of education are completely opposite to western models of education. So I try to incorporate a push and pull, a balance between western modes of art education and our ancestral memory and modes of learning. Gentrification and other realities pushed me out of my barrio in Boyle Heights. I now live in Pojoaque where I am building an art studio, farm for myself and my community. I hope to inspire others to do the same, create more spaces for our folks to create and thrive.

Finally, what advice do you have for upcoming artists who are looking to develop their craft and make a name for themselves in the art world? What lessons have you learned over the years, and what wisdom can you impart to others just starting out on this journey?

For the young artists, not young in age, but young in practice. I would say that now more than ever, we have the opportunity through social media and other platforms to convey our story without compromise. Prior to this time, many of us were dependent on institutions and galleries to propel and help us tell our story. We are more empowered than ever to tell our stories however we want to tell our stories. We can then find art homes inside and outside institutions and find our kindred spirits. If you feel like you can't find a place that fits you, then you have all the power and will in this day and age to create that. Whether it's online or in person. You can find your people. You can create your vision. But it's important to really do some deep personal digging and writing around what it is that you really want to talk about. It's important to become obsessed with your practice if you want to make a life as an artist. It's important to at some point just dive deep and lose sleep inside your artist's practice and go beyond what you think you're capable of. It's important to get some good rest. It's important to find the balance between all these things, to know when it's time to burn the midnight oil and when it's time to pause and heal. The myth of the wounded artists that creates amazing art is a way that they want us to perceive ourselves as always broken. We can use our art to heal ourselves first and then help others heal.

Thank you, Israel, for sharing your inspiring story and work with us. Your dedication to exploring ancestral iconography and addressing themes of colonization, capitalism, and oppression through various art forms is truly admirable. Your involvement in Alas de Agua Art Collective and your efforts to empower BIPOC artists to access resources in the community is a testament to your commitment to creating positive change through art. We look forward to seeing your work at "The Contemporary West" art exhibition at Wolf Martinez Gallery and wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

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