One of the things I love most about being in the real estate business might surprise you. Sure, the flexible hours are great. I love being able to meet new people and talk about (or brag on) a community that I really enjoy being part of. But truthfully, getting the opportunity to take a peek into other people’s living space is fascinating to me. I suppose you might call me voyeuristic, but I’m not being creepy. I’m just interested! And sometimes, being interested pays off. For example, I recently purchased two beautiful works of art a client had inherited from his grandparents. It was a crazy amazing opportunity for me and a welcome way for this client to find a new home for something he didn’t have a use for.
It might surprise you to realize that Los Alamos homes are full of unusual and often valuable trinkets and works of art. You might scoff, but I promise you it’s true. Art in particular is something we don’t necessarily realize Los Alamos does well. At the end of last year I did a post on galleries and art classes here in Los Alamos. This week I’d like to talk about two artists in particular who are famous for their love of Northern New Mexico and their artistic renderings of Southwestern culture.
Donald “Keith” Kelley
When you plan your next (or first) visit to the Smithsonian, don’t forget to seek out a photograph by the nationally and internationally acclaimed artist, Keith Kelley. I have fond memories of Keith as he lived not far from my grandmother when I was young. He was a kind man and I own several of his paintings, which I love!
Born in Illinois in 1928, Kelley moved with his wife to Los Alamos in 1949 to work at the Safeway store. He worked at the Piggly Wiggly, later Mesa Market, until he was 46 years old. It might seem so very odd that anyone would move to Los Alamos in order to manage a grocery store, but Kelley loved the Southwest. He studied Archaeology at NMSU as a young man, but when he retired, he decided to dedicate his time to painting. He’d always had a talent for oils, but was an avid photographer as well.
Kelley was the same sort of artist as he was a man: an individual. He used a combination of oils and razor blades to achieve the gorgeous works of art which reflected life in the southwest. In 2015, after Kelley’s death in September of 2011, his family donated five of his paintings to the Los Alamos Medical Center to hang in the front lobby. He often gave works of art to friends all over town, some painted during the time he was still working at the grocery store. For that reason, many of his paintings can still be found in homes all over Los Alamos.
Kelley was 82 when he passed away, but he still has family living here in Los Alamos and in other places in the United States to carry on the memory of this talented man. Kelley’s art hangs in American Embassies in Moscow, Russia and Pretoria, and South Africa. Every painting by Kelley includes a “hidden bunny”, something Kelley did deliberately to encourage viewers to enjoy his art in new and unique ways.
Secundino “Sec” Sandoval
A story folks use to tell about Sec Sandoval is that he once took a painting class and was asked to paint a nude model. When the model disrobed, Sec reportedly left the classroom and went outdoors to paint birds. The talented artist was mostly self taught and though he often sought to improve his technique, he didn’t enjoy being told what to paint.
Sandoval began drawing at the age of five, struggled in school as a young man, but ended on a high note as the captain of the football team before graduating 7th in his class at LAHS. He graduated with a BA from Adams State in Alamosa, CO and went on to be a technical illustrator for the US Army Aggressor Center in the late forties and fifties. Sandoval returned to Los Alamos and worked for the Lab for 15 yrs before retiring and devoting his time to his love of painting.
Sandoval is known for paintings of the Southwest that are so true to life that they resonate with other lovers of Southwestern culture and landscapes. Sandoval never painted while outdoors. He reportedly didn’t like the unpredictability of the weather. Instead, he took pictures and painted from those. Or, he was fond of making a sketch of a rock or a tree and then creating a painting based upon his own ideas. In the end, most of his paintings were of fictional places inspired by places and animals he saw throughout his daily life. He is best known for oils and watercolors of the aspen trees and wildlife of the Pajarito Plateau. He reportedly told one a friend that he could never get the aspens “quite right”, but that he intended to keep on trying until he did. If you’ve ever seen any of Sandoval’s paintings, you probably agree with me that he certainly got that right and so much more!
If you’d like to acquire some of these works for yourself, you might try contacting the Karen Wray Gallery. Or, you might be surprised what you find by contacting the Cricket Window and checking out some of their estate sales around town. And when you’re ready to buy or sell real estate in Los Alamos, give me a call. I’d love to talk about Los Alamos with you!
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