The Karen Wray Gallery in Los Alamos opened its 2022 spring group exhibition after the threat from the Cerro Pelado fire forced the gallery to postpone its original schedule.
The exhibition ran from 10 June to 8 July and introduced new work by artists represented by the gallery.
New work held back for a collective opening
The gallery kept the latest pieces out of view until the opening reception, turning the event into the first opportunity for visitors to encounter the new collection and speak directly with participating artists.
Among those represented was Betty Nance Smith, whose practice ranged across flowers, portraits, children, seascapes and figurative scenes. She preferred to work from life when possible and described her paintings as celebrations of life.
That emphasis had become particularly important after the Cerro Grande fire devastated parts of Los Alamos in 2000. Smith’s work continued to seek beauty and human presence even when its wider context included loss or disruption.
An exhibition shaped by wildfire uncertainty
The 2022 show was originally planned for late May. Preparations for a possible evacuation during the Cerro Pelado fire interrupted the gallery’s schedule, although Los Alamos ultimately avoided evacuation.
This context gave the delayed opening a particular significance. The exhibition represented a return to ordinary cultural activity after a period in which artists, residents and businesses had again faced uncertainty about their homes and work.
The gallery also used the period before the exhibition to invite visitors into an art-class drawing, encouraging participation beyond the opening reception.
The spring display remained a commercial group exhibition, but its timing connected it with the region’s continuing experience of wildfire. The work of artists such as Smith showed how local practice could respond to that history without being defined entirely by disaster.