“Book of Cranes”

Local artist, Estelle L. Roberge, took inspiration from her observations of sandhill cranes to create the pieces in her art show “The Book of Cranes”, which is on display at the Macey Center February 2 through the 28th.

“It is my hope that those who come to the exhibition will walk away with a deeper appreciation for the precious wilderness resources that are nearby, the Bosque Del Apache and the Gordon Ladd Waterfowl Complex. The bird sanctuaries are my places of solace, open space and healing,” Roberge said.

Roberge said she created the pieces during the pandemic while she was spending most of her time alone and found herself spending a lot of time at the refuge. Using a variety of paper and photographs, Roberge enjoyed the process of cutting and recutting, measuring, tracing, drawing and coloring and spent hours examining and re-examining compositional arrangements.

“As I became more deeply involved in the collage process, a calming element emerged, and I began to overcome that underlying sense of panic. I found myself entering states of quietude and tranquility, even though everything around had seemed to fall to pieces: jobs, schools, hospital care and, most of all, the enormous loss of life,” Roberge said. “The images in the collages began to reflect my experiences of isolation, of memory and melancholy, of hope, and of nature.”

Roberge is an award- winning artist and, over the years, has worked in paint, collage, as printmaker and an art educator. Her work is currently exhibited in four galleries, including the Macey Center, and in Santa Fe. She has been doing art exhibits since 1986 showing her art all over the country. Most recently she was involved with the mural project of birds and flowers of New Mexico at the NMT Children’s Center sandbox in 2023. There is an opportunity to meet Roberge at her art show at the Macey Center on Thursday, February 15 from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Jessica Carranza Pino, Editor