The campus community is invited to the opening artist reception of The Serpent in the Stream, Word in Ink by Shawn Turung, on Friday, Nov. 22 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Jonathan Abrams MD Art Gallery, located on the fifth floor of the Ambulatory Care Center (5ACC). This exhibition will be on display through Jan. 24, 2020.

Turung approached basic fine arts in high school, which began a career exploration of mixed media art. Through college and into professional pursuits, Turung immersed herself in Kinetic art, Lithography, Film making, Foundry, Neon, Oil Painting, Ink drawings, Ceramics, and lately “borrowing” her daughter’s Legos and her husband’s cast off Formica samples, to create fantastical worlds.

White no.one
'White no.one' by Shawn Turung.

Turung is an artist, entrepreneur, art restoration specialist, wife, and mother. She has been active in the Albuquerque art community through teaching, public and private historic and fine art restoration, and as a board member and arts board chair for Bernalillo County. Her most recent community involvement is Thirsty Eye Brewing Company, created to celebrate Albuquerque’s contemporary local art scene.

Turung believes that artists work in different portfolios or styles. Each of these styles draws from a different emotional place. Turung layers the panels as a metaphor to delve deeper. The layers also serve as a compositional alignment of the still choreography revealing a quiet, pleasing quality.

“My portfolio ranges from fantastical, multi-media works to objective painting, to non-objective gouache and ink compositions,” said Turung. “This series of works has been an important part of my journey. It is where I honed my focus and respect of the singular line in mineral pigment and ink. The immense teachings in this process requires honesty and to be wholly in the moment; it is pure, quiet and centered where body, mind, and breath are revealed through each stroke. What I love most about the ink pieces is that I cannot erase, ‘work over,’ or recreate the moment. Therefore, the process combines controlled, practiced technique with the uncertain elements of Wabi Sabi.”

The Jonathan Abrams MD Art Gallery was founded in 1991 by Dr. Jonathan Abrams, a world-renowned cardiologist who came to New Mexico while serving in the Army in 1968. Dr. Abram’s and his wife were passionate art collects, so when the University built the Ambulatory Care Center Dr. Abram decided that all the new, empty walls needed art and started by bringing art from his home to display.

From there, Dr. Abrams founded the Jonathan Abrams, MD Art Gallery in the fifth-floor hallway outside of the Department of Internal Medicine to offer New Mexican artists a place to display their artwork, and to provide a venue at The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center for patients, visitors, students and staff to view contemporary art.

The gallery is typically open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and is located on the fifth floor of the Ambulatory Care Center. Parking is available at the UNM Hospital West Parking Structure at Lomas & Yale.

For more information: Chris Fenton 272-9700 or cfenton@salud.unm.edu.