Gretchen Overman has lived in and around Santa Fe, New Mexico since 1968.
Gretchen spent part of her early childhood in the Cerrillos hills in an adobe house her parents bought unfinished––only four walls and a roof. They had an outhouse, a wood stove and dirt and stone floors. The leaking roof eroded adobe walls in rivulets which piled up as mud pies at their bases. Orange water ran from the kitchen tap, and they bathed from an enamel basin. Everything was rust and dirt, framed by sky, hills and trees. It was magical.
These paintings are abstracts of Gretchen's rusted baking pans. Her process is informed by the organic, temporal processes of erosion and patination- the accidental combinations
she perceives as real art.
Gretchen is an award-winning architectural finish artist. She has been recognized by the Santa Fe Historic Foundation for her work at the Historic Randall Davey House and Studio at the Audobon Center and Sanctuary. In addition she was honored for her years applying her masterly skills to the preservation of historic properties in the Santa Fe area. A local, small business owner since 1993, Gretchen specializes in the use of real color in traditional lime wash, mineral paints and plasters.
