Featured EACA Member Artists

🎨 FEATURED ARTIST (March 2026) Tom Leech : Master of Paper, Ink, and Imagination For nearly half a century, Tom Leech has explored the expressive possibilities of paper, ink, and the printed page. A master of book arts, marbled paper, and printmaking, Leech’s work bridges the worlds of fine art, literature, and craft. His richly layered papers—alive with swirling color and intricate patterns—transform a traditional decorative technique into a contemporary visual language. Leech served for two decades as curator and director of the Press at the Palace of the Governors, where he helped shape one of Santa Fe’s most beloved cultural institutions. During his tenure at the New Mexico History Museum from 2001 to 2021, he curated numerous celebrated exhibitions including Album Amicorum: Gems of Friendship in a Frightened World, The Saint John’s Bible, Jack Kerouac and the Writer’s Life, and Gustave Baumann and Friends: Artist Cards from Holidays Past. Most recently, he completed work curating the Gustave Baumann exhibition at the New Mexico Museum of Art, continuing his longstanding role as a steward of New Mexico’s artistic heritage. Throughout his career, Leech has printed and published an impressive range of fine press books and broadsides. His projects include Doctor Franklin & Spain, Jack Thorp’s Songs of the Cowboys, O’Keeffe Stories, and the Word Art Poetry Portfolio. He has also produced limited editions for each of Santa Fe’s Poets Laureate—bringing together poetry, typography, and handcrafted materials in elegant printed works. Beyond the pressroom, Leech’s personal artwork reveals a deeply imaginative visual voice. His drawings combine elements of storytelling, symbolism, and gentle satire, often populated with dreamlike characters and subtle social commentary. These works echo the spirit of the printed page—inviting viewers to read images the way one reads a poem. Leech’s contributions to the arts extend far beyond Santa Fe. In 1994 he co-founded the Paper Road/Tibet Project, teaching traditional papermaking to disabled and orphaned children in Lhasa and rural Tibet. He also participated in the 1990 and 1992 Everest Environmental Expeditions. Closer to home, since 2010 he has facilitated events for the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project at the New Mexico History Museum, using art and language to foster connection and memory. His achievements have earned wide recognition, including the Santa Fe Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts (2013), the Carl Hertzog Award for Excellence in Book Design (2014), and the Edgar Lee Hewett Award (2015). Today, several of his marbled and handmade papers are held in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Through decades of dedication to craft, creativity, and community, Tom Leech continues to demonstrate the enduring power of the handmade page—where art, history, and storytelling meet.

🎨 FEATURED ARTIST (January 2025) Marilynn Jennings: Dreams, Myth, and Material "I paint my own day. Events are my palette. My soul is my brush.” Marilynn Jennings is a multimedia artist working in printmaking, painting, and fused glass, guided by a lifelong exploration of dreams, myth, and the inner landscape. Her abstract work translates fluidly across all three mediums, using color, pattern, and layered surfaces to suggest emotion, memory, and archetypal presence rather than literal narrative. Her paintings and prints often evoke figures, symbols, and textured fields that feel both personal and universal. Influenced by Jungian psychology and dream imagery, Jennings’ work explores the mysterious terrain of the personal and collective unconscious, inviting viewers to slow down and engage with their own internal responses. In fused glass, translucency and light become essential elements. Jennings pushes the medium beyond the purely functional, creating wall works and sculptural pieces that often incorporate wood or metal. Printmaking and glass frequently appear in dialogue, reinforcing themes of layering, transparency, and transformation. Jennings grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona, earned her undergraduate degree at Arizona State University, and later completed a master’s degree in counseling psychology at California State University, Chico. Alongside a decades-long career as a licensed psychotherapist, she has maintained a professional art practice for more than 30 years. Her work has been exhibited nationally in galleries and juried exhibitions across the Southwest and beyond, and she has collaborated with architects and interior designers on both public and private projects. Now based in Santa Fe, Jennings draws inspiration from the high desert’s open skies and expansive landscape. Active in the local arts community, she is a member of New Mexico Women in the Arts and is New Mexico True Certified. As she writes, “I paint my own day. Events are my palette. My soul is my brush.” Her work invites viewers into a contemplative space—one where personal meaning quietly unfolds. ​​To explore more of her work, visit Marilynn Jennings' website at https://www.jenningsfineart.com/(https://www.jenningsfineart.com/)

🎨 FEATURED ARTIST (January 2025) Reframing the Southwest Through Collage, Light, and Time Sam Elkind’s photography invites viewers into a world where the familiar landscapes of the Southwest are reimagined through a uniquely constructed lens. Working exclusively in black-and-white, Sam blends his lifelong mastery of photographic technique with an inventive approach to composition—assembling multiple frames into expressive, collage-like panoramas that reshape our sense of space, history, and perception. Whether capturing the sculptural cliffs of northern New Mexico, the weathered stonework of ancient ruins, or the delicate winter shadows cast across adobe walls, Sam’s images reflect a deep attentiveness to form. His work often bends or fragments the frame, transforming traditional landscapes into abstract meditations. These assembled images—sometimes sweeping, sometimes intimate—echo the tactile experience of darkroom craft while pushing photography into a realm that feels sculptural and hand-built. Sam’s creative roots stretch back to the 1970s, when he learned darkroom processes while working at a photo studio in Illinois. Although his professional path later led to a long career in transportation, the discipline and curiosity of those early years remained constant. Over decades of exploring the world through his lens, Sam developed a visual language marked by clarity, restraint, and a literary sense of atmosphere—no surprise given his academic background, holding degrees in English from Lawrence University and the University of Virginia. Today, in retirement, Sam has returned fully to his art. His recent works—several of which are shown here—demonstrate a striking blend of documentary precision and imaginative reconstruction: • Stark mesas layered into rhythmic, shifting horizons • Ruins reconstructed from multiple vantages, forming new architectural forms • Doorways, shadows, and tree limbs woven into intimate spatial puzzles • Skyward views of ancient stone walls warped and curved into sculptural voids These images are not merely photographs; they are re-envisioned spaces, shaped by memory, movement, and the subtle distortions of time. Each piece invites viewers to linger, explore, and reconsider what a landscape—natural or human-built—can reveal when seen from more than one moment at once. To explore more of his work, visit Sam Elkind’s website at www.samelkind.com.(http://www.samelkind.com)

🎨 FEATURED ARTIST (November 2025) Whimsy in Paper and Play: The Art of Mary Ellen Matthews “A touch of humor can make people more lighthearted.” — Mary Ellen Matthews When artist Mary Ellen Matthews decided to learn something new during the pandemic, she didn’t expect it would lead to a menagerie of mischievous papier-mâché animals that radiate joy and humor. Splitting her time between Santa Fe and San Antonio, Mary Ellen turned to YouTube tutorials and a healthy dose of curiosity to teach herself sculpture—an artistic leap that quickly became her passion. Each sculpture invites the viewer to smile, to pause, and to find joy in the small absurdities of the world — a reminder that art can be both beautifully made and wonderfully mischievous. Her creations, from comic-strip-covered jackrabbits to striped dogs and expressive crows, are as much about spirit as they are about form. Each piece brims with personality—tongues out, whiskers wild, and poses that seem ready to spring into life. Using papier-mâché, handmade papers, and fragments of printmaking and assemblage, she builds characters that bridge fine art and storytelling. “I wanted to make them whimsical,” she explains. “A touch of humor can make people more lighthearted.” That sentiment infuses every sculpture—turning recycled materials into moments of delight. In her studio, surrounded by brushes, fabric scraps, and vibrant papers, Mary Ellen shapes each animal by hand, layer by layer. The result is an evolving world of color and texture—a testament to reinvention, imagination, and the belief that art can lift the spirit one smile at a time. ​ Mary Ellen Matthews was a featured participant in the 2025 Eldorado Studio Tour™, welcoming visitors to Studio #2.