“Chamisa in the Snow” Collagraph Print by Betty Sabo

This southwest scene by Betty Sabo captures the fleeting moments of daylight as the sun dips below the horizon, casting shadows across the foreground. It's a familiar sight during winter in New Mexico when the light fades quickly, and the cold settles in. Beyond the chamisa, a small pitched-roof dwelling, characteristic of Northern New Mexico, stands quietly in the landscape. The masterful transitions in this print beautifully convey the atmosphere, setting a contemplative and evocative mood.

"Chamisa in the Snow" is a collagraph by New Mexico artist Betty Sabo. Collagraphy (also sometimes spelled as "collography") is a printmaking process that was started in the 1950s. The name comes from the Greek words koll or kolla, which means "glue," and graph, which means to write or draw. Ricardo Ximenes, the El Cerro Graphics master printer who collaborated with Sabo, provided a helpful description of the process:

"We'd take a plastic-type plate that's blank, and then we make up a mixture of a couple of different types of paste. It's made so that the artist can manipulate it on the plate, and at the same time it doesn't dry up fast. Once that's done, we have raised areas and valleys, and then we take different types of tools that we use to put the ink inside. Then we just rub it and rub it and rub it, until all the ink on the high surfaces is gone and all the ink is left down at the bottom. Then it's pressed."

The print is signed Sabo and marked 6/6 in lower left. It is mounted on a dark gray backing, under glass in a wide black frame.

Condition: excellent condition with new frame and acid-free backing

Provenance: this "Chamisa in the Snow" Collagraph Print by Betty Sabo is from a private New Mexico collection.

Recommended Reading: The Art of New Mexico - How the West is One: The Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts by Joseph Traugott

TAGS: Betty Jean Sabo, Albuquerque, Carl Von Hassler, sculpture, bronze, Paintings