Local Artisan Collaborations

New Mexico is an artisan community and we believe in the power of collaboration. Each year we commission a local artist to create an original work of art to represent a new candle scent.

We are now collaborating with local potters to create unique vessels that are distinctively New Mexico.

We are grateful and appreciative of their collaborations with us.

Sean Wells y Delgado

Sean is an award-winning 5th generation Hispanic artist that has been a juried member of the Spanish Colonial Arts Society in the retablo category producing traditional Saint images.

She is also well-known for her Day of the Dead themed art that has appeared on nationally distributed beers and wines and New Mexico Lottery scratchers. Her Saints and her Sinners, as she calls them, all deal with suffering and healing.

The skeleton imagery has also become more symbolic in these times of division as a symbol. It is the foundation that we all share as humans. Sean aspires to educate on Hispanic culture through art and create space for compassion and understanding.

Sean received "Best Visual Artist" from Albuquerque the Magazine and the 2019 Hispanic Heritage Award in Arts & Culture. Sean also demonstrates, teaches and presents to children and adults throughout New Mexico on themes related to her art imagery.

Purchase her original artwork, prints, and jewelry at Sean Wells Creates.

Michael Wieclaw

Michael Wieclaw is an Albuquerque-based illustrator, graphic designer, and screen printer. He brings his unique vision of locally loved designs on apparel, hats, pins, and stickers on his websites, Metal the Brand and the NM Sticker Company.

Michael is a winner of the Albuquerque The Magazine's Best Visual Artist.

Michael Toya

Michael Toya is of Jemez Pueblo descent and at a young age, he was certain that becoming an artist was his calling. Being exposed to traditional drawings and paintings, through familial ties, prompted Michael to focus in on pursuing a career in the art world.

Michael is a self-taught artist incorporating various mediums, from acrylics to intricate free-hand mat cut designs, into every piece. You will also notice Culturally interpreted designs found in his works that educate everyone on what he upholds and believes in. It is in these designs that offer spiritual and motivational strength to the viewer.

Michael creates traditional and pop-culture iconic figures infusing them with cultural symbolism of design. He gives his love of certain pop-culture iconic figures a taste of Native flair.

Follow Michael Toya to keep up on where he will appear at next.

Wendy Ahlm

From the moment Wendy Ahlm could pick up a crayon, she wanted to be an artist. She received a BFA in printmaking and painting from Carnegie Mellon University. She moved to New Mexico in 1996 and fell in love with the big sky, never-ending views and spectacular sunsets.

Wendy paints southwest landscapes in oil, pastel and watercolor. She is seized by light and color and moves through the world inspired by her surroundings. Her work is often infused with bright, unusual color. She loves to have fun and finds joy in painting everyday objects in addition to painting landscapes.

In October 2018, Wendy participated in her first-ever plein air painting event, the Red Rocks Arts Festival in Moab, UT. She won second place in watercolor for her piece, “Passage” and an honorable mention for her oil painting, “La Sal Station.” Later that year, she joined the Plein Air Painters of New Mexico and began painting in more plein air events.

Wendy paints JOY. Typically, you can find her outside painting landscapes in oil, pastel and watercolor. Her work is often infused with bright, unusual color. She loves to have fun and finds joy in everyday objects in addition to painting landscape, often painting dinosaurs and other toys that make her laugh and tell a story.

And, in case you want to know one of her secrets — she often travels with a small plastic dinosaur who likes to sneak in progress photos during her painting adventures.

Wendy is an award-winning artist, view her paintings at Wendy Ahlm Fine Art.

Peter Rodney Breaux

Peter Breaux is a wood craftsman and photographer. He had a woodworking business for 30 years in Los Angeles before moving to New Mexico.   When his mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, he stopped working full-time to care for her. He spent many evenings sitting in the garden and developed a keen eye for the moon, trying to capture its mystique and beauty. With upgraded camera equipment, his photography became a creative outlet.

Peter lives on top of a mesa near the village of Velarde and has built his own woodshop specializing in custom cabinetry, gazebos, and intricate art boxes. His passion for photography includes not only the moon and evening sky but the architecture and desert scenery of New Mexico. He hasn't missed a full moonrise in nine years.

Follow Peter Rodney Breaux to view his spectacular photographs.