¡ENCANTADA! 2026 Annual Juried Exhibition

Expo New Mexico • Hispanic Arts Gallery
300 San Pedro Drive NE, (Gate 3 Entrance), Albuquerque, NM 87108

Exhibition Open to the Public: Saturday, November 7 – Sunday, November 29, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Exhibition Closed: Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thanksgiving

Opening Reception and Awards Ceremony: Friday November 6, 5:30 – 7:30 pm

Deadline for entry submission is September 11, 5 pm.

¡ENCANTADA! is an annual juried exhibition promoting the sale of original paintings, drawings, artisan prints (e.g., lithographs, etchings, engravings, silkscreens, monotypes), collage, sculpture, metalwork, woodwork, ceramics, batik, weaving, jewelry, or other 2D or 3D artwork. ¡ENCANTADA! is sponsored by the Rio Grande Art Association (RGAA), which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the education and promotion of fine art in New Mexico. Our focus is on creativity and originality. All styles are welcome from traditional, representational, and abstract to non-traditional, contemporary, and avantgarde. 

Awards

Standard 2D Artwork Category: $1000 first place; $700 second place; and $500 third place
Small 2D Artwork Category:  $500 first place; $325 second place; and $275 third place
3D Artwork Category: $500 first place; $325 second place; and $275 third place
Several cash merit awards will also be given in all categories.

¡Encantada! 2026 Prospectus

RGAA Jurying and Judging Best Practices

For questions, contact the Show Chair at showchair@rgaanm.org.

Lee McVey

Lee paints landscapes which evoke a feeling of being there in the moment. Her love of nature began when she was a young girl while walking in the woods with her grandparents. Those experiences have inspired Lee to focus on studio and plein air landscape painting in either oil or pastel. In 2003, Lee retired from teaching elementary art to devote more time to her art career. 

She is a Master Signature member of Plein Air Painters of New Mexico, Master Circle member of International Association of Pastel Societies, Distinguished Pastelist of Pastel Society of New Mexico, Signature member of Pastel Society of America, Plein Air Artists Colorado, and Pastel Painter’s Society of Cape Cod. Her pastels have been featured in articles in the magazines Southwest Art, Pastel Journal, American Artist, and International Artist. Lee’s work has also been featured in the books 100 Ways to Paint the Landscape and Plein Air New Mexico. Her work has been in numerous juried national shows and has garnered awards at local and national levels. Her pastels won an honorable mention in Pastel Journal magazine’s Pastel 100 competition in 2019 and 2012 and her work was a finalist in The Artist Magazine’s competition in 2010. WEBSITE

Janet Bothne

Janet Bothne has been a professional artist for nearly three decades. Her focus on the paint itself being the subject matter has taken this former realist into a new practice that balances gut vs. brain and chaos vs. organization, resulting in works that often straddle the familiar and the enigmatic. “My goal is to create something uplifting and connect with my viewers through common associations, like color, movement and energy,” she explains. 
  
She relocated to New Mexico from Los Angeles in 2013 and opened Studio J in Los Ranchos where she taught abstract painting and mentored many local artists for over five years. The Covid outbreak compelled her to end classes in 2020 and shift focus toward creating more of her own work.  
  
She has exhibited throughout the U.S., most notably at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Santa Monica Art Museum, and her work has been collected world-wide. WEBSITE