Harold Joe Waldrum

Harold Joe Waldrum (1934–2003)was an American artist whose abstract works depict color studies and the old adobe churches of northern New Mexico. Waldrum’s works are held in the collections of the Museum of New Mexico, the Palm Springs Art Museum, the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, and the Harwood Foundation of Taos, New Mexico.By the early 1980s Waldrum had become established in Taos, New Mexico working in the studio that had been built in 1915 by Taos painter Joseph Henry Sharp. Waldrum began using a Polaroid SX-70 to capture angles and light conditions, but soon the photographs became artworks in their own right. He established the El Valle Foundation in 1985 and began working to preserve the buildings that had inspired many of his paintings. Some churches were saved through the efforts of this foundation.
In 1989 Waldrum moved farther south, to a ranch in the mountains between Albuquerque and Socorro, New Mexico, where he lived until 1997. During that time, he engaged master printer Robert Blanchard of Albuquerque to assist him in creating an expansive series of aquatint etchings and linocuts based on his abstract architectural depictions.Waldrum moved to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico in 1997 and established Rio Bravo Fine Art Gallery. His gallery continues in operation today showing artists of the region.Wikipedia