Kristeen Rizkalla Works

Kristeen was born & raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  The youngest of eight children, she is of Native American, Hispanic genealogy.  As a child she enjoyed making mud pies & playing with the tortilla dough her mother periodically gave her.  This experience formed the beginning of her artistic training.  Self-taught, she uses low fire clay, stains & glazes are also applied to bring out the folds in the clothing & character to the faces.  Because each figure is hand-built, all are unique.  Feathers, beads & an occasional pot or basket is added for adornment.  The artist invites you to look past the process of sculpture in this medium & focus, if only for a moment, on the wisdom, strength & timelessness of this great people.

Like her mother, the women Kristeen portrays reflect a strength of character & purpose gained through a life of selfless giving.  In contrast, the figures reflect a tenderness that comes from a deep seeded need to love & nourish those around them.  These balancing qualities are the essence of the artist & the art.  Like the people made of clay, the artist believes we are here to love God & each other through the caring, nurturing spirit within us making sensitivity & frailty independent from one another.