The Path of Water

The Path Of Water
Paintings by Colleen O’Brien

On exhibit through September 26, 2026
Hallway gallery next to the Cultural Events Center

The Path of Water is an ongoing series of site-specific paintings made in watersheds and tributaries of the Rio Grande from Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas.

Colleen O’Brien is an earth artist whose paintings are expressions of geomorphology and time. They are physical geographic recordings. She lays canvas down on exposed boulders, riverbeds, and in arroyos. Oftentimes, she is working directly in rivers. She then uses soil from the site to make surface recordings/paintings of the earth. By moving the natural pigment, water, and pastel through the erosion path and texture of the rock, she creates a record of place and time on canvas.

As her paintings document the geography throughout the southwest region, her body of work as a whole is an expansive connective map. O’Brien resides in both Northern New Mexico and The Big Bend. Her own path seems to always have the Rio Grande by her side, and her work is a reflection of that movement. The Path of Water is an exhibition about watersheds and tributaries of the Rio Grande.