Roseta Santiago is known for her dynamic realistic paintings. This painting is entitled, “Crucible“.  It is an oil on panel of a Mimbres bowl.  Roseta said of this piece, “I taught myself to paint light and dark on Native American pottery.  It is always a personal ‘test’ about what I learned about light, shade, and dark.” The piece is signed, “Santiago”.

History reverberates in each of her paintings.  Roseta Says of her art:

“The things that inspire me are the historical artifacts, historical people.  My models are people with whom I spend time and who have something to reveal. It’s always about inner beauty. It’s mainly the interior of a person or thing. I can almost experience a pot being made when I paint it. I just see what the potter went through.” 

She is best known for her luminous still life and figurative paintings of Native peoples and artifacts portrayed with dramatic lighting, Santiago is a master at chiaroscuro.  She uses mostly living models, although a few historic people taken from photographs weave their way into her art.  She says one of her goals is to honor Native American culture through her portrayals in her art.