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Paintings, Jewelry, Matting and Framing, Eye Glass Repair, Watch Batteries, Stone Skulls

     Opened in 1973, Darkwood Studio Gallery features the art of owner Kenneth Luís Martinez, as well as works by many talented local artists. Ken produces cast and fabricated custom jewelry in silver, gold, and platinum. He is accomplished in many fine arts and is also known for his portraits, prints, and sculptures. Additional services available in his studio include matting and framing, fine art restorations, watch repair, and ear piercing.

Works offered at the Darkwood include:
  • Portraits
  • Oil, water color, and acrylic paintings of southern Colorado, many featuring the Spanish Peaks
  • Jewelry
  • Pottery
  • Fossils
  • Bead and porcupine quill hat bands
  • Hand-woven rugs
  • Custom-made readers (reading glasses with magnetic closure at nose piece)
  • Stone skulls  (select your favorite sports team hat or cowboy hat to go on them for free)
  • Many other items
      Ken is a native of Huerfano County. After college in Santa Fe, New Mexico, he studied art in Europe. After working for a short time in large cities in the Midwest and on the West Coast, he realized that, to quote Colonel John M. Francisco, "Huerfano County is paradise enough for me", so he returned to Walsenburg to open the Darkwood. Ken has worked in nearly every fine arts medium over the years, including painting, pottery, murals, and print making. An accomplished silver and gold smith, Ken is best known for his jewelry design. He notes that independent study in New Mexico and surrounding states did as much to develop his interest and proficiency in art as did his formal education. Contact and work with artists outside of school who had no formal education (Native American and Mexican sculptors and silversmiths) taught him a great deal. In the classroom, he studied classic and contemporary art, while in the field he studied traditional Native American processes and practical procedures. Ken has received commissions from patrons in the United States, Mexico, South America, and Germany. He has participated in invitational shows in the Rocky Mountain Region, and has won numerous awards for his artwork throughout the Southwest.
Darkwood Studio Gallery is located at 518 Main Street in Walsenburg, Colorado.
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El Dia de Santa Cruz, Kenneth Luis Martinez, Huerfano County Historical Society collection; view at the Huerfano County Courthouse (commissioned by First National Bank of Trinidad, 'Stories of Early Huerfano')