Artists will be in each garden Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025, from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. (Scroll down to the Artist Bios to find out their gardens shifts.)
Click here to download the 2025 Artists’ Schedules at the Gardens.
Gardens and artwork are similar in that they are composed in harmony with a series of shapes, forms, colors, and textures. We invite you to watch the artists as they express their artwork in the gardens. The 2025 Placitas Garden Tour will invite a select group of local artists to “create” their magic in each of the gardens.
All of the artists’ personal works will be on display for sale at the Placitas Community Library on the day of the tour.
This is a very special opportunity for you to own an original work of art at the 2024 Placitas Garden Tour. The artists are working in collaboration with the Sandoval County Master Gardeners & the Placitas Community Library to raise funds for future landscape projects & educational programs in Placitas.
Information about each artist is listed below. If the artist has a website, you can click on the artist’s name below to visit it.
2025 Artist Bios
David Croxton
David will be at garden #1 Bienvenido al Jardin de Viento.
Originally from Pittsburgh Pa., I was introduced to woodworking at an early age since my father was a carpenter and I was always eager to help and learn. Throughout my working life, I continued to develop my woodworking skills by designing and building custom furniture pieces. In 2007 I purchased my first lathe and began my adventure in woodturning making pens, bottle stoppers and small bowls.
In 2018 I saw a photo of a Basketweave Illusion piece for the first time. It was on the cover of a woodworking magazine, and I was instantly intrigued and amazed by it, but it wasn’t until November of 2022 that I made my first Basketweave Illusion piece. In brief, the Basketweave illusion is a technique where a piece of wood is turned, wood burned and embellished with color so that it resembles an actual woven basket. The technique requires meticulous precision, patience, persistence, and steady hands. Besides this technique, I also enjoy woodturning hollow form vessels, lidded vases, and all types of bowl shapes.
Karen Croxton
Karen will be at will be at garden #1 Bienvenido al Jardin de Viento.
“Born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, in 1982 I received an Associate’s Degree in Visual Communication from The Art Institute of Pittsburgh. After a lifetime career in printing and graphic design, I retired and turned my attention to my favorite art form; jewelry, or what I call “wearable art”.
As a self-taught wire wrapping jewelry artist since 2015, my jewelry creations encompass whimsical, snarky, upcycled and my favorite style, Steampunk. Looking at hinges, washers, nails or hex nuts I say, “How can I incorporate this into a piece of jewelry?”
I invest myself into each piece I make and seriously consider it art first, and jewelry second. My greatest joy in creating wearable art is finding out my customers love it as much as I do.”
Katie Thomas
Katie will be at garden #2 The Oasis Garden II.
Katie Thomas grew up in Connecticut and worked in corporate human resources for approximately 25 years.
When she lost her job in 2009, she opened a fair-trade store in Taos, NM called Moxie.
Since retiring, she has devoted her time to exploring different art mediums, including beading, mosaics, textile art, found items, assemblage and much more.
Laura Robbins
Laura will be at garden #4 Pollinator Fiesta.
Laura Robbins creates mosaics primarily with weatherproof ceramics and glass. She has permanent mosaic installations at the Albuquerque Zoo and the Botanic Garden’s Dragonfly Sanctuary. Her work can also be seen locally at The Range Cafes, Rust Medical Center Chapel and other businesses, schools, developments and private homes in New Mexico.
A long time Placitas resident, she is a founding member of Mosaic New Mexico and Wild Hearts Gallery, both collaborative ventures. She co-facilitated the seventy foot long Placitas Community mosaic mural, Protect Our Wildlife Corridors and co-authored Mosaics of Central New Mexico – A Self-Guided Tour*. A teacher for twenty years, she helped to found the art program at Bosque Preparatory School in Albuquerque. She became a full-time professional mosaic artist in 2003.
*with friend Cirrelda Snider Bryan
She received a BFA from Carnegie-Mellon University and an MA with a specialty in environmental education from Queens College. Nature and our endless and wise stories teach and inspire me. All creativity brings me joy!
Lisa Avila
Lisa will be at garden #3 The Blooming Sanctuary.
After three years as an art major at the University of the South, I left college and moved to Colorado, where I continued to work in quick-study watercolors, gesture drawings and watercolor and ink.
From Colorado, I moved to New Hampshire where I began a 30+ year career training, riding, teaching and showing dressage horses. Gradually, after moving to Texas, my life began to return to my artistic roots. I became actively involved in Community Theater and was hired part-time as a Performing Arts Director for a local gallery/cultural center – the Creative Arts Center in Bonham, Texas. I also began to assist the Executive Director with operational duties and when she left the position, the board hired me to replace her.
I had already begun to paint again, and, as gallery Director, I was continually inspired by the artists around me. After 8 years in the Director position, I retired with my husband to NM in 2020, where I began to paint full time.
I work in acrylics, watercolor and mixed media. I am a member of Plein Aire Landscape Painters, based near Albuquerque and am happy to return to plein air painting in a region as beautiful as Colorado. As a new resident of Placitas, I participated in my first Placitas Studio Tour in 2022 and am now part of the Placitas Studio Tour board and still a participant.
I derive my inspiration from the beauty in our world and paint both from photos and plein air as well as from my imagination. I believe that painting from my “head” vs. the realism of painting a particular scene uses different parts of the brain, activating new ways of understanding and interpreting art and life. Though it is often a challenge to switch back and forth, I try to maintain a balance between the two. Color is also an important aspect in my work, as I find color is the best way to convey emotion in a painting.
Tom Salazar, Metal Fabrication Artist
Tom will be at garden #6 Landscape, Community, Garden Art and Family Fun.
I was born in Bernalillo, NM in 1956. My friends were from Bernalillo and nearby pueblos. I spent summers in Peña Blanca, NM. I have fond memories of my uncle taking me to Feast Days at Santo Domingo Pueblo, the food and the traditions influenced me. My Hispanic heritage gives me yet another perspective into my art style.
I went to college in Denver, Co at Regis University, majored in Biology. I worked at Sandia Labs. for 30 years as a a team member of a “Counter Terrorist S.W.A.T. Team”, a “Technical Illustrator”, a “Graphic Designer”, a “Sr. Exhibits Designer” for the National Atomic Museum, and finally as a “Graphics Communication Designer” for the Renewable Energies Dept.
In 1996 I was afforded the opportunity, by my mentor, Jim Walther, to take welding courses at CNM.
I retired from Sandia in 2011 and began experimenting with metal fabrication. I found my design style in 2016, after hundreds of failures and mistakes.
My sculptures are made from up cycled steel scrap I get in scrap yards and from friends. My artwork is rustic and is designed for the outdoor garden as well as the indoors.
My inspiration comes from growing up in Bernalillo, New Mexico Pueblos and the Southwest in general. My studio is located in Edgewood, NM.
William O’Brien
William will be at garden #5 High Desert Paradise.
Graduate of the American Academy of Art in Chicago 1998 with a degree in graphic design. Has a career in telecommunications engineering, and cloud platform engineering for over 25 years.
In 2012 O’Brien began a hobby in photography focusing on portraiture and composite digital art. He and his wife moved to Placitas NM in 2023 where he continues his engineering, and surreal portrait work.
He opened his studio for the 2024 and 2025 Placitas Studio Tours.
