Born in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1964, Jim Vogel was the eleventh of twelve children. His upbringing in this small Southwestern town played a pivotal role in shaping his artistic sensibilities. Encouraged by his parents to explore drawing and painting, Vogel’s natural talent flourished without the confines of formal training. Visits to the Roswell Museum of Art exposed him to regional masters like Peter Hurd, Luis Jimenez, Elmer Schooley, Howard Cook, and Georgia O’Keefe, whose influences would later permeate his own work.
For Jim Vogel, painting is more than a visual endeavor; it is a narrative experience. His canvases are vibrant stories of the Southwest, told through the lens of personal memories and community folklore. Inspired by tales from his grandfather, mother, and the residents of the Embudo Valley, Vogel captures the essence of the land and its people. He believes that when conveyed authentically, these regional stories gain universal resonance.
Vogel’s artistry is further enriched through collaboration with his wife, Christen, an artist herself. Together, they frame his paintings using creatively salvaged materials. These custom frames, often crafted from found objects and antique architectural elements, add an extra layer of storytelling to each piece. Their greatest collaboration, however, remains their three children—Grayson, Sage, and Makaela—who are each pursuing their own creative paths.
Jim Vogel continues to enrich the art world with his compelling narratives and vivid portrayals of everyday life. His works transcend mere aesthetic appeal, offering viewers a deep connection to the stories and landscapes that define America. Whether through his evocative paintings or the unique frames crafted by Christen, Vogel’s art is a testament to the power of storytelling and the enduring spirit of all people.
This painting, In His Father’s Shoes and two others in private collections, were created to commemorate the hard scrabble coal miners and their efforts to organize into a union in the early 1900s. The multi-ethnic miners worked in constant physical peril underground while also facing the mine owners’ oppressive labor practices in the company owned towns above. The title has the double meaning as the miner lands the final strike with his pick as a coworker walks out to join the strike on the surface.
This series was inspired by a 1914 incident in southern Colorado. Striking miners and their families set up a tent city on a ranch near the company owned town they were forced to leave. While the striking miners were in nearby Trinidad, Colorado organizing, hired Pinkerton guards and the Colorado national guard opened fire with machine guns on the tents killing eleven children and two women who sought refuge in a root cellar under a large kitchen tent. This was a galvanizing moment for the United Mine Workers of America and became known as the Ludlow Massacre.
My great, great grandfather, Jose Norberto Blea, died in a mining accident in Dawson, near Raton, New Mexico in 1894. This accounts for some of my interest in coal mining history of the West.
Jim Vogel
Final Strike 60" x 36" oil
framed with salvaged tin frame: 71" x 48"
Also inspired by the Ludlow Massacre, Father’s Shoes illustrates the practice of sons, sometimes not yet teenagers, having to go down into the mines to replace their deceased fathers. The dangerous mine conditions meant frequent accidents often lead to hundreds of deaths at once. Regardless of the loss, the work had to go on and families needed the income so young sons stepped into their father’s shoes. This practice led to later child labor laws, eventually protecting the miners’ minors.
The technique shown here has the boy holding a large steel bit with the looming miner ready to swing with his hammer. After the impact the person holding the bit would rock it side to side.
Following the next hammer strike he would rotate or roll the bit. Sometimes the duo would sing or call out a song to stay in rhythm, avoiding a hit to the hands holding the bit. It is said this gave us the name Rock and Roll.
Like Final Strike the painting is framed with salvaged tin and hanging hardware to reflect the mining structures of the time. Framed in collaboration with my wife, Christen.
Jim Vogel
In His Father’s Shoes
60" x 36" oil
framed with salvaged tin frame: 71" x 48"
Journey of the Dead is a stretch of the old Spanish Camino Real going north out of Mexico to the outpost settlements of Northern New Mexico. The carreta caravans carrying supplies and settlers had to leave the banks of the Rio Grande for a waterless ninety-mile section. Taking several days before joining up with the river again, the travelers had to make sure to carry enough water for themselves and their beasts of burden. This desolate part of southern New Mexico known as El Malpais is still not a place to find yourself without water. My grandfather would say before we ventured out on our many family outings, ‘Take on wood and water.”
This weary traveler is reminded of this by the relics of past attempts to make it through Jornada del Muerto.
Jornada is framed with an antique gothic arched window from a larger salvaged door. Christen worked her finishing magic to bring out the weathering that only time can create.
Jim Vogel
29" x 35" oil
framed with salvaged window frame frame: 36" x 41"
Jornada del Muerto
Pancho Villa and one of the brave soldaderas enjoy a fandango after his 1916 raid on Columbus, New Mexico. Villa is the only foreign general to successfully attack the contiguous United States and get away with it. That’s something worth celebrating even if his victory was short lived. US Army General Pershing illegally pursued Villa into Mexico but never caught him. Pancho Villa was offered a ranchero if he promised to exit Mexican Politics. He accepted as much for his soldiers who were also given a safe home on the ranchero and an opportunity to build the lives they fought for as for himself. The peace was short lived as Villa was assassinated in 1923. It is believed the Mexican president at the time had him killed, fearing Villa was planning to enter the political arena again.
Framed in an antique window frame from a church, we imagined it holding a stained-glass depiction of a saint so it felt appropriate to frame one of Mexico’s most popular folk saints. Christen worked to bring out the many layers of original paint, informing my color palette.
Kicking Up Dust
65" x 30" oil
framed with salvaged church window frame frame: 74.5" x 39"
El Brillante is the birthplace of a family friend in Northern New Mexico. It earned the name as the place in this small valley that always got the first rays of the morning sun as well as the last light of the setting sun, thus giving it a longer growing season than the surrounding farms.
Based on this nugget of local lore our son Sage wrote a fictional account of a time when El Brillante not only has a longer growing season but has an overflowing abundance. With more than enough to get through the winter (if there even is one in this exceptional year), there’s enough for a party. Fiesta! Our friend Ruby, now in her eighties, is the blonde little girl holding the exceptional apple (Ruby is short for Rubia which means fair haired girl). I painted the titular upper panel to look like an apple crate label. I also carved the hummingbird and apple to add a toobig-for-the-frame feeling.
Christen rehabbed this beautiful antique carved frame from the parts and pieces that were originally near collapse.
La Fiesta de la Abundancia del Brillante
72" x 48" oil
framed in antique carved wood door jamb frame frame: 96.5" x 57.5"
$56,000 Jim Vogel
We live next door to a winery, what else is there to say. Maybe, that the winery is owned by two brothers that work together, and often have to offer each other a hand in the many tasks required in the vineyard (represented by the distant figures in the road). Also, the results of that handwork can lead to throwing us (the collective us, not me specifically) off a wagon sometimes. Maybe, also, that New Mexico is the oldest wine region in the United States thanks to the Spanish priests who brought vine cuttings north from Mexico on carretas to produce sacramental wine. Maybe, also too, that some Spanish vineyards still use carts and mules to harvest their grapes. And maybe, also too, as well, that mules and donkeys and finches are just fun to paint while drinking wine. We believe the round frame was originally a very large paella pan that ended up as a lid for wine vats. Christen incorporated the large rope encircling the painting to mimic harnessing the mule.
Off the Wagon, Again
31" x 31" oil
framed in salvaged metal paella pan frame frame: 41" x 41"
$20,000
Elfego Baca is a New Mexican Legend and my favorite mythic lawman of the West. This painting is based on Baca’s own story about his family’s move to Kansas from Socorro, New Mexico in 1865. He recounted being kidnapped by Navajos as an infant and returned a few days later because he was too loud and ornery. His father then decided New Mexico was too dangerous and moved his family to Topeka (really, Topeka, Kansas?) Elfego, his father and older brother returned to Socorro in 1880, after his mother and another sibling died in Kansas.
After that Baca had his famous shootout at Frisco Plaza, near Socorro, that cemented his status as a true New Mexico legend. From there, his reputation and self-aggrandizing grew until his death in 1945.
It is framed using an antique yoke (way too small for oxen, maybe goats) and a single tree, originally hardware used to connect animals to the wagon tongue. Using rusty bits and weathered wood Christen once again continues telling the story with the frame.
There’s too much to recount here so I’ve painted three other pieces (with more to come) to tell the rest of the amazing life of Elfego Baca.
Pulling Up Stakes
24" x 38.5" oil
framed in antique oxen yoke & single tree frame frame: 33" x 51"
