Nonprofit 501c3 – Proudly serving Las Cruces & Southern New Mexico

EVENTS & CONCERTS

This Month at the Council

Exhibits:

ARTISTS OF PICACHO HILLS

September 1 through September 28 

Events and Workshops in September

The Doña Ana Arts Council in partnership with A Still Small Voice are honored to host and present Jennings and Keller, tribute to Judy, Joan, and Joni-3 Women who defined an era. Jennings & Keller is an award-winning nationally touring duo based out of Florida. They offer up 21st Century Americana with influences in folk, jazz, and roots music. They fuse many different musical elements into a unique eclectic style that is refreshingly diverse.
In the 11 years of playing together, Jennings & Keller have released 4 CDs. They have received accolades and airplay from radio stations at one end of the country to the other. In true troubadour spirit, Laurie and Dana travel the country in their motor home, performing at festivals, cafes, wineries and house concerts. Along with developing a large and loyal fan base, they have earned a reputation for quality musicianship and expert storytelling.
You may purchase tickets in-person at 230 S. Water St. Las Cruces, NM; or call the office at 575-523-6403. All proceeds go to the Doña Ana Arts Council so that we can continue providing youth arts programs, supporting local artist exhibitions, and providing arts events to move our vision forward of creating a community that thrives in the arts.
Member price: $20
Non-Member price $25
Tickets will NOT be sold at the door. We have limited seating!
Join us for an evening of music, refreshments, and light appetizers.
Previous slide
Next slide

What's Coming Up:

Upcoming at the Council

What’s Happened at the Heart of the Arts So Far in 2023:

 

  • Artrageous experiences returned! 
  • Celebrating and honoring influential community members.
  • It’s not just about the visual and performing arts,we celebrate the voices and creative writing spirits. (Open Mics-Fiesta Fridays)
  • Partnerships and collaborations with other non-profits like LAB, Cruces Creatives, and more.
  • Partnering with other organizations like ARTE for LifeLong Learning to feed your mind. 
  • First Friday Art Rambles are back!
  • Second Saturday hours returned!
  • Mindfulness experiences through the arts.
  • Diverse gallery exhibits. (multicultural, female, indigenous, LGBTQIA2S+)
  • School youth gallery exhibits. (Alma de Arte and Sierra Middle School)
  • Children’s summer programs have kicked off! (CAP and MCT)
  • Memberships have returned! 
  • But wait, there’s more to come! Are you following us on Social Media?

OUT AND ABOUT IN THE COMMUNITY

Las Cruces Art Museum

New Mexico State University Art Museum and Galleries

ORIGAMI IN THE GARDEN: Transforming Paper to Sculpture 

June 2–September 23, 2023

This exhibition presents the Japanese art of paper folding through metal sculptures. Each sculpture in the exhibition is inspired by a single, blank piece of paper that has been folded into a specific form. Motivated by capturing the impermanence of paper, the artist Kevin Box found a way of preserving origami’s intricacy by using lost-wax casting methods and museum quality metals.

ORIGAMI IN THE GARDEN: Transforming Paper to Sculpture consists of several large-scale sculptures and a specialized “Inside Out” display that shows folded paper origami models that are placed alongside cast metal wall hangings that illustrate what the corresponding origami model looks like unfolded.

The exhibition features Kevin Box’s own compositions as well as collaborations with his wife Jennifer and world-renowned origami artists Te Jui Fe, Beth Johnson, Michael G. LaFosse, and Robert L. Lang.

 

Extended deadline and more info at https://elpasomcad.submittable.com/submit

El Paso Art Museum

The El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA) announces the 2024 Border Biennial / Bienal Fronteriza 2024 to be presented December 15, 2023 – April 14, 2024.

Haga clic aquí para obtener la información en español

The 2024 Border Biennial / Bienal Fronteriza 2024 will focus on the unique identity of the borderland, which includes a diversity of experiences. The exhibition will explore how the definition of “the border,” has helped shape artists’ artistic practice and make up who they are, including their history, gender, culture, race, sexuality, etc. The 2024 Border Biennial is curated by Claudia S. Preza M.A., EPMA Assistant Curator, alongside curatorial advisors Edgar Picazo Merino and Jazmín Ontiveros Harvey. Engaging programming and a publication capturing the show will accompany the exhibition. While the artworks in the Border Biennial focus on the United States / Mexico border, the exhibition provides an opportunity to reflect on borders and their conditions worldwide.

Entries can be submitted by individuals of any nationality. Individuals must live and work within a 200-mile radius of the United States / Mexico border. For artists’ collectives, at least one member must live or work in this geographic area and must be the applicant and point of contact for the collective. Artists selected for the Biennial may be asked to exhibit artworks submitted, other existing artworks, or newly commissioned works.

Dates:

  • August 21, 2023 selected artists invited
  • August 28, 2023 artworks ready for shipment
  • December 15, 2023 exhibition opens
  • April 14, 2024 exhibition closes
  • April 18, 2024 artworks shipped back to artists begins

Each applicant must submit images or files for no less than two and no more than five artworks dating from January 1, 2021. All questions must be answered for application to be submitted.

The deadline for applications to the 2024 Border Biennial is 11:59 pm MST on Sunday, July 30, 2023. An incomplete or late submission will result in the application not being reviewed. There are no exceptions.

To apply, submit application via https://elpasomcad.submittable.com. For complete Application Guidelines and Information, download the following document 2024_Border_Biennial_Application_Guidelines_and_Information.pdf

Support for the 2024 Border Biennial is by provided by the Mellon Foundation. Additional support provided by the Texas Commission on the Arts, the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation, and the City of El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: EPMACuratorial@elpasotexas.gov

Cara Despain: Specter
Contemporary Gallery, University Art Museum
June 22-September 16, 2023Opening: June 22, 2023, 5:30-7:30pm


The University Art Museum at NMSU is pleased to announce Specter, an immersive multimedia solo exhibition by artist Cara Despain. Through site-specific research-based processes, Despain explores nuclear weapons development — addressing the difficult history and legacy of territory expansion, industrialization and empire building in the United States. Using sculptural and video-based installations created with found objects and archival film from the 1940-60s, Despain questions our cultural memory and underscores the irreversible environmental consequences and hidden psychological and microscopic health effects left in the wake of weapons development and testing across the Southwest.

Agnes Martin and Karen Yank: Meditations on Mentor and Student
Bunny Conlon Modern & Contemporary Art Gallery, University Art Museum
June 22-September 16, 2023
Opening: June 22, 2023, 5:30-7:30pm

The University Art Museum is pleased to present Agnes Martin and Karen Yank: Meditations on Mentor and Student, an exhibition exploring the work and intersecting lives of artists Agnes Martin and Karen Yank. Featured in this exhibition are Martin’s lithographs on vellum, whose complex and meditative grids are indicative of the renowned artist’s style which impacted upon Abstract expressionism, Minimalism, and Transcendentalism. Yank’s steel wall-based sculptures reference nature and convey abstract emotional content in minimalist/maximalist forms.

Yank met Martin in 1987 at the artist residency, Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture in Maine. The two had a passion for New Mexico, and both chose the high plains to live out their lives and artistic practices. For nearly 17 years, Yank and Martin met weekly as a friendship and mentorship flourished. Martin taught Yank how to focus her inspirations, create a strong artistic vision through meditation, and scale her mind’s-eye sketches into large-scale artworks. Towards the end of Martin’s life, she asked Yank to share her philosophies with younger artists to keep her teachings alive past her death. Many elements of those teachings are revealed in this exhibition.

Wild Pigment Project
Curated by Tilke Elkins
Mullennix Bridge Gallery, University Art Museum
June 22-September 16, 2023
Opening: June 22, 2023, 5:30-7:30pm

The University Art Museum at NMSU is thrilled to present Wild Pigment Project, a group exhibition featuring artists who actively integrate plant, mineral and waste-stream pigments, hand-gathered and prepared in local landscapes, into their studio practice. Wild Pigment Project promotes ecological balance and regenerative economies through a passion for wild pigments, their places of origin, and their cultural histories. The project connects artists to the land by providing resources, education, and inspiration through an international directory, monthly pigment subscription, newsletter, art exhibitions and more.

This exhibition, which originated at form & concept gallery in Santa Fe, NM, is curated by Wild Pigment Project founding director Tilke Elkins and gathers pigments, artwork and stories from people who have engaged with the project since its inception in 2019. It traces the project’s extraordinary path, starting in Elkins’ home on Kalapuya lands (colonially known as Springfield, OR) and branching out across the world.

Icons & Retablos: The Blessings of Christ on Home Altars
University Art Museum, Margie and Bobby Rankin Retablo Gallery
March 10 – August 26, 2023

The NMSU University Art Museum (UAM) is excited to announce the opening of Icons & Retablos: The Blessings of Christ on Home Altars in the Margie and Bobby Rankin Retablo Gallery at the UAM on the campus of NMSU. Guest curated by Dr. Elizabeth Zarur, this exhibition, created in collaboration with the Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton, Massachusetts, invites visitors to see devotional works iconic to both Catholic and Orthodox Christianity. 

In these joint exhibitions, both the UAM and the Museum of Russian Icons will display portions of each other’s significant collections. Concurrent running exhibitions at the UAM and the Museum of Russian Icons were curated by Dr. Zarur to explore these two styles of devotion through diverse materials, themes, and artistic expressions.

Please join us Friday, March 10, 2023 at 5:30 p.m. for the opening reception of Icons & Retablos: The Blessings of Christ on Home Altars. The exhibition will be on view March 10 through August 26, 2023 in the UAM’s Margie and Bobby Rankin Retablo Gallery.