Saint Joseph and The Laborers This exhibition will be open by appointment beginning Saturday, February 20, 2021. The New Mexico State University Art Museum will present, “Saint Joseph and The Laborers,” created through donations from various retablo collectors, including retablo expert Gloria Fraser Giffords. The exhibit delves into the role of the laborer through the lens of Mexican retablo imagery.

The Center for Scholarship Administration is accepting applications for the 2021 – 2022 Vivien B. Head Scholarship. Applications will be accepting starting on March 15, 2021 and ending on May 17, 2021.

The UAM is proud to present Syn– featuring work by artists Ger Xiong and Cierra Redding, the first Master of Fine Art candidates to exhibit in the newly opened Devasthali Hall. In Syn-, both Xiong and Redding explore themes of identity, loss, and absence through the use of various materials and forms. Ger Xiong’s finely crafted textiles and wearable objects are representative of his complex Hmong cultural identity. Each work navigates his Hmong American experience through the lens of assimilation, migration, and colonization, reflecting loss, commodification, and the resilience of being Hmong. Cierra Redding’s sensorial and experiential sculptures reveal a fascination with vision and longing influenced by a long-distance relationship and Nystagmus, a rare chronic eye condition she has had since birth. Redding’s large black ceramic vessels allude to mourning the loss of touch during our complicated COVID times; the exterior textures and brightly colored interiors reference a warm and affectionate time, reminiscent of her childhood in the 90’s. NMSU Assistant Professor, Joshua Clark, interprets, “between them exists an engaging discourse, which feels timely and timeless” where “ both artists are wrestling with one of the oldest human conundrums; how to conserve the worthy aspects of our past, both collectively and personally.”

The Department of Art is now accepting BFA Applications for Spring 2021 semester.

Please join the NMSU Department of Art for an artist lecture with Christine Rebhuhn a New York City based sculptor born in Mount Vernon Iowa. She received an MFA in Ceramics from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2015, and a BA in Psychology and Studio Art from Kalamazoo College in 2011. Her work is guided by inexplicable alignments, a constant hunch that familiar objects will find a beautiful, uncanny order when mapped on human experience. Solo exhibitions include Emotional Shorthand at NARS Foundation in Brooklyn, NY (2018), Rim’s Edge at Soo Visual Arts Center in Minneapolis, MN (2017), and Cold Sweat at Makeshift in Kalamazoo, MI (2016). Her work has been included in group shows at Tiger Strikes Asteroid, New York (2020), the Boiler in Brooklyn, NY (2019) and at Stove Works in Chattanooga, TN (2019). She also exhibited at the 2015 Gyeonggi International Ceramics Biennale in Incheon, Korea, where her work is in the permanent collection at the Korean Ceramic Foundation. She has been an artist-in-residence at the Vermont Studio Center (VT), Elsewhere (NC), NARS Foundation (NY), and Makeshift (MI). Her work was published in ArtMaze Magazine and Maake Magazine, and was featured on Artspace. She has been hosted as a guest critic by the Sarah Lawrence College Art Department and the New York City Crit Club..

Part of our Lecture Series

The University Art Museum (UAM) is proud to present Sorry for the Mess an exhibition featuring work by artists Ramiro Gomez and Justin Favela; this exhibition is currently postponed, but will open in July of 2021. The exhibition, originating at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) focuses on labor, childhood memories, and life as first generation Americans in the Southwest. The highly successful Las Vegas based exhibition is being presented at the UAM, as it engages with unseen labor and narratives of the artist’s hometowns; as well as the commonality of these themes that affect and shape our local Las Cruces and regional community. Much of the exhibition will be brought directly from Las Vegas on loan, but will also include an interactive site specific piece created by Justin Favela specifically for our iteration of the exhibition.

New Mexico State University’s Art Museum announces a timely exhibit focused on social justice issues impacting the Las Cruces and El Paso Borderlands region. “Pasos Ajenos: Social Justice and Inequalities in the Borderlands” will be on display at the University Art Museum in July of 2021 in the Bunny Conlon Modern and Contemporary Art Gallery. This exhibit is motivated by current social crises and responds to the call for a deeper understanding of local history and complex relationships based on race, nationality, gender, and intersecting social statuses.