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Fine Art is within reach in Las Cruces

The Las Cruces Museum of Art on the downtown mall.

There are those who believe that the merits of a city are measured by the quality of its Arts and the venues in place to express them. Every metropolitan center has at least one. But that doesn’t mean we here in the Valley have to travel great distances, just to surround ourselves with world-class beauty. In fact, one downtown location in particular is proving that a city doesn’t need a population in the millions to rate a first class repository of fine arts. I’m speaking, of course, about the Las Cruces Museum of Art.

It’s no secret that the Arts are very much alive and thriving in Las Cruces. One has only to get out and experience any given first Friday Downtown Art Ramble to see that. On the forefront of this renaissance, is the Las Cruces Museum of Art. Open since September of 1999, the museum is best described through the words of Museum Manager, Lisa Pugh. “We like to think of the Museum of Art as a community gathering place where people of all ages can enjoy works of art, while learning about the works and the artists who created them.”

What sets the museum above all other galleries in the area is the caliber of its exhibits. “While our major focus is on showing the works of prominent contemporary artists, the Museum of Art has been able to bring in the works of internationally known artists like Ansel Adams, Auguste Rodin and Salvador Dali,” Pugh says proudly.  “We’ve also been able to highlight the works of up and coming artists who are pushing the boundaries of contemporary art and changing the way we look at the world around us.”

One of five paid staff members at the museum, Lisa is currently working alongside her fellow visionaries and the many volunteers who help keep the organization running, to prepare for its upcoming 10-year Anniversary in September. But not before filling their calendar with a variety of exhibits and activities to keep the intervening months brimming with excitement.

A view from the inside, where art breeds camaradarie.

On April 17^th, the museum will host an exhibit showcasing the works of graduating high school seniors from Alma de Artes, Las Cruces High, Mayfield High and Oñate High. The exhibit will be up for a week and all works will be eligible for honorary awards. In addition, students from the various Culinary Arts programs will cater the reception, while also competing for taste and presentation awards. On May 8^th, it’s the college student’s turn with the Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition, running throughout the month.

Turning up the heat on June 5^th, the museum will unveil an exhibit entitled “Las Cruces Collects,” made up of artwork borrowed from collectors right here in the Mesilla Valley. “This exhibit began as a discussion on what people collect and why, then was expanded to how they started collecting,” says Pugh. The exhibit will range from historical lead soldiers to modern and contemporary art, with works borrowed from J. Paul Taylor and even some Asian antiquities. “We’ll even have some surrealist sculpture by Leo Dohman,” Pugh adds. “It will be a very eclectic collection and a really great summer show.”

To mark its 10-year Anniversary, the museum will present two exhibits in September, but only one will be contained within its walls. The first, opening September 4^th, will be “From The Ground Up,” a regional juried ceramics exhibition co-hosted by the Potters’ Guild of Las Cruces. The second, opening on September 11^th, will be the living arts project entitled “Time.” Funded through New Mexico Arts, it will consist of temporary installations made for the environment and include six pieces installed in various locations throughout the city.

But all of that is just the icing on a very rich cake. The Museum of Art also has an active studio program, consisting of seven-week classes for children as young as 4, up through retired adults. Subjects of study include ceramics, drawing, painting, weaving and digital photography. To this end, the museum employs 10 – 15 instructors per session, made up of working artists from throughout the community. Begun in 1999, when the museum opened, the classes have been a very popular form of community outreach for the museum, particularly in the summer, when school is out. Summer programs for children begin registration on May 5^th.

“We’re very proud of the strides made by the museum over the last ten years,” says Pugh.  “We’ve offered lectures, demonstrations and musical performances that compliment the exhibits and enhance the visitor’s experience. We’ve allowed students of all ages to explore and create their own works. And we have been able to bring in some wonderful shows. Every time a new show comes through the doors, our hope is that it will exceed everyone’s expectations and bring new visitors to the Museum of Art.”

And why not? There’s always something new and interesting to be found at the Las Cruces Museum of Art. Case in point, the whimsical works of internationally renowned local artist Stephen Hansen are currently on display and bringing unexpected smiles to faces, both young and old. Meanwhile, in addition to the upcoming exhibits already outlined above, in February of 2010, the museum will host a major touring exhibition of works by the late pop art icon, Andy Warhol.

Even with the Museum of New Mexico, in Santa Fe, celebrating its 100^th Anniversary, the ten-year milestone being celebrated this year, by the Las Cruces Museum of Art, is hardly overshadowed. For those of us living in the Mesilla Valley, the Museum of Art is a shining bastion of modern civility and a reminder that one doesn’t have to live in a more cosmopolitan area in order to experience the finer things in life. It’s a measure of quality we can be proud of.

(Originally published in the Las Cruces Sun-News, March 26, 2009)

 

Reason #4: The Rio Grande Theatre

Much has been written about the renovation of the Rio Grande Theatre. Originally built in 1926 as a movie house, it was closed for business in 1997, only to be revived to its former glory at the beginning of the 21^st century, when it was donated to the Doña Ana Arts Council by the descendents of the original owners. The Rio Grande Theatre has a rich history, in an area awash in historical and cultural significance.

As she was in the beginning.

For me, however, the Rio Grande Theatre is so much more than a history lesson, or a ghost of the past. She’s a symbol of the future--a grand dame whose living presence gives hope to a new generation of artists, in a time when the future of the Arts has been in question. A vital promise made to the city of Las Cruces, that beauty can mean something to a community and reinvigorate a declining economy. And finally, a reminder that everything changes. For me, this last lesson is the most personal.

As she stands today.

In the early 80s, while a student at NMSU, I attended the Rio Grande Theatre as a movie-goer. I have fond memories of those times and like the river after which it was named, the Organ Mountains and the Mesilla Plaza, it was one of the very landmarks that drew me back, some 25 years after my departure. To be part of its on-going history now, as a volunteer for the Doña Ana Arts Council, fills me with a profound sense of place and an equally satisfying feeling of pride.

She’s more than a theater to me. She’s a monument, mirroring my own personal growth.

Returned to her former glory

Articles & Resources:

A comprehensive look at the theatre, through local eyes:

http://lascrucesblog.com/las-cruces/2007/rio-grande-theatre/

 

A story in Desert Exposure about the Grand Reopening in 2005:

http://www.desertexposure.com/200509/200509_riogrande.html

 

Official site:

http://www.riograndetheatre.com/

Reason #2: El Rio Grande

The first time I saw the Rio Grande, I was disappointed. Having grown up in the Southwest, the reality just didn’t match up to the grandeur of its legend. It wasn’t until much later on that I came to discover it was man’s intervention that had diminished this once mighty tributary. Dams and irrigation canals, though life-giving to those who settled along its banks over the centuries, had sucked the pomp out of the river itself. The Rio Grande, once known as the Mississippi of the Southwest, had become the Rio Pequeño over time. And nobody feels the effect more than the poor citizens of our neighbor to the South, Mexico. But that’s another story.

Today, the Rio Grande follows a completely different path than the lazy, twisty, windy sojourn it once traveled. The bosque that once marked its passage for miles on both sides, is long gone, except in small pockets where conservationists and national parks try desperately to preserve it. The annual floods that once swelled its banks and brought life to the surrounding desert have been tamed by human engineering. It’s hard to complain about such things, because without that engineering, there couldn’t be places like Las Cruces or Truth or Consequences along it’s banks. And let’s not forget the chile industry, which has become part of the lifeblood of this area. It’s all give and take, in the end.

Still, I wonder at times what it must have been like to come across an immense body of water, in the middle of the desert, that stretched so far it was difficult to see the other side.  What must those early pioneers have thought? Had they finally reached the ocean they’d heard so much about? Were they, in fact, in California? Maybe. Maybe, not.  The irony is that it was this great body of water that convinced those pioneers they should settle here. It’s all part of the history of the area, dating back to the mid-16^th century. That, in and of itself, creates a mystique that will always lend charm to the Rio Grande; both for the people who live here and those who make a pilgrimage to its diminished banks, in search of the true wellspring of the Great American Southwest.

Lush vegetation and filled to the banks only during the monsoon months.

Still, the winter lends its own beauty to el Rio.

 

Articles and Resources:

 

Living In Las Cruces: A River To Flow Through It

http://www.livinginlascruces.com/html/SP2008/riogrande.html

 

Wikipedia Entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Grande

 

Google Timeline with links to articles and historical texts:

http://www.google.com/archivesearch?as_user_ldate=1500&as_user_hdate=2009&q=rio+grande&scoring=t&hl=en&um=1&q=rio+grande&lnav=od&btnG=Go

Reason #1: The Organ Mountains

I first moved to Las Cruces in 1979, when I graduated high school. The next six years were spent attending school at NMSU and creating a network of friends, many of whom I keep in touch with to this day. I’ve done a lot of traveling since that time. I’ve visited other parts of the country and even other countries altogether. I’ve lived in Texas, California and Arizona. I’ve spent extended periods in countless other cities and states.

Despite all that, the Organ Mountains have figured prominently in my dreams for 30 years now. Their raw, jagged physicality gives them the appearance of a dragon’s back, or a jawline taking a bite out of the sky. I’ve written short stories that take place in those mountains, or with the range as a backdrop. They were the one thing I couldn’t wait to see again and the reason I knew it was time to return.

There are a lot of reasons why I love living in Las Cruces. Those reasons are all around us. Some are obvious, some aren’t. I’ll post those reasons randomly, through pictures I've taken and in no particular order except that in which they present themselves. It’s only fitting, however, that those inspirational mountains kick it all off.

Off I-10, heading into town.

Dusk.

 

A cloudy morning.

Moonrise.