Monday, December 5, 2011

Dialogue-Featuring the NMSU Art Department Graduates

Since I have been attending NMSU it has been only on very rare occasions that I get to see the work of the graduate students.  So I am excited by the generosity that will be displayed in Dialogue on Wednesday December 2011 from 5:00pm-7:00pm at Wells Hall @ Wells and Locust Street, Las Cruces, NM.

Fall 2011 BFA Shows

During the fall the BFA shows are scattered around the Las Cruces area.  I've wondered for some time now why NMSU has an art gallery that the undergraduates are not permitted to use.  I will graduate in the Spring and will be fortunate to be able to have a graduation show with almost all of the other students at the Las Cruces Art Gallery who generously donate that space each spring.  Meanwhile the fall graduating classes must fend for themselves to find a space to show the achievement of years of work.

The Scattered BFA Show

Corbett Center Art Gallery
Corbett Center Student Union Building on the NMSU Campus
Leslie Hibner
Matthew Ortiz
Alicia Escobedo
R. Danielle Garcia

GreenWorks Community Enterprise Center
125 Main Street
Las Cruces, NM 88001
Danielle Williams
Evie Mantone
Susana Juarez
John Andrews
Elaine Navarro
Jesse Griffith
Laura Sedillos

3301 Harrelson St.
Las Cruces, NM
Brack Marrow

University Church of Christ
1555 E. University Ave.
Worship Center, side entrance
Juan T. Parra

Monday, November 21, 2011

Rough Around the Canvas: Another Wells Show

The show took place on November 16th and was well attended considering that there was also an artist lecture that was scheduled shortly after the show opened.  I did not have time to take images while people were there because I felt like the camera would separate me from those attending (I felt like a hostess) so I will present images of the paintings here sans people.  The names of the artists are beneath the images.


Paintings by Susana Juarez and Erin Harrison


Erin Harrison



Katy Stuckel and Sara Kay


Jesus Carranza


Susana Juarez



Sara Kay


Sam Bishop



Jesus Carranza

Jennifer Lyn Murray


Jesus Carranza


Rodolfo Medina


Deret Roberts



Sam Bishop


Katy Stuckel


Erin Harrison

Sam Bishop


Katy Stuckel


The Painting Workshop Fall 2011.  Instructor, Jenna Kuiper


A fine showing by the Painting Workshop which is comprised of three classes of students at differing levels.

Susana Juarez is graduating in December, Sam Bishop (who is taking his first painting class) is majoring in graphic arts and will be graduating nexr spring, May 2012. 

I will also be graduating next spring.  The rest of the class will be following in a year or two.











Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Distortion: A Group Show

Annika Rundberg

The  Experience Series and The Nature Series
challenges why people buy jewelry by her use of fragile and ephemeral materials.

Annika states that "both have an ageing/maturing quality."

The Experience Series explores the tendencies of American consumers, these shortlived luxuy items have been preserved in photographs and video. 

The Nurture Necklaces map a timeline of biological desires that we may not be aware of.










Original Photographs by Dylan Thompson and Paul Neff









The Nurture Necklaces were created with wool and eggs from cockatiel, chicken, goose, emu, and ostrich.




The Experience Series necklace: black frosting
Original Video by Dylan Thompson

Music over Video by Gypsy Soul puchased at amazon.com


Betty Burciaga


"We the People?"

In her statement Betty describes her goal: creating a work without making a physical object and exploring the questions of personhood and power by creating a space of a struggle between powers.  The images are taken from the likeness of police in riot gear  that was taken from a photograph of a political protest in St. Paul Minnesota.  An audio plays a collection of sounds of protests that have taken place around the globe in 2011.







A performance by the artist Jessica Pizana is accompanied by a statement in two languages-Spanish and English.  In the jostle to read the statements I was only able to photograph the statement in English.

Her performance consists of  a costume made of nylon and cheese balls, a stage, and pole dancing - which Jessica endured for the entire two hour opening.











Aubrey de Cheubell's installation of cotton fiber, monofiliment, and plastic sheeting expresses biomorphic forms.  The work is titled Lymphokyte, KS-AIDS, 1991.

Her courageous statement describes her experience of her father's death and her families atttempt to "sterilize the situation" to protect her from the stigma surrounding the disease.







There are two installations that I was unable to capture on a still camera-This is About Being Alone-This is About Being Together by artists Steven Jensen and Jolene Castanon and Oil Paint by Katie Hubbel but they are included in the following video montage.