The Doña Ana Arts Council’s (DAAC) Las Cruces Arts Fair, March 17 – 19 at the Las Cruces Convention Center, can bring out your inner artist or art lover with fine art, photography, specialty clothing, recycled art, jewelry and much more at a wide range of prices. The seventh annual event features over 100 artists, some returning from previous years and many new artists, ensuring there is something new to discover every year you attend.
The Las Cruces Arts Fair is an art-filled weekend with artist competitions, demonstrations, Flamenco music and dance, and of course, shopping throughout the convention center.
It opens Friday, March 17, at 6 p.m. with a gala opening that includes a Quick Draw Contest, where artists will have 90 minutes to create a painting or drawing based on a theme to be revealed that evening. Once complete, visitors may peruse the art for 15 minutes, then bid on their favorites during a live auction, with half the funds going to the artist and half to DAAC.
Friday evening and all day Saturday will feature the ambient Flamenco guitar and percussion music of Euterpe, back for the third year, providing fabulous music in the cantina for those taking a break from shopping.
Artists from around the United States, Mexico, and Canada will fill the convention center with art for everyone, including fun and funky hand-crafted or sophisticated jewelry, unique garments, metal sculptures for indoors and out, fine art prints, kitchen items made from exotic woods, ceramics, photography, recycled art, and drawings and paintings in a variety of mediums.
Students from New Mexico State University and Doña Ana Community College art programs will also take part in the Las Cruces Arts Fair. They will each have a booth and give shoppers the opportunity to support an emerging artist. Kathleen Albers, executive director of DAAC, explains that the students are receiving the booth at no charge and will retain all their proceeds from art sold. She says, “It is part of our educational outreach, our gift to promote young, emerging artists.”
The Las Cruces Arts Fair features art for everyone, including affordable prices for those just beginning their collections.
Looking for art reflecting the Southwest? Visit Amado Peña Jr. of Santa Fe, who says, “It has been said that my work is the essence of the Southwest, with bold colors, forms and dynamic composition that capture a vision of a people, a land, and its art.” Perhaps you’re looking for something to reflect our area’s rich Native American heritage? Stop by and see James Tsoodle, an artist of Kiowa and Taos Pueblo ethnicity from Albuquerque. He creates paintings with acrylic on canvas to portray the north and south plains warriors as they were in the 1800s.
Maybe you’d like something with a more Asian influence? Wendy Wilkerson, Glorieta, New Mexico, paints with gouache on rice paper with silver, gold, and copper metallic gouache details. She says, “For over a decade, my works have taken on the intense color and vibrancy of the Yunnan school of painting, reminiscent of Jiang Teifeng and Ting Shao Kuang.”
Art doesn’t have to be displayed in your home. The creations you purchase may be wearable art, such as hand-crafted shawls, tunics, jackets, vests, or even something from Veronique Loggins of Colorado Springs, who makes one-of-a-kind articles of clothing, such as jackets and tunics, from silk Japanese kimono fabrics.
Albers notes, “Making a major art purchase is a big decision. That’s why a Friday evening ticket allows visitors to return Saturday or Sunday and a Saturday ticket is also good for Sunday. They can go home, measure their walls, and be sure the piece they’ve fallen in love with will work for them, then go back to the fair and make their purchase.”
If you enjoy the music of Euterpe, which will be performing Flamenco guitar and percussion music at the arts fair, expand the musical portion of your art-filled weekend by attending a special performance by the National Institute of Flamenco of Albuquerque at the Rio Grande Theatre Saturday, March 18, at 8 p.m. Tickets and more information for this event are at www.riograndetheatre.com or by calling 575-523-6403.
Tickets for the Las Cruces Arts Fair are $8 and are available at the door or online at www.daarts.org. Children 12 and under are admitted free. Hours are Friday, March 17, from 6 – 9 p.m.; Saturday, March 18, from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.; and Sunday, March 19, from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. The Las Cruces Convention Center is located at 680 E. University Avenue.
The Doña Ana Arts Council offices are located on the second floor of the Rio Grande Theatre, 211 N. Main Street, Las Cruces, New Mexico. Office hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. More information at 575-523-6403