More than 100 pieces of original student artwork from the Las Cruces and Gadsden Public Schools have been installed in the first-floor corridors of the Doña Ana County Government Center at 845 N. Motel Blvd. in Las Cruces. The exhibit includes paintings, etchings, photographs and drawings. The artists range in age from elementary students to high schoolers.
The official opening of the newest student show will be held Monday, Nov. 13, from 3-4:30 p.m.Many student artists, their families and public-school faculty art teachers will be on hand. Refreshments will be served, and the public is encouraged to attend.
The student art shows have been a rotating fixture for Doña Ana County’s main lobby since 2000, with thousands of works by local student artists displayed for the public during that time. There also is a mixed-media piece by students at the J. Paul Taylor Academy in the upstairs rotunda which honors civil right champions.
The student art exhibit complements the permanent art collection within the Doña Ana County Government Center, which includes 41 original oils and acrylics – mostly landscapes – donated in December of 2013 by Las Cruces artist Joyce T. Macrorie, as well as a series of historical photographs in the upstairs rotunda, and a spectacular photograph of the Organ Mountains donated in 2007 by Las Cruces artist R. Frederick Silva. The piece, titled “Fall Splendor,” hangs on a second floor east wall, adjacent to the main entrance to the administrative offices of the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners and the Office of the County Manager.
Also on display in the upstairs rotunda are works by students from the Hatch Public Schools, as well as a 10-piece mural by Las Cruces artist Meg G. Freyermuth, who made a long-term loan to the Doña Ana County Government Center’s art collection. Titled, “Leap: It is Unchanging, Yet Trembles Sweetly,” the impressionistic depiction of the Organ Mountains hangs on the west wall of the second-floor rotunda of the building. Below it is a plaque with information about the painting, its history and its dedication. Freyermuth coordinated the loan through the Doña Ana County Special Projects Office, which curates both the rotating student art shows and the building’s permanent and semi-permanent collections.
On permanent display downstairs are two original oils by Las Cruces artist George Mendoza, as well as an original oil painting by the late Las Cruces artist Alice Terry donated to the Doña Ana County Government Center in 2008 for permanent display. The painting, titled ‘Heart of the Problem,’ depicts a dry desert arroyo and represents the artist’s respect for the power of arroyos and the damage they can inflict to property during the summer Monsoon Season inherent to southern New Mexico.
Las Cruces artist Virginia Maria Romero donated four signed prints to the Doña Ana County Government Center for permanent display. The pieces are on display on the second floor near the elevators. Romero is a 20+ year resident of Doña Ana County who has shown her work regionally, nationally and globally. The four pieces featured at the Doña Ana County Government Center are titled “Outcasts,” “Migration,” “Survival” and “Tonantzin.”
On semi-permanent display in the main lobby is one of New Mexico’s most famous painted ponies. Caballo de Las Cruces is covered with more than 2 million tiny, decorative, glass beads. The pony is for sale by the Doña Ana Arts Council, with the proceeds to benefit the historic Rio Grande Theatre. To date, none of the bids for it have met the minimum allowable for sale. The pony will remain on display near the main reception desk of the Doña Ana County Government Center until it changes ownership. Caballo de Las Cruces was designed by local artist Julienne Hadfield. The beading process took more than 4,000 hours to complete by a dedicated group of more than 100 community volunteers. The pony was designed to honor Las Cruces and the surrounding area.
Also on semi-permanent display is “The Gift” by New Mexico artist David Linn. “The Gift” is on loan from the New Mexico Arts Council’s Art in Public Places program. The painting is displayed downstairs near the central elevators.
The public is invited to tour the art exhibits both upstairs and downstairs at any time during normal county business hours.
Information from Dona Ana County