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(LAS CRUCES) – The Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces is adding a new exhibit, curators say will educate the community about the state’s history.
The museum received a new statue from the Art in Public Places program, which provides funds for state building projects.
“After the building is built, or whatever the situation is, they allow to decorate the area either with interior art or exterior art, and that is how this comes to us,” said Toni Laumbach, director of programs for the museum.
The state was done by the Santa Fe artist Star York. It is of a Native American woman with a hawk on her shoulder and kernels in her hands.
“She is providing a corn blessing. A corn blessing we might look at that as a generic act for asking and giving thanks for the many blessings that are bestowed upon us. So it’s very relevant to this museum’s mission and I think everybody can relate to that, giving thanks,” she said.
The statue will remain a permanent part of the museum and is located in the front entrance for visitors to see.
“Art is in the eye of the beholder and what people get out of that, hopefully an appreciation for it as a work of art and the technique that goes into it. Casting bronze is not an easy thing to do,” she said.
Laumbach is hoping everyone who visits the Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum will find beauty and serenity in the new piece of art.
“In my mind this particular piece really exemplifies the museum’s agricultural mission and it also exemplifies the multicultural nature of the 150 generations that created the agricultural history that New Mexico has experienced,” she said.
