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 Friday, April 6, 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. Also on display in the upstairs rotunda are fabric works by students from the Hatch Public Schools.
The student art exhibit complements the permanent art collection within the Doña Ana County Government Center, which includes original works by important New Mexico and Doña Ana County artists including Meg Freyermuth, Julienne Hadfield, David Lynn, Joyce T. Macrorie, George Mendoza, Virginia Maria Romero, Frederick Silva, Alice Terry and Mary Trail.
The Trail piece is the most recent addition to the permanent collection, having been donated in October of 2017. An impressionistic piece, it was painted with acrylic and watercolor on canvas, and the piece is titled ‘Horizons.’ It hangs in the administrative hallway of the Doña Ana County Government Center, adjacent to the offices of the county commissioners and the senior administration team.
“I wanted to create a serene, peaceful and calming effect for viewers,” Trail said in her donation letter, noting that the piece was created in 2014.
The permanent collection and the semi-annual student art shows are curated by the Doña Ana County Special Projects Office.
The public is invited to tour the art exhibits both upstairs and downstairs at any time during normal county business hours.
Information from Doña Ana County