More than 100 pieces of original student artwork from the Las Cruces and Gadsden Public Schools will be installed this week 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 from elementary students to high schoolers.
The official opening of the newest student show will be held Friday, March 15, 2013, 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.
The student art shows have been a rotating fixture for Doña Ana County’s main lobby since 2000, with hundreds of works by local student artists displayed for the public during that time.
The student art exhibit complements the permanent art collection within the Doña Ana County Government Center, which includes a series of historical photographs in the upstairs rotunda, as well as 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.
On permanent display downstairs is an original oil painting by Las Cruces artist Alice Terry donated to the Doña Ana County Government Center last February 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 has 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 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 hung 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.