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Southwest Art Scene
reception is 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6.
Information: nmsu.edu/~mquinone/.
The gallery will host a reception for the Love
of Art month from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb.
7, in conjunction with University Art Gallery,
NMSU and Las Cruces Museum of Art. The
entry winner with the most correct answers
will win a $50 gift certificate to La Posta.
Exhibition and contest runs through Feb. 28.
lobby, 430 N. Downtown Mall in Las Cruces.
Open one hour prior to Black Box performances. Information: (575) 523-1223.
Showing through February as part of “For The
Love of Art Month” is “Navarro’s Melting Pot,”
with oil and acrylic paintings and charcoal drawings. Reception is 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6.
Cont’d from Page 37
New Mexico Watercolor Society show
— The society’s show, “Wheels & Wings:
Tracing Our Heritage,” runs through February
at the Las Cruces Railroad Museum, 351 N.
Mesilla, as part of For the Love of Art Month.
Thirteen artists have created 16 watercolor
paintings depicting their vision. Reception is 5
to 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6. Admission is free.
Information: (575) 649-3502
Rio Grande Theatre — 211 Downtown
Mall in Las Cruces. Gallery in theatre lobby.
Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through
Friday. Information: (575) 523-6403 or
riograndetheatre.com.
Showing Feb. 6-28 as part of For The Love of
Art Month, is ArtForms Artists Association of
New Mexico annual members show. Opening
reception is 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6, at all
three venues as part of the Downtown Ramble.
In conjunction with the ramble is a short film
showcase at 7 p.m. in the theater featuring
works by local production company PRC productions. Tickets: $2.
Southwest Calligraphy Guild — The
guild will host an exhibit Feb. 1-26 at NMSU
Alumni & Visitor Center, 775 College in Las
Cruces, with mixed media, works, acrylics,
watercolors, ink and pencil. Hours are 8 a.m.
to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Opening
thetheatregallery — Black Box Theatre
Tombaugh Gallery — First Unitarian
Universalist Church of Las Cruces, 2000 S.
Solano. Hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Information:
(575) 522-7281 or uuchurchlc.org.
Showing in February as part of “For the Love
of Art Month,” is “Scale,” non-objective geometric work from 2014-2015 by Roy Van De
Aa. Opening reception is 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 1, with a demonstration and
reception 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sunday,
March 1.
West End Art Depot — The “We.AD,” at
401 N. Mesilla in Las Cruces, is an arts cooperative and incubator in a 7,000-square-foot
warehouse. Studio members and community
support welcome. Hours are 4 to 8 p.m.
Thursday and Friday, noon to 4 p.m. Saturday,
noon to 3 p.m. Sunday or by appointment.
Information: Chris, (575) 312-9892 or wead.org.
SabaWear presents “Feral Friday,
“Expressions of Illegal IV,” 5 p.m. Friday, Feb.
6, featuring works by several artists from
throughout the Southwest, with music by DJ
Nervous. The event includes “mind-altering”
paintings and performances to help one pause
and appreciate the beauty of life, as well as
“nerd out” on today’s social and political views.
Ongoing classes and workshops include uninstructed figure drawing sessions, ceramic classes with Mud House Studio. Online registration/schedule at we-ad.org.
Tile Decorating/Glazing classes are noon to 3
p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14, March 14, April 18
and May 16. Cost: $40 per class; includes
materials for two tiles.
Also
An Evening with the Artist — Mimbres
Region Arts Council presents painter Victoria
Chick at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 5, at the
Western New Mexico University’s Parotti Hall
in Silver City as part of its monthly art lecture
series. Admission is free; light refreshments
served. Information: (575) 538-2505.
Art Hop — MainStreet Truth or
Consequences sponsors the event 6 to 9 p.m.
the second Saturday of each month (Feb. 14)
in the downtown gallery district. The event features the monthly art opening of new shows
throughout the galleries of Truth or
Consequences. Information torcmainstreet.org.
Community Arts Party — The City of
Socorro, N.M. will host its 18th annual arts
event featuring workshops for all ages 10 a.m.
to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 7, in Finley Gym, 202
McCutcheon. Workshops on painting, tie-dye,
clay, jewelry, candle dipping, beading, masks,
leather work and more. Wear old clothes; volunteers welcome. Admission is free.
Information: (575) 835-5688 or nmtpas.org.
Deming Arts Center — The Deming Arts
Council’s gallery and gift shop is at 100 Gold
Street in Deming, N.M. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4
p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Admission is
free. Information: (575) 546-3663 or
demingarts.org.
Showing through Feb. 24: Fiber Arts Show,
featuring quilting, weaving, word working and
garment design and construction.
A Bobbin Lace Making and Tatting demonstration with local artist Dorothy Waddell is 10
a.m. to noon Wednesday, Feb. 4 and 18.
Rio Bravo Fine Art — 110 Broadway in
Truth or Consequences, N.M. Home of the
Estate of Harold Joe Waldrum. Gallery hours
are noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through
Sunday, or by appointment. Information: (575)
894-0572 or riobravofineartgallery.com.
Showing Feb. 14-April 19: “Ornamental
Abstraction,” new works, including patterns on
paper, collage, ink and paint by Noel Hudson.
Gallery Talk
Cont’d from Page 39
However, success and recognition evaded Coen until he returned to the farm in
Lamar, Colo. in 1980. Realizing that his
true talent lay in capturing the spirit of his
homeland, he taking photographs that
became the basis for a series of bold, oversized images that illuminated the beautiful
and economically vital food producing
regions he knew so well. The first of
these, “The Lamar Series,” which chronicled everyday life within these rural landscapes, was soon followed by “Images of
Contemporary and Rural America.”
Like his earlier works, “Migrant Series”
portrays the duality of a world we often
fail to notice. It challenges us not only to
see but to respond to and care about these
people, their lives and their contributions
to our society.
Okon’s “Octopus” takes its title from the
name journalists gave to the United Fruit
Company, the powerful corporation whose
exploitation of Central American countries
during the 20th century eventually led to
the overthrow of Guatemala’s socialist
president Jacobo Arbenz in 1954, followed
by nearly 40 years of civil war in which
the U.S. supported a military dictatorship
blamed for the genocide of about 200,000
native Mayans.
Museum of Art Senior Curator Patrick
Shaw Cable explains, “Considering himself to be a performance artist, Okon specializes in unique video and installation
works for which he writes a script which
he then photographs using ordinary people. Part of the action is improvisational,
but he also directs participants in plots he
wants them to act out.”
In “Octopus,” Okon has restaged the
Guatemalan conflict in the parking lot of a
Los Angeles Home Depot. Dressed in
opposing black and white T-shirts, participants were hired from among the gathering of undocumented migrants who come
to the Home Depot looking for work —
migrants who have the added insight of
having fought in the war as young men.
Corporate greed from the past is mirrored
in their present status seeking sustenance
from a society that continues to ignore
their existence and importance.
“This 18-minute video was shot in
what’s called a 4-channel video installation, so there will be four different projectors showing different takes on separate
walls,” Cable explained. “We have constructed a special area set off from the rest
of the gallery with white walls on which
the video can be projected. It will be looping throughout the day so that viewers can
come in and decide wherever they want to
start.”
***
The first-ever Spanish Colonia Art
Market in Las Cruces will take place Feb.
21-22 at the Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces.
Sponsored by the Spanish Colonial Art
Society in Santa Fe, about 40 Spanish
Colonial Artists from around New Mexico
will bring for the first time to Southern
New Mexico a critical mass of exponents
of tinwork, colcha, retablos, straw-work,
weaving, jewelry, filigree, pottery, ironwork and carving.
Myrna Zanetell is a freelance writer
specializing in the visual arts.
Page 38
El Paso Scene
February 2015