Thursday, April 24, 2008

The State of the Arts in Las Cruces

State of the Arts: This week begins a series profiling visual and performing arts and cultural organizations, trends and leaders that impact our community.

Closing

• Patio Art Gallery: Closing June 30
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, art classes Sundays and Mondays
Where: Hadley Centre, University Avenue at El Paseo
Info: www.patioartgallery.com 575-541-7401
Farewell reception: 1 to 4 p.m. May 31
• White Raven Studios: Closing June 1
When: Noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday
Where: 425 W. Griggs Ave.
Info: (575)525-9543, www.whiteravenstudios.com
Last shows: Eric McKinley, BFA show through May 2, MFA Graphic Design Show, May 10 through 17, opening artists’ reception 5 to 7 p.m. May 10

Recently opened
What: Unsettled Gallery and Studio
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, plus special events, artists’ receptions, workshops and classes
Where: 905 N. Mesquite St.
Info: (575) 635-2285

Opening
What: Preston Contemporary Art Center
When: Opening July 11
Where: 1755 Avenida de Mercado in Mesilla
What: New 9,000 sq. ft. facility includes three indoor galleries and an outdoor sculpture space.
Info: www.preston contemporary art.com (575)523-8713

In the works:
• Proposed Las Cruces Arts & Cultural Affairs Commission: To generate funds, and promote and marketing “the Las Cruces Arts Scene” and cultural community. Information: Go to http://storytellingorganization.com and click on Talking Stick Institute or e-mail dboje@nmsu.edu
• Updated guide to Las Cruces galleries, museums, visual and performing arts: Las Cruces Convention & Visitors Bureau, 211 N. Water St. (575) 541-2444 www.lascrucescvb.org. The bureau currently produces print and online listings of arts and cultural events and attractions.
• Gallery/Artists Guide of Southern New Mexico, 40,000 circulation, 20-city, three-state distribution. Information : Jeanne Gehringer, (575) 644-1404, mjeanne@zianet.com, Jud Wright, (575) 526-6101, jud@artsconnectionlc.com
• New artists’ cooperative: Share studio space, marketing, joint buying of art supplies and discounted services, meet 6 p.m. May 15 at the Dresp Room of the Branigan Library, 200 E. Picacho Ave. Information: Trina Dunbar at (575) 680-8760.


By S. Derrickson Moore
Sun-News reporter

LAS CRUCES — It’s a time of transition for the arts in Las Cruces.Two prominent galleries, White Raven Studios on Griggs Avenue and Patio Art Gallery in the Hadley Center, are closing their doors after five years.
Other galleries are springing up, including the recently opened Unsettled Studios in a renovated Mesquite district adobe that rivals spaces on Santa Fe’s chic Canyon Road. In July, Preston Contemporary Art Center Art Galleries and Mesilla Digital Imaging Workshops will open a brand new a 9,000 square-foot space with three indoor galleries and an outdoor sculpture garden in the Mercado de la Mesilla.
Whether they’re closing or opening, artists and gallery owners seem to agree on some things: The art being created here and the artists moving in the region have never been better, but arts marketing strategies must change and expand if Las Cruces is to hold its own in an increasingly volatile economy.
New strategies in the works range from artists’ cooperatives and a slick guide similar to those offered in Santa Fe to a proposed new network organization, the Las Cruces Arts & Cultural Affairs Commission.
Founding Patio Art Gallery members Carolyn Bunch and Julie Ford Oliver sited personal reasons and a desire to devote more time to their own work for their closure, though participating artists were reportedly doing well with a combination of gallery sales and art classes.
At White Raven, it was a different story: “It’s pretty simple really; in five years we didn’t make money,” said Sherry Doil-Carter an artist and educator who owns the gallery with contemporary artist Sandy Zane.
In a strange twist reported by gallery owners here and throughout the state, high ticket art is doing better in the current recession than more moderately priced pieces that constitute most of our regional artists’ market.
“We actually did well with our Contemporary American Masters show last year,” which featured high-ticket works by world-renowned masters, said Doil-Carter.
Zane, who has just opened her second gallery in Santa Fe, Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, in the City Different’s trendy Railroad district, said that art buyers feel more conformable with “recognized” artists and art forms in uncertain times.
“In tough economic times, if people are buying contemporary art, they’re not buying it in Las Cruces. We’re actually doing quite well up here (in Santa Fe), nationally and internationally, especially on the Internet. Over the last five months, we’ve shipped art to Tokyo, Barcelona, London, Brussels and Dubai,” Zane said.
Doil-Carter thinks better times are coming here.
“I think the bubble is just starting to come to the surface. With the spaceport and other things coming here, we’re ready to be developed. But yes, I think this town can support art, but big changes have to be made. Downtown people who own property have to give some of it up, instead of just hanging on. We need some nice, intimate, after-hours restaurants where you can get a glass of wine and a little nosh after a play or an art opening. We need a collector’s guide and we need to work together and support each other,” Doil-Carter said.
A publication like the posh Collector’s Guide, distributed in Taos, Santa Fe and Albuquerque, has long been a dream of many Las Cruces artists and gallery owners, who point out that even much smaller communities like Truth or Consequences and Silver City have modest versions of their own.
The Las Cruces version is in the works, reports Jeanne Gehringer, who is working with Brian Mangas and Jud Wright of Del Valle Printing to produce the Gallery/Artists Guide of Southern New Mexico, a slick annual publication with a 40,000 circulation that will be distributed in 20 cities in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Northern Mexico. The guide will also have an online version. For information, contact Jud Wright at (575) 526-6101, jud@artsconnectionlc.com
“Response has been good,” even in tough economic times, Gehringer said, and the first edition of the guide will be distributed in time for the Doña Ana Arts Council’s annual ArtsHop in September.
Several marketing and promotional groups have attempted to organize during the past decade, with a goal of publicizing both visual and performing arts, including music, dance, theater and literature as well as artists, galleries and museums.
Many of the city’s new and long-term visual art venues have been dual purpose, including from combined galleries and studio workshops and classes, artists’ cooperatives, and facilities that shared space with everything from restaurants, fitness centers, snack and coffee bars, to framing shops, souvenirs, books and clothing.
Larry Thoma dmoore 4/22/08 correct is currently working on a new cooperative that combines several concepts.
“We’re looking for about an 8,000-square-foot space where 20 to 40 artists would share studio space, along with joint marketing for the artists, joint buying of art supplies and discounted services on things like framing, printing and books,” Thoma said.
An organizational meeting is planned at 6 p.m. May 15 at the Dresp Room of the Branigan Library, 200 E. Picacho. For information, call Trina Dunbar at (575) 680-8760.
Amy Johnson Bassford, who will soon leave her five-year post as director of the Doña Ana County Arts Council, feels Las Cruces could be “on the “cusp of really going places. If the right things fall into place, I think that Las Cruces will become a cultural destination.”
She believes funding and cooperation are key.
“The biggest thing is funding. The arts and cultural community need more opportunities to sell their arts and more funding from private and public sources. And the more artists and groups that get together to promote the arts community and culture here, the better. All the cultural groups need to come up with a cultural plan that can then be implemented city- and countywide,” Johnson Bassford said.
The most recent, and perhaps most ambitious, effort was launched with an April 21 presentation to the Las Cruces City Council.
An ad-hoc group of artists, bolstered by an extensive research package prepared by New Mexico State University business management and economics professor David M. Boje and MBA student Rafaela Moschali, have proposed creation of the Las Cruces Arts & Cultural Affairs Commission, composed of regional arts organizations, galleries and museums, city, county and state governmental offices, the Mayor’s Office, the Las Cruces Visitor’s Bureau and Convention Center, area chambers of commerce, New Mexico State University, businesses and other community groups.
Boje stressed that other, smaller communities with fewer cultural attractions and resources have managed to establish themselves as arts meccas through cultural marketing strategies.
His proposed goals for “revitalizing the Las Cruces Arts scene” include:
• Develop sources of funding to purchase arts from southern New Mexico artists, and to promote the city of Las Cruces arts scene.
• Build a Las Cruces Arts & Cultural Affairs Commission to advise the City on investing in the arts, keeping a comprehensive artist’s directory, and an arts calendar.
• Foster live/work/retail space, studies, and arts facilities in available, vacant city properties.
• Establish “Las Cruces Arts Scene” as highly visible elements of the city and region’s identity.
• Recruit a Las Cruces entrepreneur to do package tours of the Las Cruces Arts Scene: Including bed and breakfast, gallery tours, visits with artists in their studios, meals in restaurants featuring art, see the art collection owned by the city.
“This is for all artists, not only 2-D and 3-D artists, but also performance art, literary arts, musicians, singers, dancers, drama, chefs, etc. The aim is to create an infrastructure promoting art, the artists in the area and thus promoting Las Cruces tourist-wise,” Boje said, adding that resulting economic benefits “could take us from the tens of millions to the half a billion dollar category.”
The group asked Mayor Ken Miyagishima and the Las Cruces City Council to appoint a “start-up commission task force.”
Miyagishima said he was impressed with Boje’s research and ideas.
“A cultural advisory commission has been among items on my ‘to do’ list and this fits the bill. I hope they will be able to get the arts organizations together, form committees of manageable size and come to the council with specifc proposals in the form of resolutions,” Miyagishima said.
For information on the Las Cruces Arts & Cultural Affairs Commission proposal, go to http://storytellingorganization.com and click on Talking Stick Institute or e-mail dboje@nmsu.edu

S. Derrickson Moore can be reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you S. Derrickson Moore for posting information on what Talking Stick Institute is doing to market Las Cruces Arts & Culture Scene. Since your report we have put up a website listing an artist registry, galleries, museums, and arts service organizations. There is also an example of a monthly and annual Calendar of events. We are hoping that the Las Cruces Convention Center and Visitor's Bureau will pick up the sites and sustain them with their webmaster. This way there will be a place to find out what is going on. http://talkingstick.info has the link for our temporary site.

If anyone has info to make the site more accurate, such as hours of operation of galleries, styles of art of local artists, etc, please contact me.

Thanks again for providing a forum to talk about the arts and culture economy of Las Cruces.
-- David M Boje

Anonymous said...

Hello !.
might , probably curious to know how one can collect a huge starting capital .
There is no initial capital needed You may start earning with as small sum of money as 20-100 dollars.

AimTrust is what you need
The firm represents an offshore structure with advanced asset management technologies in production and delivery of pipes for oil and gas.

Its head office is in Panama with structures around the world.
Do you want to become a happy investor?
That`s your choice That`s what you really need!

I`m happy and lucky, I began to take up income with the help of this company,
and I invite you to do the same. If it gets down to select a correct companion who uses your savings in a right way - that`s the AimTrust!.
I make 2G daily, and my first deposit was 1 grand only!
It`s easy to join , just click this link http://deqiwexe.freecities.com/paxaxet.html
and lucky you`re! Let`s take this option together to feel the smell of real money

Anonymous said...

Hello!
You may probably be very interested to know how one can manage to receive high yields on investments.
There is no need to invest much at first.
You may commense earning with a money that usually is spent
on daily food, that's 20-100 dollars.
I have been participating in one company's work for several years,
and I'm ready to let you know my secrets at my blog.

Please visit blog and send me private message to get the info.

P.S. I earn 1000-2000 per daily now.

http://theblogmoney.com

Anonymous said...

Hi!
You may probably be very interested to know how one can make real money on investments.
There is no need to invest much at first.
You may commense to get income with a sum that usually goes
on daily food, that's 20-100 dollars.
I have been participating in one company's work for several years,
and I'm ready to share my secrets at my blog.

Please visit blog and send me private message to get the info.

P.S. I earn 1000-2000 per daily now.

[url=http://theinvestblog.com] Online investment blog[/url]

Anonymous said...

Good day, sun shines!
There have were times of hardship when I didn't know about opportunities of getting high yields on investments. I was a dump and downright stupid person.
I have never imagined that there weren't any need in big initial investment.
Nowadays, I'm happy and lucky , I started take up real money.
It gets down to select a proper partner who utilizes your money in a right way - that is incorporate it in real business, and shares the profit with me.

You can get interested, if there are such firms? I'm obliged to tell the truth, YES, there are. Please be informed of one of them:
http://theinvestblog.com [url=http://theinvestblog.com]Online Investment Blog[/url]

Anonymous said...

[url=http://www.ile-maurice.com/forum/members/wetter-vorhersage.html][b]wetter jetzt[/b][/url]

[url=http://www.ile-maurice.com/forum/members/wetter-vorhersage.html][b]deutsche wetter[b][/url]

Anonymous said...

Hm hm.. that's very interessting but honestly i have a hard time figuring it... I'm wondering what others have to say....

Anonymous said...

Glad to materialize here. Good day or night everybody!

Sure, you’ve heard about me, because my fame is running in front of me,
my name is Peter.
Generally I’m a venturesome analyst. all my life I’m carried away by online-casino and poker.
Not long time ago I started my own blog, where I describe my virtual adventures.
Probably, it will be interesting for you to utilize special software facilitating winnings .
Please visit my web page . http://allbestcasino.com I’ll be interested on your opinion..

Anonymous said...

[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/nod32+new.html]nod32 new[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/serina+sendiri.html]serina sendiri[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/lo+ic+09+2006.html]lo ic 09 2006[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/ds+dsc+w55.html]ds dsc w55[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/the+o+c+s3e19+21.html]the o c s3e19 21[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/handphone+vector.html]handphone vector[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/your+uninstall+pro.html]your uninstall pro[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/abraham+hicks+hayhouse+podcasts.html]abraham hicks hayhouse podcasts[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/waterfall+ideas.html]waterfall ideas[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/check+the+resume+kanye+west.html]check the resume kanye west[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/zoo+porn+megaupload.html]zoo porn megaupload[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/sherlock+holmes+2009+xvid+devil.html]sherlock holmes 2009 xvid devil[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/file+cure+serial.html]file cure serial[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/prem+aamar.html]prem aamar[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/petra+delicado.html]petra delicado[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/jackson+derulo.html]jackson derulo[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/sparkadia+falling+down+stairs.html]sparkadia falling down stairs[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/pankaj+dukh+sukh+tha.html]pankaj dukh sukh tha[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/nemo+iphone.html]nemo iphone[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/te+dekaron+private+server.html]te dekaron private server[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/billings+361.html]billings 361[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/crash+bandicoot+for+pc+download.html]crash bandicoot for pc download[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/ensiferum+from+afar+advance+2009.html]ensiferum from afar advance 2009[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/hyoer+cam.html]hyoer cam[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/nokia+303.html]nokia 303[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/mera+lahoo.html]mera lahoo[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/supernatural+s05+dvdrip+xvid+reward.html]supernatural s05 dvdrip xvid reward[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/progdvb+professional+keygen+crack+seriale.html]progdvb professional keygen crack seriale[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/usb+security+1.4.1.html]usb security 1.4.1[/url]
[url=http://hoohi-mach.com/search/edge+of+darkness+scr.html]edge of darkness scr[/url]

Anonymous said...

[url=http://nikebengalsnflstore.com/]A.J. Green Jersey[/url]

We succeed with the help of others--You may republish this article, but must keep the resource box and copyright at the end And then thinking about the fact that there are many human beings that are starving, homeless and in lots of pain Periodically, I pull their current toys out and put some from the box in
Many websites offer amazing discounts And whoever set the alarm and is doing the experiment sent a little mental message to the sleeper and gave away the time? Bummer? But you cannot prove that The good news is that, like many dog owners, the problems you're having can probably be traced to one simple thing: you're trying to communicate with your dog from a human standpoint, and your dog isn't a human I currently have two furry pals, Ghost (an all-white, male Scottish Fold) and Betty (a female with black and orange tortoise coloring), and I am still mourning the loss of Cali (the calico), who passed away last winter

[url=http://www.juliojonesjerseys.us/]Julio Jones Falcons Jersey[/url]
[url=http://giantsofficialjersey.com/]White Victor Cruz Jersey[/url]

Anonymous said...

[url=http://www.iystwowgold.com]wow gold[/url], I bought a lot of these during the the summer months and will certainly not procrastinate to create games gold. In my opinion these are the almost all chic...really attractive and ideal .
Which means that type along with decent. create games gold all the time university. I have nearly four two of games gold! Shows how much money I love games gold.
games gold are fantastic each day provide
they travel through evrythng. ALL my acquaintances away here in Italia desire games gold, hee hee ;To))
These matters Are unquestionably Bad! All the Flap Buckle On In as little as For 30 days. Get a hold of BAILEY Device TRIPLETS INSIDE!!!!I want games gold These kind of Are usually An excellent EMBARRESSMENT In to the Vast Total Agency!
tr¨¨s bon games gold! satisfaite avec mon achat, vendeur serieux moi
These particular [url=http://www.gw2golds.de#gw2gold]gw2 gold[/url] are fantastic! i'm a sucker for the whole bunch! They may be fantastic nice and quite cool. When i'm going with these spectacular games gold Just about everyone gazes their way(: These deffinatley develop a process statment! Here are deffinatley definitely worth some money! Indeed! Indeed! That is correct! :K