“Monumental Territory” will be displayed in the Museum’s Arts Corridor through the end of July 2021. The show features 22 creative works by Las Cruces artist Kayla Blundell.

Her artist-in-residence selection for the Friends of the Organ Mountain-Desert Peaks National Monument program in 2016 inspired the art in this show. The exhibit displays abstract paintings, including acrylic spray paint, and photographs. Her work relates to the culture of New Mexico as it captures the beauty of the national monument and the farm life and ranch communities near it. In some of her mixed media work, she uses paper mache to make a 3-D effect to help the viewer experience the sensation of the mountains and the maar volcanic arc known as Kilbourne Hole in southern Doña Ana County.

“One of the first things all the farmers, ranchers, and New Mexicans in the surrounding area see each new day (are the mountains), and it is one great historic landmark that connects all people who live here and continues to be a landmark in our lives,” said Blundell. “We get so used to the areas we live in and tend to be trapped in complacency, forgetting to look around at the gorgeous surroundings.

“If you drive down Baylor Canyon Road, you will see three things: ranchlands with roaming cattle, the river and farmlands in the distance, and the beautiful national monument,” she said “Also, if you drive in the valley, you will see three things: the farmland, the ranching livestock, and of course the beautiful national monument.”

In her photography, Blundell captures the scenes and farm life that she enjoys in hopes to encourage those around her to love the farm and ranch life within the monumental territory. Painting is a passion she carries and uses to express herself through the surrounding nature and culture.

Blundell was born and raised in West Texas. She moved to Las Cruces in 2011 when she married her husband, Josh Blundell, who assisted her with this show. He made all the frames for her work.

****

About the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum

The New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum is a sprawling, 47-acre facility in Las Cruces that shares and preserves the region’s 4,000-year history of growing food. The campus features barns, corrals, livestock, art galleries, indoor and outdoor exhibits, and a gift shop and snack bar. The Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday. It is a division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs and is supported by the Friends of the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum.

NMSU Art Museum will present, “Saint Joseph & The Laborers,”
created through donations from various retablo collectors, including
retablo expert Gloria Fraser Giffords. The exhibit delves into the
role of the laborer through the lens of Mexican retablo imagery.
“Saint Joseph & The Laborers,” will be on display through Nov.
2021 in the newly created Margie and Bobby Rankin Retablo Gallery and
is curated by Courtney Uldrich, MA Candidate, 2021 as part of the
course ART 597.

In this exhibition, the UAM will also display for the first time a
Mexican statue, or bulto, as well as other retablo paintings from the
recent donation to the UAM Permanent Art Collection by leading retablo
expert Gloria Fraser Giffords.

For more information: https://uam.nmsu.edu/saintjoseph/

Event Address/location: University Art Museum 1308 E University Ave, Las Cruces, NM 88001

Event Times: 12 pm-4 pm – Open Wednesday – Saturday.

Admission: Free

Event Phone Number: 575-646-2545. Please call to make a reservation.

Event Website: https://uam.nmsu.edu/saintjoseph/
***Please visit our website for more information or questions.

This outstanding exhibit explores the dramatic transformation of life in the Tularosa Basin in the 1940s and beyond.

“Home on the Range: From Ranches to Rockets” stretches through two galleries and is on display until further notice.

Visitors will learn about ranch life in the Tularosa Basin during the early 20th century, and how events taking place halfway around the world brought about changes that for many ranchers were permanent. The area eventually became White Sands Missile Range, drawing some of the world’s greatest minds in science and engineering.

HOURS:
Hours during this phase of our partial reopening are: Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Museum & Gift Shop are closed on Sunday.

ADMISSION:
$5 Adults
$4 Senior citizens (60 and over)
$3 Children (4 to 17)
$2 Active U.S. military & veterans
Free Children 3 and under, Museum Friends members, and New Mexico senior citizens on Wednesdays.

LOCATION:
New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum, 4100 Dripping Springs Road, Las Cruces, NM 88011
Phone: 575.522.4100
email: frhm@state.nm.us
website: https://www.nmfarmandranchmuseum.org/

Agricultural Beginnings – On long-term display.

Visitors entering the Heritage Gallery will be introduced to the early agricultural period in what is now New Mexico, beginning about 4,000 years ago. This section includes a large mural depicting the beginnings of agriculture in this area, as well as a replica of a Mogollon pit house, ancient tools, a corn grinding interactive and more.

HOURS:
Hours during this phase of our partial reopening are: Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Museum & Gift Shop are closed on Sunday.

ADMISSION:
$5 Adults
$4 Senior citizens (60 and over)
$3 Children (4 to 17)
$2 Active U.S. military & veterans
Free Children 3 and under, Museum Friends members, and New Mexico senior citizens on Wednesdays.

LOCATION:
New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum, 4100 Dripping Springs Road, Las Cruces, NM 88011
Phone: 575.522.4100
email: frhm@state.nm.us
website: https://www.nmfarmandranchmuseum.org/

The New Mexico Colonial Home was built in the museum’s Heritage Gallery and is the centerpiece of the Spanish Colonial section of the gallery. New Mexico’s Spanish Colonial period was from 1598 — when the Spanish first settled in the region — to 1821. The time period for the home is 1815.

Like two other structures in the museum’s 20,000-square-foot gallery — Home Sweet Home and the Mercantile – the New Mexico Colonial Home is an exhibition that allows visitors to walk through, giving them a feeling of stepping back in time.

The home is made of adobe plaster and lots of wood, in the form of posts, vigas, latillas, corbels and lintels, that gives the structure an authentic, traditional look. It includes two rooms – a living room and courtyard, or placita.

HOURS:
Hours during this phase of our partial reopening are: Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Museum & Gift Shop are closed on Sunday.

ADMISSION:
$5 Adults
$4 Senior citizens (60 and over)
$3 Children (4 to 17)
$2 Active U.S. military & veterans
Free Children 3 and under, Museum Friends members, and New Mexico senior citizens on Wednesdays.

LOCATION:
New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum, 4100 Dripping Springs Road, Las Cruces, NM 88011
Phone: 575.522.4100
email: frhm@state.nm.us
website: https://www.nmfarmandranchmuseum.org/

Wheels & Gears is a long-term exhibit in the Museum’s Heritage Gallery that features a collection of wagons, buggies, vehicles and implements from different eras in New Mexico.
“To see such a variety of items with wheels and gears together, all of which have contributed in some way to New Mexico’s agricultural history, is so interesting and exciting because you relate to how ‘getting around in New Mexico’ has really changed over the years,” said the museum’s Chief Curator, Toni Laumbach.

The exhibit features:

• Carreta wheel hub (1840-1850) made of cottonwood that was discovered half-buried along the northern edge of what is now White Sands National Monument
• 1936 half-ton International Harvester pickup truck
• 1924 Model T Roadster
• Gasoline pump that dates to the 1920s
• Delivery wagon from 1895
• 1900 buckboard wagon used on a ranch near Grants, N.M.
• 1900 piano box buggy
• Chuck wagon that was used from 1890 to 1949
• Nut tree knocker from 1949
• John Deere hay baler that was used from 1979 to 1987
• Aerometer windmill that dates back to 1935
• Basque sheepwagon
• 1900 canopy-top surrey
• Runabout buggy (1900-1929)
• Various wheel tools and parts
• 100 years of New Mexico license plates

HOURS:
Hours during this phase of our partial reopening are: Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Museum & Gift Shop are closed on Sunday.

ADMISSION:
$5 Adults
$4 Senior citizens (60 and over)
$3 Children (4 to 17)
$2 Active U.S. military & veterans
Free Children 3 and under, Museum Friends members, and New Mexico senior citizens on Wednesdays.

LOCATION:
New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum, 4100 Dripping Springs Road, Las Cruces, NM 88011
Phone: 575.522.4100
email: frhm@state.nm.us
website: https://www.nmfarmandranchmuseum.org/

Are You with Me? by contemporary Chicana artist Sonya Fe opens May 7, 2021 and runs through July 24, 2021. Fe’s exhibit is both a biographical depiction of her own life and of those who are often overlooked. Fe’s work reflects social and cultural issues with themes centering around women and children. Her use of bold brush strokes and vibrant colors creates beautiful dynamic paintings, visual stories of women’s place in society and childhood innocence in a rough world. Fe encourages the viewer to question, comment, and act.

Fe explains, “I want the viewer to stand with me while looking at the work. I want them to feel, see, and understand what I am saying – to not be left behind. Are you with me?”

Please note that due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Las Cruces Museums have instituted new procedures to visit our facilities to ensure the health and safety of our staff and guests.

***Visitation is currently permitted by reservation only. Please call for times.
Please email education@las-cruces.org or call (575)522-3120 to reserve a time to visit.

Guests with COVID-19 symptoms or who are sick will not be permitted to enter. Guests are required to follow health guidelines by wearing a mask over their nose and mouth, maintaining a distance of at least six feet from others at all times, and refraining from touching museum objects. The museum is located at 491 N. Main Street (RoadRUNNER Transit bus route 1, stop 36). For additional information, visit the website at museums.las-cruces.org or call (575) 541-2137.

The Las Cruces museums continue to offer exhibit information and virtual programming
online through social media at Facebook.com/LCMuseums, Instagram.com/LCMuseums, and the LCMS websiteClick for more information.

“Science Café – Porous Polymers: Synthesis and Applications” online with the Museum of Nature & Science and Sigma Xi

The Museum of Nature & Science and Sigma Xi present “Science Café – Porous Polymers: Synthesis and Applications” with guest speaker Reza Foudazi, Ph.D. Dr. Reza joins us via Zoom Tuesday, May 18 at 5:30pm from New Mexico State University. Please contact Stephanie at shawkins@las-cruces.org to request a link to the program or go to zoom.us with webinar ID 87595949354.

Porous polymers have a variety of applications that are dependent on material functionality and morphology. This presentation highlights applications using porous polymers produced through a templating approach. These fabricated ultrafiltration membranes have pore sizes in the range of 2-5 nanometers and exhibit both excellent resistance to deposit formation and high permeance of water, vastly outperforming conventional ultrafiltration membranes. They can be tailored to produce membranes for a wide range of applications including protein purification, water treatment, and food processing.

Reza Foudazi, Ph.D. is an associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at New Mexico State University. Dr. Foudazi’s research focuses on the use of porous polymers for water filtration.

The Museum of Nature & Science is currently closed due to the public health order. The Museum is located at 411 N. Main Street and is accessible from RoadRUNNER Transit Route 1 Stop 36. For additional information, and updates on reopening, visit the website at: http://las-cruces.org/museums or follow us on Facebook and Instagram @LCMuseums.