Art Museum and Visual Arts Program

Art Museum and Visual Arts Program

Information about exhibitions, artist resources, educational materials, and more!

Photo by Tey Diana Rebolledo

NATIONAL HISPANIC CULTURAL CENTER MUSEUM & VISUAL ARTS PROGRAM

Celebrate artworks and artists from diverse Latino experiences through the NHCC Art Museum! The galleries feature artworks from the permanent collection, the Community Art Gallery dedicated to highlighting New Mexico’s artists, and rotating exhibitions. We also offer a robust schedule of educational programs for children, families, and adults of all ages.

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For more information on our Visual Arts Program please contact:

Visual Arts Program Manager: Jadira Gurule at jadira.gurule@state.nm.us

Exposición Actuales/Current Exhibition

Aquí Estamos: New Selections from the Permanent Collection

Every few years, the NHCC Art Museum refreshes its exhibit of artworks that showcase the breadth of the permanent collection. As always, the artworks featured in Aquí Estamos are global in scope and reflect the complexity of the Hispanic experience demonstrating that there is no one way to create art that exemplifies what it means to be Hispanic, Chicana/o, Latinx, and/or Latin American.

Aquí Estamos

Mira, Mira On the Wall: Reflecting on 20 Years of Exhibitions

The National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC) turns twenty years old in 2020 and the museum now has twenty years of exhibitions to reflect on and learn from. Mira Mira On the Wall: Reflecting on 20 Years of Exhibitions recounts a selection of exhibits that have been presented over the last two decades. It examines their impact on the permanent collection, the importance of the stories that have been told, and celebrates the artists that have participated in shaping the identity of the museum over the years. These exhibitions have worked to expand a collective understanding of American art and identity through the lens of Hispanic, Chicana/o, Latinx, and Latin American creative expression.

Mira, Mira On the Wall

Exposiciones pasadas/Past Exhibitions

Southwest of Eden: The Art of Adam and Eve

This exhibit features approximately fifty works of art from the Joyce Kaser Collection. Southwest of Eden: The Art of Adam and Eve examines the various ways in which New Mexican artists and others visually portray these two famous figures as well as the flora and fauna in their surroundings. For example, how many apples are featured, or are they pomegranates? Is the serpent male or female? Is it animal or human, or half and half? Is Eve always the instigator or is Adam assuming some responsibility? Situated in the NHCC Art Museum’s highly popular community gallery, Southwest of Eden invites the visitor to take a closer look at the imagery, symbolism and story of what happened in the garden.

Southwest of Eden

The Bosque Gallery at the NHCC

The New Bosque Gallery at National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico will be 730 feet in length (roughly 2 ½ times the size of a football field). This beautiful open-air gallery space runs along the Bosque Trail to the east of the Rio Grande just south of César Chávez and Dolores Huerta Avenues.

Bosque Gallery exhibitions will be mounted on the exterior wire fencing owned by the NHCC. Exhibitions rotate between the key program areas, and will include topics supporting the NHCC’s Mission including History and Literary Arts, Visual Arts, and Performing Arts. The Bosque Gallery exhibits will be accessible, bilingual, and inclusive. The Bosque Trail is highly trafficked with cyclists, joggers, and walkers. These groups of visitors include families and individuals.

Bosque Exhibit

Exposición Virtual/Virtual Exhibition

Virtual Exhibition: Mira, Mira On the Wall: Reflecting on 20 Years of NHCC Exhibitions

The National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC) turned twenty years old in 2020 and the museum now has twenty years of exhibitions to reflect on and learn from. Virtual Exhibition: Mira Mira On the Wall: Reflecting on 20 Years of NHCC Exhibition recounts a selection of exhibits that have been presented over the last two decades. It examines their impact on the permanent collection, the importance of the stories that have been told, and celebrates the artists that have participated in shaping the identity of the museum over the years. These exhibitions have worked to expand a collective understanding of American art and identity through the lens of Hispanic, Chicana/o, Latinx, and Latin American creative expression.

Mira Mira On the Wall

Virtual Exhibition: Qué Chola

An exhibition at the National Hispanic Cultural Center Art Museum that opened on March 8, 2019 and closed on August 4, 2019. The exhibition celebrated Cholas and homegirls in art and popular culture as symbols of feminine strength and resilience in the face of racial, gender, and economic adversity.

Qué Chola

Incubation: Art Created in the COVID-19 Era

An online exhibit of artwork created by Albuquerque High School students under the direction of four teachers. The work was created at the end of the spring semester, after schools closed across New Mexico in response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Incubation

Because It’s Time: Unraveling Race and Place in NM (online exhibition)

The exhibition, Because It’s Time: Unraveling Race and Place in NM, was presented in the NHCC Art Museum in 2018. We are honored to present the content again in a virtual format and to continue sharing the work of these amazing artists whose contributions to discussions regarding identity, culture, experience, belonging, place, and equity remain of critical importance three years later.

Because It’s Time

Creación de Arte Recurrente/Recurring Art Creation

¡Happy Arte Hour!

¡Happy Arte Hour! is an adult only art making program and social gathering. On the first Thursday of the month, NHCC invites adults for artistic fun in a relaxed social setting, which includes snacks and refreshments.. This is a great opportunity for friends to hang out, a unique date night option, or a place to come solo and connect with fellow art enthusiasts.

For more information, including scheduled dates, please, check our events page by clicking on the link below.

EVENTS

Colcha Community Stitch-Along

This workshop meets the third Friday of the month at 1pm with Annette Gutierrez-Turk leading the workshop. Annette has taught this art form to groups internationally and at the NHCC for many years. She is also an award winning artist, most recently recognized in 2019 at Santa Fe Spanish Market. This workshop is for all levels of experience in an informal setting. Annette will demonstrate as well as answer questions.

For more information, including scheduled dates, please, check our events page by clicking on the link below.

Thank you to the Sandia Mountains- EGA for their continued support of this program.

EVENTS

Creación de Arte/Art creation

Try this at home!

In April 2019, we made lemonade out of lemons in the Art Museum. Not real lemonade, because food and drink aren’t allowed in the Museum!

We were expecting construction, and to keep the art safe, it had to be put in storage. We took the families participating in our Saturday program, Vamos al Museo into the Museum to look at blank walls. Crazy right?! It turned in to one of our favorite art making experiences during this program. Our source for art making inspiration were the wall labels that accompany the art, written by our curators which often include statements from the artists. Art makers from age 2 – 80 years old participated.

Please share your art or shadow experiments with us! Tag us @nhccnm or make our staff really happy and email us some photos at ElenaD.Baca@state.nm.us

Try this at home!

Art Project: Sombra

Today we are inspired by three artists,Cristina González, Jacob Sisneros and Paula Castillo. These artists have created large metal sculptures that create beautiful shadows and can be found on the NHCC campus. We hope their use of shapes and the sun inspire you to create your own sombra art!

Please share your art or shadow experiments with us! Tag us @nhccnm or make our staff really happy and email us some photos at ElenaD.Baca@state.nm.us

Sombra

Art Project: Straw Appliqué

Make something! We are inspired by Straw Appliqué. This art form can be as simple or as complex as you want and it is always beautiful. We are presenting an activity that is a simple version that you can do en your casa.

If you do this project, tag us @nhccnm or make our staff happy and email us photos @ElenaD.Baca@state.nm.us

Straw Appliqué

Make something!: Play With Color

Make something! School has begun and we have received requests for activities for young children. People of any age will enjoy playing with water drops and printing!

If you do this project, tag us @nhccnm or make our staff happy and email us a photo @ElenaD.Baca@state.nm.us

Play With Color

Make something!: Luis Eligio Tapia‘s Cadillac

Today we are inspired by “A Slice of American Pie,” by artist Luis Eligio Tapia. This piece is part of our permanent collection funded through the Art in Public Places Program of New Mexico Arts, a division fo the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.

In 2017, during our family art making summer program, participants were inspired by Luis’ painted Cadillac and created their own designs for artistic cars. Click HERE to download the Cadillac coloring sheet to create your own!

If you do this project, tag us @nhccnm or make our staff happy and email us photos at ElenaD.Baca@state.nm.us

Tapia‘s Cadillac

Día de los Muertos: Lesson Plans

Día de los Muertos is observed on November 1st and 2nd in many countries across Latin American. The celebration is the result of a blending of Catholic Spanish traditions with Indigenous customs and beliefs.

In honor of Día de los Muertos, we have developed a series of lesson plans that celebrate several of the visual traditions unique to this colorful Latin American holiday. Join us in making a tapete de arena like the ones found in Oaxaca, México, in crafting a barrilete inspired by the giant kites that soar over the cities of Santiago Sacatepéquez and Sumpango, Guatemala, or in designing a myth-based costume worthy of La Calabiuza in Tonacatapeque, El Salvador.

If you do this project, tag us @nhccnm or make our staff happy and email us a photo @ElenaD.Baca@state.nm.us

Día de los Muertos

Art Making: Fantasía Fantástica

One of the exhibitions this artwork was featured in was Fantasía Fantástica: Imaginative Spaces and Other-Worldly Collage (October 14, 2016 – May 7, 2017).

We hope you follow the prompts, share your thoughts and learn more about the artist and this sculpture.

If you do this project, tag us @nhccnm or make our staff happy and email us photos at ElenaD.Baca@state.nm.us

Fantasía Fantástica

The NHCC’s Visual Arts Program collects, preserves, researches, exhibits and interprets Hispanic works of art from New Mexico and throughout the world, including through an 11,000 square-foot Art Museum.

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