Yesterday was the grand opening and artist reception of the New Mexico Highlands University 10th Invitational New Mexico Painters' Exhibition at Kennedy Hall featuring 41 Northern NM artists – including me! – and 123 paintings – including four of mine! The Exhibition runs through Oct. 31, 2023.
According to a press release:
The Painters Exhibition was started ten years ago through Las Vegas ophthalmologist Dr. Robert Bell’s generous donation of some of his collection to the Highlands University Art Foundation. The exhibition was founded at the same time to highlight the range of artistic talent on and off campus, and to give students a chance to help hang a juried show and exhibit their work.
One of my paintings was featured in their program:
"The Fool Head" painting (featured above) is one of my most popular and several people at the reception sought me out to tell me how much they liked it. It's very near and dear to me as well as it was inspired by my SVT (supraventricular tachycardia) episode in June of 2021 when my heart raced at 189 bpm for 9 hours.
The opening was well attended--this photo was taken early on in the event before it became more crowded. But you can see how nice the Kennedy Hall gallery is and how much artwork was on display.
We've lived in New Mexico for about 3 years and were pleased to realize we knew quite a few people at the reception. Many of whom are artists that I've written about in my monthly newsletter, "The Horn".
And I made a few new friends as well. One young man talked with me for a quite a while about my process, inspiration, and what I'm working on now. A young woman is an art student at the university seemed moved by my work which was deeply gratifying. The NMHU student curator for this show is delightful and we spoke for a while. And I spent a little time talking with Dr. Bell who is a major supporter of the arts program at NMHU.
Here I am with my four paintings at the exhibit, "Hail the Egg", "Mental Health", "The Fool Head", and "Menopause":
Gee, do you think I look happy?
I was!
The only down side is that I didn't have much time to look at all the art on display – I was too busy socializing! But I plan to go back to the gallery several times over the next few weeks to enjoy the artwork in a calmer and quieter environment. If you are in town I hope you find tim to see the exhibit too! 😊