Second Floor galleries are temporarily closed as our HVAC system undergoes a major upgrade. Kress, American Art, Contemporary Art, and Latin American Art collections will remain off view until the upgrade is complete. Thank you for your patience!
Second Floor galleries are temporarily closed as our HVAC system undergoes a major upgrade. Kress, American Art, Contemporary Art, and Latin American Art collections will remain off view until the upgrade is complete. Thank you for your patience!
The EPMA Media Kit provides a brief overview of the Museum. For further inquires, please contact the Director’s Office.
Kirsten Hassenfeld, Millefleur, 2019, salvaged textiles with mixed media, 78 inches diameter.
EL PASO, Texas—The El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA) invites the community to an opening celebration of a new fiber-based contemporary art exhibition called A Beautiful Mess: Weavers and Knotters of the Vanguard that opens with a special reception at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 23.
From micro artworks the size of your hand to mammoth, room-sized installations, the all-women artist exhibition A Beautiful Mess pushes the boundaries of traditional media. Using rope, yarn, clay, and wire, this group of conceptual artists knot and twist their media into sculptures that range from minimal and hyper-organized to utter pandemonium. They explore personal and political ideals— order and chaos to the extreme—and freely break the rules to create beautiful artworks.
Serious about making a strong cultural and intellectual impact, the artists deftly weave their message into works demonstrating extraordinary technical skill. Artists include Windy Chien, Kirsten Hassenfeld, Dana Hemenway, Kira Dominguez Hultgren, Dani Lopez, Hannah Perrine Mode, Liz Robb, Meghan Shimek, Lisa Solomon, Katrina Sánchez Standfield, and Jacqueline Surdell.
The EPMA also invites the community to join in telling the story of El Paso through a co-weaving project organized by local artist, Cynthia Gutierrez-Krapp on May 23 lasting through the duration of the exhibition. Additionally, mini-looms will feature touchable fiber displays that encourage visitors to connect and understand the intricacies of fiber art. Cynthia Gutierrez-Krapp is Navajo/Diné, Mescalero Apache, and Yaqui from the U.S-Mexico borderlands, she studied fiber arts at the Fashion Institute of Technology and studied traditional beading at the American Indian Community House under Lakowi Ne Oakes in New York City.
This new exhibition will accompany selections from the 2024 Border Biennial, on view through August 11. Biennial works on view feature fiber-based works that complement A Beautiful Mess, responding to borderland textiles. Selections include works in consideration for potential addition to the Museum’s permanent collection.
The exhibition will be on display until August 11. The El Paso Museum of Art is free and open Wednesday through Sunday. For more information about the El Paso Museum of Art, including exhibitions and events, visit http://www.epma.art
A Beautiful Mess: Weavers & Knotters of the Vanguard was organized by Bedford Gallery at the Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, California. Support for this exhibition is provided by the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Texas Commission on the Arts, the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation, and the City of El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department.
*ANOINTED *(film still), 2017. Video, 6 min. 8 sec. Written and performed by Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner (Marshallese-Majol). Directed by Daniel Lin.
At the El Paso Museum of Art, a summer show brings to light the resilience of Indigenous artists in the wake of nuclear power. Read the full article by Jesse Dorris here.
Photo by Josh Huskin
The City of El Paso and the Museums and Cultural Affairs Department is pleased to announce the appointment of Edward Hayes, Jr., as the new Director of the El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA).
“After an extensive nationwide search for the best candidate to lead the El Paso Museum of Art, we are tremendously excited to welcome our new El Paso Museum of Art Director Edward Hayes,” said Deputy City Manager Dionne Mack. “In his new leadership role, he will provide strategic vision, artistic direction, and executive and administrative leadership for the EPMA to build on its rich legacy, collections, and unique strengths—further advancing its excellence and impact in the region and world.”
Hayes is a bilingual art museum professional with more than 15 years of experience working as a curator, exhibitions manager, and director of traveling exhibitions. He was most recently the Exhibitions Senior Manager for the McNay Art Museum in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas, where he managed the museum’s robust exhibitions program, spearheaded traveling projects, and co-organized select exhibitions that explored the bicultural experience through art.
Prior to returning to Texas, Hayes was at International Arts & Artists (IA&A) in Washington D.C., a nonprofit dedicated to increasing cross-cultural understanding and access to the arts internationally. At IA&A he was Director of the Traveling Exhibitions Service which has produced and toured art exhibitions for more than 25 years in all 50 states, Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Hayes has managed a program of more than 25 exhibitions touring annually and launched ten new exhibitions into the marketplace including Cultural Encounters: Art of the Asian Diasporas in Latin America & The Caribbean, Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1936 – Present, among others.
Hayes holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2006) and a Master of Arts in Art History from The University of Texas at San Antonio (2010). He was born in San Diego; grew up in San Antonio, Texas and has close ties to Mexico where his mother’s family resides. Before moving to San Antonio, he lived in Dhaka, Bangladesh and Quito, Ecuador, where his father was stationed.
Hayes begins his new role as the Director of the El Paso Museum of Art on June 20.
Press Release: City of El Paso Welcomes New El Paso Museum of Art Director
Installation view, Gene Flores: Chicano Proverbios and Dichos, El Paso Museum of Art, September 5 – November 7, 1999.
Jessica Fuentes, Glasstire News Editor, writes about the need for multilingual text and programs in museums. Read the whole article which highlights the work EPMA does here.
El Paso, Texas Texas— The El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA) is opening a call for entries to the 2024 Border Biennial exhibition.
The Border Biennial exhibit aims to recognize, stimulate, and disseminate artistic creation on the US Mexico border. Artists selected will be concerned with the unique distinctiveness of the borderland, which includes a diversity of experiences. The exhibition will explore how the definition of “the border,” has helped shaped artists’ artistic practice and make up who they are, including their history, gender, culture , race, sexuality, etc.
Twenty five artists, or collectives, will be selected to present artwork in the 2024 Border Biennial. Artists must live and work within 200 miles of the boundary between the United States Mexico. Artists will be chosen from the open call and several established artists will be invited to participate. Those invited might live beyond the border, but address and engage with border issues within their works.
To apply, visit https://elpasomcad.submittable.com. For complete Application Guidelines and Information, visit https://epma.art/art/border-biennial
Application deadline is July 30, 2023 at 11:5 9 pm MST.
The 2024 Border Biennial will be on view at EPMA in the Woody and Gayle Hunt Gallery from December 15, 2023 to April 14, 2024. The 2024 Border Biennial is curated by EPMA Assistant Curator, Claudia S. Preza, alongside curatorial advisors Edgar Pic azo Merino and Jazmín Ontiveros Harvey. Support for the 2024 Border Biennial is provided by the Mellon Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Texas Commission on the Arts, the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation, and the City of El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department.
Installation View, Fifth Transborder Biennial 2018, El Paso Museum of Art, June 1 - September 16, 2018.
The El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA) invites upper level undergraduate and graduate students in Art History, Museum Studies, Humanities, or other relevant fields to apply for an internship in EPMA’s Curatorial Department. EPMA houses over 7,000 works of art and strives to provide the borderland with access to the very best art of international interest, presenting approximately 10 exhibitions per year complemented by a robust educational programming.
As an EPMA curatorial intern, you will:
At present, EPMA is recruiting a curatorial intern to research and assist with administrative tasks related to the upcoming 2024 Border Biennial. This includes assisting with the call for art, exhibition development and planning, and managing associated programming. Interns will be reporting to EPMA’s Assistant Curator, Claudia S. Preza.
The 2024 iteration of the Biennial will invite artists to explore the unique identity of the borderland, which includes a diversity of experiences. The exhibition will explore how the definition of “the border,” has helped shape artists’ artistic practice and make up who they are, including their history, gender, culture, race, sexuality, etc.
The Biennial internship is a grant funded part-time opportunity. Interns will work up to 20 hours a week at an hourly rate of $15. The position is set to start on July 2023 and potentially last through April 2024. Candidates who are highly motivated, detail-oriented, have a working knowledge of graphic design and Canva are encouraged to apply. Knowledge of Spanish is highly preferred.
Deadline for application is Sunday, May 28th, 11:59 MST.
Interested candidates please send a cover letter stating your qualifications and interests, a CV, and a short writing sample to EPMACuratorial@elpasotexas.gov with “Biennial Internship” as the subject line.
The Sunflower Quilting Bee at Arles, 1996, lithograph by Faith Ringgold. Gift of Julie L. McGee, Class of 1982, Bowdoin College Museum of Art. © 2021 Faith Ringgold / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, Courtesy ACA Galleries, New York.
The El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA) invites the public to visit its newest exhibition, There is a Woman in Every Color: Black Woman in Art, on view starting February 3.
After its much-heralded presentation at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA) in fall 2021, the exhibition will make its second touring stop at EPMA. There is a Woman in Every Color examines the representation of Black women in the United States over the past two centuries. Featuring more than forty works of art from the BCMA’s collection, the show will confront the history of marginalization and make visible the presence of women of color in the history of American art and is inspired by African-American artist Elizabeth Catlett’s work, There is a Woman in Every Color, 1975. “We’re excited to be partnering with the El Paso Museum of Art on this project,” said Bowdoin College Museum of Art Co-Directors, Anne Collins Goodyear and Frank Goodyear. “El Paso has a long and proud artistic tradition, and we look forward to sharing this important exhibition with art lovers in the Southwest.” The exhibition is constructed around five thematic sections: portraiture, documented histories, labor, artistic exploration, and the influence of literature. The exhibit will feature works by a number of important 20th and 21st century artists, including Emma Amos, Elizabeth Catlett, Alma Thomas, Carrie Mae Weems, Betye Saar, Faith Ringgold, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Kara Walker, Mickalene Thomas, LaToya Ruby Frazier, and Nyeema Morgan. Supporting these works will be a selection of 19th century works of art highlighting the continuity of experience of Black women in America. “I’m deeply appreciative of the community responses I’ve received about the exhibition thus far,” said Curator Elizabeth S. Humphrey. “I am excited for people in El Paso to engage with the exhibition and look forward to seeing what resonates.”
The exhibition will be accompanied by complementary events: - Workshop with the Center for Afrofuturist Studies from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. - Guerrilla Girls Gig on Thursday, March 9 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, February 23 - Guerrilla Girls Workshop from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, March 10 - Gallery walk thru and College Workshop with the Curator, Elizabeth S. Humphrey from Noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 29 - Panel Discussion: Women in Art at 2 p.m. Friday, May 5
There is a Woman in Every Color: Black Women in Art is organized by the Bowdoin College Museum of Art and curated by Elizabeth S. Humphrey (Bowdoin Class of 2014), the former curatorial assistant and manager of student programs. This tour of a slightly condensed version of the exhibition is supported by the Art Bridges Foundation, which is dedicated to expanding access to American art across the country. Additional support is provided by the Mellon Foundation, Texas Commission on the Arts, El Paso Museum of Art Foundation, and the El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department.
Installation view, Isadora Stowe: illuminated, El Paso Museum of Art, October 20, 2022 - March 12, 2023. Photograph by David Davis.
“Cacti and desert flowers burst out of small square houses, and planes, ribbons, birds, moths, maps and striped candies abound.” Read Isadora Stowe: illuminated complete exhibition review by Hannah Dean from Glasstire here.
Isadora Stowe, installation detail, light sensitive serigraphy on Plexiglas. Photograph courtesy of the Artist.
EL PASO, Texas — The El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA) invites the public to visit the new exhibition, illuminated, that opens Thursday, October 20 with a reception starting at 5 p.m. The exhibition is a series of works by New Mexico based multi-media artist, Isadora Stowe. Visitors will be able to experience a visual journey through an installation of paintings, silkscreens, floating Mylar, Plexiglas silhouettes, colored light, and projected video with incorporated sound. The audience is immersed with opportunities to engage in how we construct our own realities and designate meaning. Isadora Stowe’s work focuses on the narrative of environment translated and coded into complex psychological landscapes. Stowe grew up in the southwest border region, living and working in New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico. She credits these experiences for providing a heightened awareness of geographical and political boundaries and a fascination with the exploration of identity of self and the construction of home in her work. illuminated is presented with generous support from the Mellon Foundation, the Texas Commission on the Arts, the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation and the City of El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department. For more information on the El Paso Museum of Art as well as programs and activities including a workshop with artist, Isadora Stowe, visit www.epma.art.
Installation view, Gods for Future Religions, Woody and Gayle Hunt Family Gallery, El Paso Museum of Art, September 22, 2022–January 15, 2023.
Ho Baron: Gods for Future Religions at the El Paso Museum of Art is an uncanny blend of maximalism, surrealism, the ascetic, and the interstellar. Read the whole exhibition review by Steve Jansen from Southwest Contemporary here.
Salvador Dalí, The Divine Comedy, Purgatory: Greed and Lavishness, 1960. Wood engraving in color on Rives paper after a watercolor, 9 ¾ x 7 in. Collection of the Park West Museum.
EL PASO, Texas — The El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA) invites the public to visit two new exhibitions, Homage to Dante: Salvador Dalí’s Illustrations for the Divine Comedy and Ho Baron: Gods for Future Religions, opening Thursday, September 22. About Homage to Dante: Salvador Dalí’s Illustrations for the Divine Comedy Throughout his prolific career, Salvador Dalí was the illustrator of more than 100 books. Among the most celebrated of his book illustrations in his portfolio for Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy. In Homage to Dante presents Dante’s narrative of his journey through Hell (Inferno), Purgatory, and Paradise. About Ho Baron: Gods for Future Religions Gods for Future Religions highlights the prolific career of local El Paso artist, Ho Baron. For more than fifty years, Baron has created surreal narratives in bronze and cast stone sculptures, pen and ink drawings, photographs, and assemblages. Working intuitively, he creates motifs that reflect his unique and personal style of figures. Both family-friendly exhibits will be accompanied by complementary events: Opening reception: 5 p.m. Thursday, September 22 EPMA Family day Exquisite corpse: 12 to 3 p.m. Saturday, September 24 EPMA will be hosting these two complementary yet distinctive exhibitions side-by-side in the Woody and Gayle Hunt Family Gallery. Baron’s anthropomorphic and otherworldly figures offer a great juxtaposition to Dalí’s illustrations of the Divine Comedy. Homage to Dante is presented with generous support from The Park West Foundation, founders Albert and Mitsie Scaglione, and director Diane Pandolfi. Support for Gods for Future Religions is provided by the Mellon Foundation, the Texas Commission on the Arts, the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation, and the City of El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department. Both exhibitions run through January 15, 2023. For more information on both exhibitions as well as programs and activities at the El Paso Museum of Art at www.epma.art.
Press Release: Homage to Dante and Gods for Future Religions
Becky Hendrick, Invoke All Available Gods, 1991. Acrylic and oil on canvas, 60 x 156 in. El Paso Museum of Art, Purchase with funds provided by the Robert U. and Mabel O. Lipscomb Foundation Endowment, 1997.24.1a-c. Photograph by David Davis.
EL PASO, Texas — The El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA) invites the public to visit two new exhibitions, Peaceful Moments: The Art of Itzchak Tarkay and Becky Hendrick: Invoking Light, opening Thursday, July 21. Peaceful Moments The first exhibition combines paintings of elegant women and works on paper of landscapes by Itzchak Tarkay (Yugoslavia, 1935-2012). Informed by his fashion illustration background, Tarkay staged scenarios of women relaxing at cafes that capture a sense of peaceful movement. Tarkay’s unique style transforms the norms of hectic life into peaceful moments. The exhibition will be on view through October 2. Invoking Light The second exhibition pairs two paintings by Becky Hendrick (United States, born 1947). Both works employ black panels to symbolize Heaven and Earth, alluding to the I Ching, an ancient Chinese divination text. Beyond the spiritual and tangible themes, both paintings play on perspectives and a call to action. The exhibition is on view through December 4. Both family-friendly exhibits are accompanied by complementary events to include: Opening reception at 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 21 Art Talk with artist Becky Hendrick, at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 8 Peaceful Moments: The Art of Itzchak Tarkay was organized by Carole Sorell, Inc. and curated by David S. Rubin. The exhibition is presented with generous support from The Park West Foundation, founders Albert and Mitsie Scaglione, and director Diane Pandolfi. Support for Becky Hendrick: Invoking Light is provided by the Mellon Foundation, the Texas Commission on the Arts, the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation, and the City of El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department. For more information on both exhibitions as well as programs and activities, visit the El Paso Museum of Art at www.epma.art.
The City of El Paso announced timelines to phase in the reopening of various Quality of Life services beginning in April to include select facilities and programs from the Museums and Cultural Affairs Department, the Parks and Recreation Department, the Public Libraries and the El Paso Zoo and Botanical Gardens.
The decision to reopen facilities was made after consulting and obtaining support from the Office of Emergency Management, the Department of Public Health, and the City-County Local Health Authority.
The reopening strategy is responsive to the community’s needs for services and programs and prioritizes the health and safety of all residents and City staff. City employees are working hard to prepare buildings and programs with robust health and safety processes.
“Our community is moving in the right direction with decreased active COVID-19 cases, and hospitalization rates,” said Quality of Life Deputy City Manager Tracey Jerome. “It is encouraging to see select Quality of Life facilities reopening and begin bringing these amenities back to our youth and all of our families. The City will continue practicing behaviors that mitigate the spread of COVID-19 to include requiring face coverings and practicing social distancing.”
El Norte reports on EPMA’s ongoing call to artists for the 6th Border Biennial. Read about it here.
The 6th Border Biennial continues a more than decade-long binational collaboration between the El Paso Museum of Art and the Museo de Arte de Ciudad Juárez on an exhibition simultaneously occurring at both museums on either side of the El Paso / Juárez border.
Curated by Kate Green, Ph.D., Senior Curator, EPMA, with MACJ staff and curatorial advisors Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, Art Historian and Curator, and Rolando Flores, Artist and Tercerunquinto Collective member, this edition of the exhibition includes public programs as well as an illustrated publication with critical essays and proposals by participating artists for potential, unrealized border projects.
“The artists have strong voices, and they have the biennial as a platform to express themselves on the border, the body and how it is affecting people transiting the border territory,” Green said.
“But it will be through art, some works will be abstract, others conceptual, other political, but all reflective on the border today, which is urgent.”
For additional information or to apply now through April 15th, click here.
In the interest of protecting the public’s health and safety from the evolving COVID-19 pandemic, the City of El Paso is suspending all special programming at parks, libraries, museums and other locations until further notice.
It is important to note, there are currently no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in El Paso.
Facilities and programs impacted include:
All Senior Centers are closed; all meals for seniors will still be available beginning Tuesday, March 17.
Youth and adult sports programs to include sports tournaments are suspended.
Programs and classes offered at aquatic centers, libraries, museums, recreation centers and the El Paso Zoo are suspended.
These steps implemented out of an abundance of caution are intended to protect residents and visitors.
The public may keep up with City news and activities by visiting elpasotexas.gov or following the City of El Paso on social media sites including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
On March 7th, 2020 join the El Paso Museum of Art for a lively afternoon of talks revolving around three generations of Latinx artists - Rufino Tamayo, Celia Álvarez Muñoz, and Adrian Esparza featuring artworks currently on view at the museum.
The discussion will be held in English with live Spanish interpretation available through provided headsets and is free and open to the public.
Learn more about these talks and listen to the full interview with EPMA Senior Curator, Dr. Kate Green, here.
The El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA) and the Museo de Arte de Ciudad Juárez (MACJ) announce the call for entries for the 6th Border Biennial; artists can submit entries online through April 15.
“The El Paso Museum of Art is proud to continue to showcase works of art by those living and working on the border,” said El Paso Museum of Art Interim Director, Dr. Vladimir von Tsurikov. “The biennial prompts reflection on the experiences and challenges of living on the border while promoting connections.”
Artists who are living and working within a 200-mile radius of the U.S./Mexico border may apply. Artists will be chosen and several established artists will be invited who may live beyond the border, but who engage with it in their work.
“The 6th Border Biennial highlights the creative endeavors of artists in and around our community,” said Deputy City Manager of Quality of Life Tracey Jerome. “The exhibition reaffirms EPMA’s commitment to support the work of living artists and to engage in a cultural dialogue about art and its importance.”
Artworks selected will be concerned with the historical, contemporary, and future effects of the boundary and policies on: people, animals, environment, landscape, and goods; economies, infrastructure, migration, and theory; prejudice, violence, identity, and nationality.
The exhibition will be accompanied by programs and illustrations featuring essays and proposals for future border projects.
The exhibit will be on view at the EPMA and the MACJ from November 20 to March 28, 2021. To apply or for additional information visit the El Paso Museum of Art online www.epma.art/art/exhibitions/6th-border-biennial-6ta-bienal-fronteriza.
Support for the 6th Border Biennial provided by the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation and the El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department. Additional support provided by the Consulate General of Mexico in El Paso and the Centro Cultural Mexicano Paso Del Norte.
Rachel Rose, still from Lake Valley, 2016. HD video, 8:25 min. Collection of Art Bridges. Image courtesy the artist, Pilar Corrias Gallery, London and Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York/Rome.
The El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA) invites the public to view its new exhibition, Rachel Rose: Lake Valley that opens Friday, January 24 at the museum.
The exhibition features a ten-minute video and sound installation that follows a day in the life of a young girl and her pet. Taking elements from children’s literature, Rose joins dreamy imagery with an ethereal soundtrack to create a story without words. Audiences will reflect on themes of childhood and loneliness as well as growth and adulthood.
In addition to the exhibition, a family-friendly collaborative space will allow visitors to create their own stories inspired by Rose. The interactive activities will engage audiences of all ages through creative storytelling. Visitors will be able to use a felt wall to collage images and use a magnet board to describe their narrative. Visitors can also enjoy a writing station and reading nook within the collaborative space.
“Rachel Rose is one of the best-known artists working with moving images in America today,” said El Paso Museum of Art Senior Curator Dr. Kate Green. “Visitors of all ages are going to enjoy Lake Valley, an exploration of a day in the life of a young person. Presented in an installation designed by the artist, the video uses animated images and sounds to evoke what it feels like to be young and newly independent.”
The exhibition is free and will run through August. For more information on the exhibit or to learn more about the El Paso Museum of Art, www.epma.art.
Generous support for this project provided by Art Bridges. Additional support provided by the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation and El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department.
Beatriz Cortez, Seventy Six Point Cosmic Shield, 2019. Steel, zip ties, 36 x 70 x 70 in. Originally commissioned by Ballroom Marfa. El Paso Museum of Art, Purchase with funds provided by the Robert U. and Mabel O. Lipscomb Foundation Endowment. Photograph by Alex Marks, courtesy Ballroom Marfa.
The El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA) announces newest acquisition of art, Seventy Six Point Cosmic Shield and The Beast by Beatriz Cortez.
EPMA members were invited to grow the EPMA collection at this year’s Members’ Choice, held on December 5, 2019. Members voted for the acquisition of these contemporary works of art.
Beatriz Cortez’s interactive sculptures challenge canonical ideas of modernity, revealing the indigenous roots of Western ideas. Seventy Six Point Cosmic Shield exposes the nomadic origins of housing structures associated with 1960s Utopic architecture. The Beast, a modified pinball machine, traces a migrant’s journey and toys with the colonial spirit traditionally grounding many versions of the game.
“EPMA is thrilled to have acquired Beatriz Cortez’s exceptional sculptures. This is a significant addition to our core collection areas, reinforcing our mission to provide a stimulating and inspiring for all audiences,” said El Paso Museum of Art Interim Director Dr. Vladimir von Tsurikov. “Additionally, the acquisition diversifies the collections through the celebration and representation of a female artist of color.”
Founded in 1959, the El Paso Museum of Art was born from a need to house a significant donation of European Baroque and Renaissance works to the City of El Paso by the Samuel Kress Foundation. Over time, this seed collection grew to include over 7,000 works. The mission of the El Paso Museum of Art is to collect, preserve, interpret, and exhibit works of art that support and illuminate the Museum’s permanent collection of American, European, and Mexican art.
The 2019 Members’ Choice acquisition is provided by the Robert U. and Mabel O. Lipscomb Foundation Endowment.
Learn more about EPMA’s exhibition Tom Lea and world War ll, in this special feature from Texas Co-Op Power.
El Paso’s CBS local 4 News shares a special report on EPMA’s exhibition, Tom Lea and World War ll. Follow the story here.
After extensive renovations, the El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA) has finished its Refresh project and will celebrate the grand opening of the second-floor gallery space on Thursday, September 26, with two new exhibitions; Leo Villareal: Early Light and El Paso Musuem of Art: 60 Years of Collecting.
The community is invited to see the newly renovated space devoted to the museum’s permanent collections and special exhibitions. Renovations include a new roof, new paint, new wood flooring, a reimagined floor plan, revised interpretation, and a fresh presentation.
The Refresh project comes a year after the museum completed the renovation of its renowned Kress Collection of European Art Galleries. It is the largest renovation project undertaken by the museum since it moved into its downtown location 20 years ago. Together, the two renovation projects mark EPMA’s efforts to ensure the Museum remains a relevant, compelling institution.
“Museums must always be evolving alongside the communities they represent and serve,” said EPMA Interim Director Dr. Vladimir von Tsurikov. “With Refresh, EPMA is ensuring it remains an active, powerful resource for those who live and visit here.”
With Refresh, the second floor now features renovated galleries devoted to Latin American Art from the Spanish Colonial Period, Contemporary Art, Early West Texas Art, American Paintings and Sculptures, Works on Paper, and Mexican Retablos. Dynamically structured, Refresh enables more art to be seen and improved rotation of artworks. Longtime favorites will be displayed alongside recent acquisitions and special loans in the Tom Lea Gallery, Dorrance and Olga Roderick Gallery, and Richard and Frances Mithoff Gallery.
Refresh is supported by the de Wetter Charitable Family Fund, Robert and Sara Shiloff, The Summerlee Foundation, the EPMA Foundation, City of El Paso, and Museums and Cultural Affairs Department.
About the New Exhibitions Leo Villareal: Early Light - first hometown exhibition for the internationally-known El Paso artist. Known for his work with large-scale LED light installations, two large-scale sculptural artworks, characteristic of Villareal’s early practice, will be on display.
Support for this exhibition provided by El Paso Museum of Art Foundation and El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department.
El Paso Museum of Art: 60 Years of Collecting - a retrospective of the museum’s history and collection. It invites audiences to reflect on paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings acquired by the museum from families and individuals in the region over a period of more than six decades.
Support for this exhibition is provided by Shari and Stuart R. Schwartz.
Additional support provided by WestStar, Texas Commission on the Arts, El Paso Museum of Art Foundation and El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department.
The El Paso Museum of Art is free and open to the public Tuesday through Sunday.
EPMA to Open Newly Renovated Second Floor Gallery Space: Press Release
The El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA) invites you to read along each month and partake in a momentous new journey — Refresh. Follow us to discover EPMA’s history, understand the importance of this extraordinary project, and get to know EPMA’s permanent collection.
Since its inception in 1959, EPMA has amassed 7,049 works of art in its collection. At any given time, only three to five percent of the collection is on view. Now for the first time in 20 years, and since moving to its current location in El Paso’s Downtown Arts District, EPMA refreshes its second floor permanent collection galleries.
Refresh will showcase more art than ever before and allow for the rotation of works of art that will enhance the visitor experience. Treasures from the museum’s collection of Mexican Art, Early West Texas Art, American Art, and Contemporary Art, Prints, and Photography will be reinstalled alongside recent acquisitions and a few special loans. Together, the work will tell the history of art and collecting at EPMA.
September 13, 2019 — This month, EPMA highlights its three remaining collection galleries. Spanning over 150 years, the American Painting and Sculpture gallery will include portraits, landscapes, and still lives by artists such as Andrew Wyeth, Edward Mitchell Bannister, Diego Rivera, and more. These works will explore idealism, American Impressionism, realism, and finally abstraction. Moving through the galleries, visitors will enjoy a dedicated gallery to Works on Paper. EPMA’s collection of Works on Paper comprises 4,000 prints and photographs from Europe and the Americas, which date back from the early 1600s to today. Finally, the Latin American Art gallery includes Mexican paintings and sculptures from the Spanish Colonial era, and featured work by Antonio de Torres, one of the most well-known Mexican painters of the 18th century.
Refresh opens on September 27, 2019 at the El Paso Museum of Art.
August 9, 2019 — The El Paso Museum of Art is recognized as the only American Alliance of Museums-accredited art museum within a 200-mile radius, one of the only accredited museums in all of West Texas. The museum serves as a major cultural and educational resource for West Texas, New Mexico, and Northern Mexico and is a cultural flagship for the community. EPMA’s Refresh project will showcase the very best art from EPMA’s significant permanent collection including dedicated galleries featuring Contemporary Art and Mexican Retablos.
Nearly 30 works of art by female artists will be on view during Refresh. Similar to the Early West Texas art gallery, the Contemporary art gallery will represent almost half of these works by women. Visitors will discover Los Angeles-based artist, Judithe Hernández’s, A Dream is the Shadow of Something Real. Additionally, the gallery will feature works on loan including Perro aullanda a la luna (Dog Howling at the Moon) by Mexican painter, Rufino Tamayo.
The El Paso Museum of Art’s Mexican Retablos collection is the second largest museum collection of its kind in the United States. This vast collection contains retablos santos and retablos ex-votos from nineteenth and twentieth century Mexico, and will be on view during Refresh. Retablos santos are devotional works that depict saints or holy figures and were often featured on altars in family homes. In moments of distress, family members would pray at these altars, directing their pleas to the saints. To commemorate miraculous events in an individual life such as remaining uninjured after an accident or being healed from a grave illness, retablos ex-votos were created. Ex-votos are small paintings that contain hand-written texts commemorating miraculous events in an individual’s life.
Visit us next month, to read and learn about the latest updates on Refresh.
Refresh opens on September 27, 2019 at the El Paso Museum of Art.
July 9, 2019 — This month, EPMA highlights its collection of Early West Texas Art. The museum’s unrivaled permanent collection of Early West Texas Art is the largest and most comprehensive held by a museum. The collection features works of iconic landscape paintings and portraits spanning the 19th and 20th centuries. Notably, EPMA holds the largest collection of works by Manuel Acosta (1921–1989). Acosta was a native El Paso painter, sculptor, illustrator, and muralist, recognized for his portrait of Cesar Chavez. Acosta’s prominent works such as Yolanda will be on view during Refresh among works by El Paso artist, Tom Lea (1907–2001). Lea was a muralist, illustrator, war correspondent, portraitist, landscapist, novelist, and historian; expressing the history and character of regions and people around the world and in El Paso.
In addition to housing the second largest collection of works by Lea, EPMA will offer visitors the rare opportunity to view examples of West Texas art by female and international artists. Leon Trousset’s View of El Paso, which shows a 19th century view of El Paso from Ciudad, Juarez will be seen anew during Refresh. The Early West Texas Art gallery enables visitors to view the rich legacy of El Paso art with a focus on landscape, culture, and daily life in West Texas.
Refresh opens on September 27, 2019 at the El Paso Museum of Art.
Tom Lea, The Fighting Hornet (detail), 1943, oil on canvas, courtesy of the Army Museum Enterprise Collection
The El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA) invites the public to view its new exhibition, Tom Lea and World War II that opens on August 23.
The exhibition features works by El Paso-native artist Tom Lea, which are devoted to Lea’s World War II paintings and drawings. It includes 30 oil paintings, watercolor illustrations, and original preparatory drawings that depict war from the frontlines. Lea produced these works from 1941 to 1946 for LIFE magazine when he served as a World War II eyewitness artist correspondent. Lea was the only artist to provide American audiences with vividly painted accounts of the frontlines, including the 1944 Battle of Peleliu. This is the first time visitors will have the opportunity to view these works in the artist’s hometown.
“Tom Lea and World War II presents the war through the eyes of the only painter working from its frontlines, illuminating the far-reaching legacy of one of El Paso’s most iconic artists,” said El Paso Museum of Art Assistant Curator Kevin Burns.
The exhibition will include the following activities:
October 5, Noon to 2 p.m. Reception followed by the lecture Painting the Frontlines. Members will enjoy live music and lunch. RSVP at epma.art.
October 5, 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Visitors will discover the word of art journalism and combat painting during the 1940s and today with Charles Grow, Deputy Director of the National Museum of the Maine Corps, former combat artist, U.S. Marine, and curator.
October 17, Noon to 1 p.m. Artful Preludes: Tour the exhibition and enjoy a performance by Belarusian-American concert violinist Yevgeny Kutik with commentary by El Paso Symphony Orchestra conductor Bohuslav Ratta, in partnership with the El Paso Symphony Orchestra.
October 25, Noon to 1 p.m. Tour + Lunch with Curator: EPMA Assistant Curator Kevin Burns and Founder of the Tom Lea Institute Adair Margo will host a curator-led tour of the exhibition, followed by a discussion. Register at epma.art.
The free exhibit will be on display through January at the Dede Rogers Gallery of the El Paso Museum of Art.
The exhibition in generously co-sponsored by ScottHulse PC, David, and Diane Bernard in celebration of the 130th anniversary of the ScottHulse law firm. Travis and Annabelle Johnson generously provide program support.
Suzi Davidoff, Simplified World/Aplomada Falcon and Grasses, 2017, charcoal, gesso, map, 50 x 68 x 3 inches
516 ARTS and partners present Species in Peril Along the Rio Grande, an exhibition and series of regional public programs.
Centering around the main exhibition at 516 ARTS, the regional collaboration features public programs including educational talks, forums, workshops, performances, and outdoor activities presented by partner venues across state border and the US/Mexico border as well as across disciplines spanning the arts, science, technology, and environmental activism.
The El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA) will celebrate the Rio Grande region’s culture and biodiversity in exhibitions and by commissioning Colectivo Ultima Hora to produce four large-scale alebrijes, or fantastical mythical creatures, that are representative of El Paso’s vast desert landscape and animals. Visitors are also invited to tour EPMA’s newly reinstalled galleries to view landscape paintings and photographs featuring the Rio grande region’s historical and present-day species and plant life, by early Texas artists Manuel Acosta, Fern Thurston, and Leon Trousset, and contemporary artists Carmen Lomas Garza and David Taylor.
For more information on the El Paso Museum of Art’s exhibition and events, please visit the EPMA Calendar.
For more information on all other programs, visit 516arts.org.
Read along here to learn more about EPMA’s exhibition on view, Gloria Osuna Pérez: Beyond Portraits.
The El Paso Museum of Art invites the public to view and create art at La Sala de Arte Community Studio that opens June 8 at the museum.
The unique studio offers visitors of any age the opportunity to make or see art and visit with the museum’s artist-in-residence, Luminarias de Arte. Visitors will be able to discover something new each week.
An array of free events including live art demonstrations, workshops with guest artists, live musical performances, and more will launch the programming. The following events are scheduled during the length of the studio that runs through September:
June 8, 2 p.m.
La Sala de Arte Celebration
Visitors can participate in art-making activities and enjoy a music performance by Los Soneros del Valle Bajo.
June 12 to July 3, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Printmaker and storyteller, Marco Sanchez, will be at the museum every Wednesday through Saturday. Visitors can discover printmaking through the magic of reversed images and can create multiple prints of their own.
July 6, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Saturday Art Days: Red, White, & Azul
Be inspired by artist-in-residence, Laura Turón. See how she uses red, white, and blue to create optical illusions and participate in self-guided art making.
July 10 to July 31, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Multi-media artist Laura Turón will be at the museum every Wednesday through Saturday. Visitors can learn how Turón explores objects through science and technology to make art, and will discover optical illusions though drawing.
August 3, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Saturday Art Days: Mi Musica, My Music
Bring your rhythm and make your own instruments using non-traditional materials. Visitors can also take part in self-guided art making.
For more information on the La Sala de Arte Community Studio, visit the El Paso Museum of Art at www.epma.art.
Support provided by WestStar team member contributions and matching funds from WestStar Bank. Additional funding received by the Wells Fargo Foundation, Texas Gas Service, and the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation’s El Paso Giving Day fund.
La Sala de Arte - EPMA Press Release
The El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA) has started the second major phase of its renovation with the closure of its second floor galleries.
Renovations include new wood flooring, freshly painted galleries, revised graphics and interpretation, and reconfigured spaces to showcase the completely reinstalled permanent collections of the museum.
“The reimagined galleries will continue to preserve the past, embrace the present, and shape the museum’s future,” said Director of the El Paso Museum of Art Dr. Victoria Ramirez. “The EPMA seeks to remain a thriving center for the study and appreciation of art.”
During the renovation, the museum systems will be upgraded, funded by the City of El Paso. The City has dedicated approximately $450,000 for the upgrades, which will ensure the museum, continue to be a safe and secure environment for art and the public. The reinstallation of the museum’s collection is supported by funds raised by the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation, a private support organization working for the benefit of EPMA to provide long-term funding for exhibitions, education programming, and community outreach.
The Woody and Gayle Hunt Family Gallery, the Richard and Francis Mithoff Gallery, Dorrance and Olga Roderick Gallery, Tom Lea Gallery, and the Peter and Margaret de Wetter Gallery will close to the public on May 13 and will reopen on September 27, 2019. A special preview will be held on September 26, 2019 for EPMA Members.
Throughout the renovation, the museum’s first floor will remain open and free to the public. Robust programming will take place with the La Sala/The Living Room: A Community Art Studio opening on June 8, 2019. The Studio will welcome children and adults to enjoy art throughout the summer with an artist-in-residence, workshops and pop-up performances. Visitors can also enjoy the exhibition Antonio Castro: Visions of a Borderland, on view April 19 August 7 in the Dede Rogers Gallery.
The renovation is the largest the museum has undertaken since moving into the building in 1998; second to the 2018 reinstallation of the museum’s Kress Galleries of European Art. Located in the El Paso Arts District, the museum has amassed a collection of more than 7,000 works and hosts upwards of 12 special exhibitions annually.
Anonymous, Virgin of Saint John of the Lakes, 19th century, oil on tin. El Paso Museum of Art, gift of Dr. Steven McKnight in honor of Frank and Sara McKnight.
Read more about art on the border in The Magazine’s featured article here.
Quixote series, eight of eight, 2000. Oil and silkscreen on Masonite. Courtesy of the artist.
Learn more about the exhibition, Antonio Castro: Visions of a Borderland, as KFOX reporter, Robert Holguin, celebrates the diverse work of the local painter and illustrator. Read and watch the story here.
Audley Dean Nicols, View of El Paso at Sunset (detail), 1925. Courtesy of the El Paso Independent School District.
Uncover the history of how the painting View of El Paso at Sunset by Audley Dean Nicols found its home at the El Paso Museum of Art. Read here.
Guillermo Gutierrez, KRAG (detail), 2017, assemblage of found objects. EPMA, purchase with funds donated by Peggy and Andy Feinberg, Susan Foote and Stephen Feinberg.
The El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA) presents Ideas Unwrapped: An Exhibition about Art, on view beginning February 16 in the Mac Rogers Gallery and Ginger Francis Seminar Room.
“Ideas Unwrapped” is an exhibition that explores EPMA’s permanent collection in a new way, featuring works of art given to the museum by the Peter Norton Christmas Project. Since 1988, Mr. Norton commissioned renowned artists to create art with the intent to make art more accessible. Works of art include a unique ceramic plate with Medusa painted using marinara sauce by Brazilian artist Vik Muniz and a pop-up book by Kara Walker.
Ideas Unwrapped was designed and installed by UTEP visual arts graduates and EPMA Teaching Artists, Staphany Garnica and Ivan Isaac Calderon. Audiences of all ages can learn about the creative process and artists’ use of place, history, culture and personal experience to unwrap an idea and create art.
Additionally, viewers can have a multisensory experience throughout the exhibition via augmented reality through the Augment El Paso App. Visitors can interact with the art through the app where images are animated and accompanied by regional music and special sound effects.
EPMA’s Education Curator, David Hernandez says, “The exhibition presents art in a new way – focusing on sources of inspiration and asking the question, where do artists get their ideas? The show also examines how art is made, serving as a bridge between EPMA’s galleries and Art School.”
Featured in the exhibition is Krag, an assemblage of found objects turned into a work of art by El Paso artist Guillermo Gutierrez. Gutierrez collected objects, such as discarded gadgets, toys, and outdated computer parts, and wove them together to show how cultural leftovers become a work of art in an unexpected manner.
Other works include pottery by Mexican artist Juan Quezada and multigenerational artists who renewed traditional designs and processes by indigenous people of Northern Mexico.
Join EPMA members for the exhibition celebration during the Member’s Family Day Preview. View art while enjoying live music and lite bites. Meet artist Guillermo Gutierrez and make art using found objects. Then, illustrate a short story learning with EPMA Teaching Artists in the Art School. Preview on February 16 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm.
Ideas Unwrapped: An Exhibition about Art is supplemented by the following educational programming:
• Family Day: Ideas Unwrapped, An Exhibition about Art, February 16, 2:00-4:00 pm
Support for this exhibition is provided by Kirk and Judy Robison. Krag is purchased with funds donated by Peggy and Andy Feinberg, Susan Foote and Stephen Feinberg.
Gifts from the Collection of Dian and Jim Bruemmer Peter Norton Family Christmas Project Gifts Support for educational programming is provided by Texas Women for the Arts.