Experience the creativity of our border community and cultures from around the world. EPMA’s calendar of events has something for all audiences and interests.
Unless otherwise noted, all EPMA programs are free. EPMA Members enjoy advanced access for select programs and discounts on ticketed events.
In this exhibition, Blast confronts the tension between desire, survival, and overindulgence in contemporary American culture. This body of work lives in the space between aspiration and disillusionment. Through exaggerated color, distorted symbols of wealth and entertainment, and imagery pulled from everyday street life, the artwork reflects how systems of consumption shape identity, behavior, self-worth and survival. Rooted in the lived realities of the borderlands, the exhibition speaks to the experiences of working-class communities and people often pushed outside of the margins of society.
Blast is a recipient of the Museums and Cultural Affairs Department (MCAD) Cultural Funding Program. As part of its mission to drive El Paso’s cultural vitality, MCAD provides support annually to local artists, area non-profit arts organizations and creative entrepreneurs through a competitive granting process in six categories that is designed for maximum transparency. The Artist Incubator Program (AIP) supports the creation of new work by El Paso artists in all disciplines.
Trancazos de la Vida Real is presented in partnership with MCAD’s Artist Incubator Program.
Support for the project is provided by the Mellon Foundation and the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation.
In this exhibition, Blast confronts the tension between desire, survival, and overindulgence in contemporary American culture. This body of work lives in the space between aspiration and disillusionment. Through exaggerated color, distorted symbols of wealth and entertainment, and imagery pulled from everyday street life, the artwork reflects how systems of consumption shape identity, behavior, self-worth and survival. Rooted in the lived realities of the borderlands, the exhibition speaks to the experiences of working-class communities and people often pushed outside of the margins of society.
Blast is a recipient of the Museums and Cultural Affairs Department (MCAD) Cultural Funding Program. As part of its mission to drive El Paso’s cultural vitality, MCAD provides support annually to local artists, area non-profit arts organizations and creative entrepreneurs through a competitive granting process in six categories that is designed for maximum transparency. The Artist Incubator Program (AIP) supports the creation of new work by El Paso artists in all disciplines.
Trancazos de la Vida Real is presented in partnership with MCAD’s Artist Incubator Program.
Support for the project is provided by the Mellon Foundation and the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation.
On the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, this exhibition portrays recent national historical moments through the lens of Mexican American, Chicano, and other contemporary artists. Centering the borderlands within the broader narrative of the American dream, these selections from the Zoe Diaz Collection explore the cultural, social, and political forces that shape the nation’s identity. El Paso-rooted artists Adriana Corral, Gaspar Enriquez, and Luis A. Jiménez Jr. reflect on national identity through works that question democratic ideals and portray the livelihood and stark realities of binational communities. Additional artists, including Mel Chin, Rubio, Vincent Valdez, and Kathy Vargas, confront the grotesque, surreal, and unjust in depictions of power and its potentially distorting effect on truth and reality.
Through the artworks on loan from the Zoe Diaz Collection, this nation is rendered as a beautiful yet complex tapestry – an embattled landscape, a canvas for dreams, and a stage for the ongoing pursuit of representation, justice, and belonging.
Edward Hayes Jr., Director, El Paso Museum of Art
This exhibition is organized by the El Paso Museum of Art with Georgina & Joe Diaz and EPMA Education and Curatorial Associate Eun-Ji Jun.
Support for this exhibition is provided by the Texas Commission on the Arts, the Mellon Foundation, and the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation. Additional support provided by the City of El Paso’s Museums & Cultural Affairs Department.
In this exhibition, Blast confronts the tension between desire, survival, and overindulgence in contemporary American culture. This body of work lives in the space between aspiration and disillusionment. Through exaggerated color, distorted symbols of wealth and entertainment, and imagery pulled from everyday street life, the artwork reflects how systems of consumption shape identity, behavior, self-worth and survival. Rooted in the lived realities of the borderlands, the exhibition speaks to the experiences of working-class communities and people often pushed outside of the margins of society.
Blast is a recipient of the Museums and Cultural Affairs Department (MCAD) Cultural Funding Program. As part of its mission to drive El Paso’s cultural vitality, MCAD provides support annually to local artists, area non-profit arts organizations and creative entrepreneurs through a competitive granting process in six categories that is designed for maximum transparency. The Artist Incubator Program (AIP) supports the creation of new work by El Paso artists in all disciplines.
Trancazos de la Vida Real is presented in partnership with MCAD’s Artist Incubator Program.
Support for the project is provided by the Mellon Foundation and the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation.
On the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, this exhibition portrays recent national historical moments through the lens of Mexican American, Chicano, and other contemporary artists. Centering the borderlands within the broader narrative of the American dream, these selections from the Zoe Diaz Collection explore the cultural, social, and political forces that shape the nation’s identity. El Paso-rooted artists Adriana Corral, Gaspar Enriquez, and Luis A. Jiménez Jr. reflect on national identity through works that question democratic ideals and portray the livelihood and stark realities of binational communities. Additional artists, including Mel Chin, Rubio, Vincent Valdez, and Kathy Vargas, confront the grotesque, surreal, and unjust in depictions of power and its potentially distorting effect on truth and reality.
Through the artworks on loan from the Zoe Diaz Collection, this nation is rendered as a beautiful yet complex tapestry – an embattled landscape, a canvas for dreams, and a stage for the ongoing pursuit of representation, justice, and belonging.
Edward Hayes Jr., Director, El Paso Museum of Art
This exhibition is organized by the El Paso Museum of Art with Georgina & Joe Diaz and EPMA Education and Curatorial Associate Eun-Ji Jun.
Support for this exhibition is provided by the Texas Commission on the Arts, the Mellon Foundation, and the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation. Additional support provided by the City of El Paso’s Museums & Cultural Affairs Department.
In composites-my eyes tear in the sun, Eric Santoscoy Mckillip explores the interconnected relationships between space, time, memory, and place through a body of work rooted in the U.S.–Mexico borderlands. Drawing from both personal experience and the wonder of the cosmos, the exhibition blends abstraction, vernacular design traditions, and celestial imagery to examine shifting perspectives on history, identity, and belonging. Through forms that exist between the familiar and the speculative, Santoscoy Mckillip reflects on the porous boundaries connecting culture, landscape, and lived experience.
Support for this exhibition is provided by the Mellon Foundation, the Texas Commission on the Arts, and the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation. Additional support provided by the City of El Paso’s Museums & Cultural Affairs Department.
In this exhibition, Blast confronts the tension between desire, survival, and overindulgence in contemporary American culture. This body of work lives in the space between aspiration and disillusionment. Through exaggerated color, distorted symbols of wealth and entertainment, and imagery pulled from everyday street life, the artwork reflects how systems of consumption shape identity, behavior, self-worth and survival. Rooted in the lived realities of the borderlands, the exhibition speaks to the experiences of working-class communities and people often pushed outside of the margins of society.
Blast is a recipient of the Museums and Cultural Affairs Department (MCAD) Cultural Funding Program. As part of its mission to drive El Paso’s cultural vitality, MCAD provides support annually to local artists, area non-profit arts organizations and creative entrepreneurs through a competitive granting process in six categories that is designed for maximum transparency. The Artist Incubator Program (AIP) supports the creation of new work by El Paso artists in all disciplines.
Trancazos de la Vida Real is presented in partnership with MCAD’s Artist Incubator Program.
Support for the project is provided by the Mellon Foundation and the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation.
On the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, this exhibition portrays recent national historical moments through the lens of Mexican American, Chicano, and other contemporary artists. Centering the borderlands within the broader narrative of the American dream, these selections from the Zoe Diaz Collection explore the cultural, social, and political forces that shape the nation’s identity. El Paso-rooted artists Adriana Corral, Gaspar Enriquez, and Luis A. Jiménez Jr. reflect on national identity through works that question democratic ideals and portray the livelihood and stark realities of binational communities. Additional artists, including Mel Chin, Rubio, Vincent Valdez, and Kathy Vargas, confront the grotesque, surreal, and unjust in depictions of power and its potentially distorting effect on truth and reality.
Through the artworks on loan from the Zoe Diaz Collection, this nation is rendered as a beautiful yet complex tapestry – an embattled landscape, a canvas for dreams, and a stage for the ongoing pursuit of representation, justice, and belonging.
Edward Hayes Jr., Director, El Paso Museum of Art
This exhibition is organized by the El Paso Museum of Art with Georgina & Joe Diaz and EPMA Education and Curatorial Associate Eun-Ji Jun.
Support for this exhibition is provided by the Texas Commission on the Arts, the Mellon Foundation, and the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation. Additional support provided by the City of El Paso’s Museums & Cultural Affairs Department.
In composites-my eyes tear in the sun, Eric Santoscoy Mckillip explores the interconnected relationships between space, time, memory, and place through a body of work rooted in the U.S.–Mexico borderlands. Drawing from both personal experience and the wonder of the cosmos, the exhibition blends abstraction, vernacular design traditions, and celestial imagery to examine shifting perspectives on history, identity, and belonging. Through forms that exist between the familiar and the speculative, Santoscoy Mckillip reflects on the porous boundaries connecting culture, landscape, and lived experience.
Support for this exhibition is provided by the Mellon Foundation, the Texas Commission on the Arts, and the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation. Additional support provided by the City of El Paso’s Museums & Cultural Affairs Department.
Join us for the Opening Reception of the *2026 Border Biennial / Bienal Fronteriza * on Friday, September 4 from 5:00-8:00 PM.
The 2026 Border Biennial / Bienal Fronteriza features over 80 artworks by 31 artists and two collectives from Arizona, Chihuahua, New Mexico, and Texas. Centered on the theme Imagining the Border, the exhibition explores contemporary borderland narratives that will be displayed at the El Paso Museum of Art and Museo de Arte de Ciudad Juárez. The 2026 iteration is curated by Dr. Adriana Miramontes Olivas and Alejandro Morales.
The exhibition is organized by the City of El Paso Museums & Cultural Affairs Department and the Secretaría de Cultura de México & the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (INBAL).
Support for the 2026 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.
Keep the party going after the Museum opening! Celebrate the 2026 Border Biennial with an after party at the DoubleTree Downtown El Paso on Friday, September 4, from 8–11 PM, just a short walk from EPMA.
Join participating Border Biennial artists for an evening of music, conversation, and celebration. Enjoy a live DJ, light bites, and a welcome champagne toast as we come together to celebrate the artists and the opening of the 2026 Border Biennial.
Tickets
$80 General Admission $40 Museum Members (Email EPMAMember@elpasotexas.gov for your membership discount code)
Not a member? Join now!
Ticket price includes light bites and a welcome champagne toast. A cash bar will also be available throughout the evening.
Parking is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
This solo presentation by multimedia artist Connie Arismendi honors the lives of migrants who died while crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in search of better opportunities for themselves and their families. For decades, thousands of migrants–many of whom have never been identified–have perished from extreme heat, drowning, or violence at the hands of transnational criminal organizations that exploit their desperation.
Created more than two decades apart, Arismendi’s installations, Victoria and San Antonio, commemorate the victims who died after being abandoned inside tractor-trailers in 2003 and 2022, respectively. As news of these tragedies spread across the nation, media coverage often overlooked the names, identities, and lived experiences of those who lost their lives. Through these elegies, Arismendi creates space for reflection, where names of the victims resurface, not to be forgotten from public memory.
The 2026 Border Biennial / Bienal Fronteriza features 31 artists and two collectives representing Arizona, Chihuahua, New Mexico, and Texas. The exhibition is organized by the City of El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department in collaboration with the Secretaría de Cultura de México and the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (INBAL).
Inaugurated in 2008, the Border Biennial celebrates contemporary art from the U.S./Mexico border. The 2026 Biennial theme, Imagining the Border, invites visitors to engage with, experience, and challenge the narratives commonly associated with the borderlands. This edition draws from artists living within 300 miles of the El Paso/Juárez border and brings together over 80 artworks across two institutions less than ten miles apart: the Museo de Arte de Ciudad Juárez and the El Paso Museum of Art.
The 2026 iteration is curated by Dr. Adriana Miramontes Olivas and Alejandro Morales.
“Through subject matter and artistic experimentation, the selected artists propose new ways of thinking and seeing the borderlands.” - Adriana Miramontes Olivas, PhD
“The selection process became an exchange of perspectives on the border that opened readings neither of us had reached alone, as well as a valuable opportunity to encounter new voices and engage with proposals that address the contemporary concerns and questions surrounding the desert borderlands across political, affective, communal, and personal registers.” - Alejandro Morales
The 2026 Border Biennial / Bienal Fronteriza 2026 will open on September 4, 2026, at the El Paso Museum of Art and September 5, 2026, at the Museo de Arte de Ciudad Juárez (MACJ).
The exhibition is organized by the City of El Paso Museums & Cultural Affairs Department and the Secretaría de Cultura de México & the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (INBAL).
Support for the 2026 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.
2026 Border Biennial Selections
El Paso Barroco and the El Paso Museum of Art present Jonah Ahlers (Peabody Conservatory) for a musical afternoon featuring the baroque flute.
Join us for a concert featuring several El Paso premieres on baroque instruments and experience the sounds the masters of the past wrote for.
Jonah Ahlers is a historical and modern flutist from Lancaster, PA, now living in Baltimore, MD. As an active chamber musician, he performs on historical transverse flutes, recorders, and modern flutes; he recently toured as a guest artist with the Baltimore-based early music ensemble Basso Celestia. As a church musician, he has performed on flutes and organ in recitals and during services at churches throughout Lancaster County. He is also an active orchestral musician, having played in many large ensembles, including the Allegro Chamber Orchestra of Lancaster, Baltimore Baroque Band, Peabody Renaissance Ensemble, and Berwick Academy Orchestra. At Peabody Conservatory, he is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Historical Flute Performance under Gwyn Roberts.
Support for this event provided by the Wilma Moleen Foundation.
Slow down, get creative, and see things from a new perspective.
Join us at EPMA on Saturday, September 12 for Image Thinking, a creative wellness experience guided by Norma Rose. Through collage, mindful inquiry, and reflection, participants will explore how images can help us connect with ourselves, spark curiosity, and express what words sometimes cannot.
Norma Rose is the creator of the Zenology Integration Method™ and the founder of Shanti School of Yoga in El Paso, where she has spent more than a decade creating wellness experiences that bring together creativity, reflection, and mindful inquiry.
Choose from one of two sessions:
All materials are provided. Participants are welcome to bring magazines they would like to use, share, or donate.
In this exhibition, Blast confronts the tension between desire, survival, and overindulgence in contemporary American culture. This body of work lives in the space between aspiration and disillusionment. Through exaggerated color, distorted symbols of wealth and entertainment, and imagery pulled from everyday street life, the artwork reflects how systems of consumption shape identity, behavior, self-worth and survival. Rooted in the lived realities of the borderlands, the exhibition speaks to the experiences of working-class communities and people often pushed outside of the margins of society.
Blast is a recipient of the Museums and Cultural Affairs Department (MCAD) Cultural Funding Program. As part of its mission to drive El Paso’s cultural vitality, MCAD provides support annually to local artists, area non-profit arts organizations and creative entrepreneurs through a competitive granting process in six categories that is designed for maximum transparency. The Artist Incubator Program (AIP) supports the creation of new work by El Paso artists in all disciplines.
Trancazos de la Vida Real is presented in partnership with MCAD’s Artist Incubator Program.
Support for the project is provided by the Mellon Foundation and the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation.
On the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, this exhibition portrays recent national historical moments through the lens of Mexican American, Chicano, and other contemporary artists. Centering the borderlands within the broader narrative of the American dream, these selections from the Zoe Diaz Collection explore the cultural, social, and political forces that shape the nation’s identity. El Paso-rooted artists Adriana Corral, Gaspar Enriquez, and Luis A. Jiménez Jr. reflect on national identity through works that question democratic ideals and portray the livelihood and stark realities of binational communities. Additional artists, including Mel Chin, Rubio, Vincent Valdez, and Kathy Vargas, confront the grotesque, surreal, and unjust in depictions of power and its potentially distorting effect on truth and reality.
Through the artworks on loan from the Zoe Diaz Collection, this nation is rendered as a beautiful yet complex tapestry – an embattled landscape, a canvas for dreams, and a stage for the ongoing pursuit of representation, justice, and belonging.
Edward Hayes Jr., Director, El Paso Museum of Art
This exhibition is organized by the El Paso Museum of Art with Georgina & Joe Diaz and EPMA Education and Curatorial Associate Eun-Ji Jun.
Support for this exhibition is provided by the Texas Commission on the Arts, the Mellon Foundation, and the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation. Additional support provided by the City of El Paso’s Museums & Cultural Affairs Department.
In composites-my eyes tear in the sun, Eric Santoscoy Mckillip explores the interconnected relationships between space, time, memory, and place through a body of work rooted in the U.S.–Mexico borderlands. Drawing from both personal experience and the wonder of the cosmos, the exhibition blends abstraction, vernacular design traditions, and celestial imagery to examine shifting perspectives on history, identity, and belonging. Through forms that exist between the familiar and the speculative, Santoscoy Mckillip reflects on the porous boundaries connecting culture, landscape, and lived experience.
Support for this exhibition is provided by the Mellon Foundation, the Texas Commission on the Arts, and the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation. Additional support provided by the City of El Paso’s Museums & Cultural Affairs Department.
This solo presentation by multimedia artist Connie Arismendi honors the lives of migrants who died while crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in search of better opportunities for themselves and their families. For decades, thousands of migrants–many of whom have never been identified–have perished from extreme heat, drowning, or violence at the hands of transnational criminal organizations that exploit their desperation.
Created more than two decades apart, Arismendi’s installations, Victoria and San Antonio, commemorate the victims who died after being abandoned inside tractor-trailers in 2003 and 2022, respectively. As news of these tragedies spread across the nation, media coverage often overlooked the names, identities, and lived experiences of those who lost their lives. Through these elegies, Arismendi creates space for reflection, where names of the victims resurface, not to be forgotten from public memory.
The 2026 Border Biennial / Bienal Fronteriza features 31 artists and two collectives representing Arizona, Chihuahua, New Mexico, and Texas. The exhibition is organized by the City of El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department in collaboration with the Secretaría de Cultura de México and the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (INBAL).
Inaugurated in 2008, the Border Biennial celebrates contemporary art from the U.S./Mexico border. The 2026 Biennial theme, Imagining the Border, invites visitors to engage with, experience, and challenge the narratives commonly associated with the borderlands. This edition draws from artists living within 300 miles of the El Paso/Juárez border and brings together over 80 artworks across two institutions less than ten miles apart: the Museo de Arte de Ciudad Juárez and the El Paso Museum of Art.
The 2026 iteration is curated by Dr. Adriana Miramontes Olivas and Alejandro Morales.
“Through subject matter and artistic experimentation, the selected artists propose new ways of thinking and seeing the borderlands.” - Adriana Miramontes Olivas, PhD
“The selection process became an exchange of perspectives on the border that opened readings neither of us had reached alone, as well as a valuable opportunity to encounter new voices and engage with proposals that address the contemporary concerns and questions surrounding the desert borderlands across political, affective, communal, and personal registers.” - Alejandro Morales
The 2026 Border Biennial / Bienal Fronteriza 2026 will open on September 4, 2026, at the El Paso Museum of Art and September 5, 2026, at the Museo de Arte de Ciudad Juárez (MACJ).
The exhibition is organized by the City of El Paso Museums & Cultural Affairs Department and the Secretaría de Cultura de México & the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (INBAL).
Support for the 2026 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.
2026 Border Biennial Selections
Pottery wheel workshop Discover the fundamentals of pottery wheel throwing in this focused, hands-on six-session course taught by an experienced local ceramic artist. Designed specifically for beginners and students who want to dedicate their time exclusively to wheel throwing, this small intimate class provides plenty of practice and personalized instruction in a supportive studio environment. You’ll learn the basics of preparing clay, centering, opening, pulling walls, shaping, trimming, and finishing your pieces on the pottery wheel. With six sessions to build your skills, you’ll have the opportunity to gain confidence, develop your technique, and create functional and decorative pieces of your own. Classes are held Sundays from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM. All materials and firings are included, so you can focus entirely on learning and making. No previous pottery experience is required—just come ready to get your hands dirty and have fun with clay! Perfect for: Beginners, returning potters, or anyone looking for a class dedicated solely to wheel throwing.
Explore ceramics in a welcoming, creative studio environment at the El Paso Museum of Art. Guided by local artist Fernando Armendáriz, these open studio classes are designed for all skill levels—from beginners discovering ceramics for the first time to established artists looking for dedicated studio space and kiln access. Participants can develop their skills, work independently, and connect with a community of fellow ceramic artists.
All materials and studio services, including kiln firings, are included in the cost of tuition.
Join local artist Angie Michelle Barraza for a six-session acrylic painting class at the El Paso Museum of Art. Open to artists of all experience levels, this class offers hands-on instruction in acrylic painting techniques while encouraging creativity and individual expression. All materials and services are included, so students can focus on learning, creating, and enjoying the process.
In this exhibition, Blast confronts the tension between desire, survival, and overindulgence in contemporary American culture. This body of work lives in the space between aspiration and disillusionment. Through exaggerated color, distorted symbols of wealth and entertainment, and imagery pulled from everyday street life, the artwork reflects how systems of consumption shape identity, behavior, self-worth and survival. Rooted in the lived realities of the borderlands, the exhibition speaks to the experiences of working-class communities and people often pushed outside of the margins of society.
Blast is a recipient of the Museums and Cultural Affairs Department (MCAD) Cultural Funding Program. As part of its mission to drive El Paso’s cultural vitality, MCAD provides support annually to local artists, area non-profit arts organizations and creative entrepreneurs through a competitive granting process in six categories that is designed for maximum transparency. The Artist Incubator Program (AIP) supports the creation of new work by El Paso artists in all disciplines.
Trancazos de la Vida Real is presented in partnership with MCAD’s Artist Incubator Program.
Support for the project is provided by the Mellon Foundation and the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation.
On the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, this exhibition portrays recent national historical moments through the lens of Mexican American, Chicano, and other contemporary artists. Centering the borderlands within the broader narrative of the American dream, these selections from the Zoe Diaz Collection explore the cultural, social, and political forces that shape the nation’s identity. El Paso-rooted artists Adriana Corral, Gaspar Enriquez, and Luis A. Jiménez Jr. reflect on national identity through works that question democratic ideals and portray the livelihood and stark realities of binational communities. Additional artists, including Mel Chin, Rubio, Vincent Valdez, and Kathy Vargas, confront the grotesque, surreal, and unjust in depictions of power and its potentially distorting effect on truth and reality.
Through the artworks on loan from the Zoe Diaz Collection, this nation is rendered as a beautiful yet complex tapestry – an embattled landscape, a canvas for dreams, and a stage for the ongoing pursuit of representation, justice, and belonging.
Edward Hayes Jr., Director, El Paso Museum of Art
This exhibition is organized by the El Paso Museum of Art with Georgina & Joe Diaz and EPMA Education and Curatorial Associate Eun-Ji Jun.
Support for this exhibition is provided by the Texas Commission on the Arts, the Mellon Foundation, and the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation. Additional support provided by the City of El Paso’s Museums & Cultural Affairs Department.
In composites-my eyes tear in the sun, Eric Santoscoy Mckillip explores the interconnected relationships between space, time, memory, and place through a body of work rooted in the U.S.–Mexico borderlands. Drawing from both personal experience and the wonder of the cosmos, the exhibition blends abstraction, vernacular design traditions, and celestial imagery to examine shifting perspectives on history, identity, and belonging. Through forms that exist between the familiar and the speculative, Santoscoy Mckillip reflects on the porous boundaries connecting culture, landscape, and lived experience.
Support for this exhibition is provided by the Mellon Foundation, the Texas Commission on the Arts, and the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation. Additional support provided by the City of El Paso’s Museums & Cultural Affairs Department.
This solo presentation by multimedia artist Connie Arismendi honors the lives of migrants who died while crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in search of better opportunities for themselves and their families. For decades, thousands of migrants–many of whom have never been identified–have perished from extreme heat, drowning, or violence at the hands of transnational criminal organizations that exploit their desperation.
Created more than two decades apart, Arismendi’s installations, Victoria and San Antonio, commemorate the victims who died after being abandoned inside tractor-trailers in 2003 and 2022, respectively. As news of these tragedies spread across the nation, media coverage often overlooked the names, identities, and lived experiences of those who lost their lives. Through these elegies, Arismendi creates space for reflection, where names of the victims resurface, not to be forgotten from public memory.
The 2026 Border Biennial / Bienal Fronteriza features 31 artists and two collectives representing Arizona, Chihuahua, New Mexico, and Texas. The exhibition is organized by the City of El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department in collaboration with the Secretaría de Cultura de México and the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (INBAL).
Inaugurated in 2008, the Border Biennial celebrates contemporary art from the U.S./Mexico border. The 2026 Biennial theme, Imagining the Border, invites visitors to engage with, experience, and challenge the narratives commonly associated with the borderlands. This edition draws from artists living within 300 miles of the El Paso/Juárez border and brings together over 80 artworks across two institutions less than ten miles apart: the Museo de Arte de Ciudad Juárez and the El Paso Museum of Art.
The 2026 iteration is curated by Dr. Adriana Miramontes Olivas and Alejandro Morales.
“Through subject matter and artistic experimentation, the selected artists propose new ways of thinking and seeing the borderlands.” - Adriana Miramontes Olivas, PhD
“The selection process became an exchange of perspectives on the border that opened readings neither of us had reached alone, as well as a valuable opportunity to encounter new voices and engage with proposals that address the contemporary concerns and questions surrounding the desert borderlands across political, affective, communal, and personal registers.” - Alejandro Morales
The 2026 Border Biennial / Bienal Fronteriza 2026 will open on September 4, 2026, at the El Paso Museum of Art and September 5, 2026, at the Museo de Arte de Ciudad Juárez (MACJ).
The exhibition is organized by the City of El Paso Museums & Cultural Affairs Department and the Secretaría de Cultura de México & the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (INBAL).
Support for the 2026 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.
2026 Border Biennial Selections
Pottery wheel workshop Discover the fundamentals of pottery wheel throwing in this focused, hands-on six-session course taught by an experienced local ceramic artist. Designed specifically for beginners and students who want to dedicate their time exclusively to wheel throwing, this small intimate class provides plenty of practice and personalized instruction in a supportive studio environment. You’ll learn the basics of preparing clay, centering, opening, pulling walls, shaping, trimming, and finishing your pieces on the pottery wheel. With six sessions to build your skills, you’ll have the opportunity to gain confidence, develop your technique, and create functional and decorative pieces of your own. Classes are held Sundays from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM. All materials and firings are included, so you can focus entirely on learning and making. No previous pottery experience is required—just come ready to get your hands dirty and have fun with clay! Perfect for: Beginners, returning potters, or anyone looking for a class dedicated solely to wheel throwing.
Explore ceramics in a welcoming, creative studio environment at the El Paso Museum of Art. Guided by local artist Fernando Armendáriz, these open studio classes are designed for all skill levels—from beginners discovering ceramics for the first time to established artists looking for dedicated studio space and kiln access. Participants can develop their skills, work independently, and connect with a community of fellow ceramic artists.
All materials and studio services, including kiln firings, are included in the cost of tuition.
Join local artist Angie Michelle Barraza for a six-session acrylic painting class at the El Paso Museum of Art. Open to artists of all experience levels, this class offers hands-on instruction in acrylic painting techniques while encouraging creativity and individual expression. All materials and services are included, so students can focus on learning, creating, and enjoying the process.
In this exhibition, Blast confronts the tension between desire, survival, and overindulgence in contemporary American culture. This body of work lives in the space between aspiration and disillusionment. Through exaggerated color, distorted symbols of wealth and entertainment, and imagery pulled from everyday street life, the artwork reflects how systems of consumption shape identity, behavior, self-worth and survival. Rooted in the lived realities of the borderlands, the exhibition speaks to the experiences of working-class communities and people often pushed outside of the margins of society.
Blast is a recipient of the Museums and Cultural Affairs Department (MCAD) Cultural Funding Program. As part of its mission to drive El Paso’s cultural vitality, MCAD provides support annually to local artists, area non-profit arts organizations and creative entrepreneurs through a competitive granting process in six categories that is designed for maximum transparency. The Artist Incubator Program (AIP) supports the creation of new work by El Paso artists in all disciplines.
Trancazos de la Vida Real is presented in partnership with MCAD’s Artist Incubator Program.
Support for the project is provided by the Mellon Foundation and the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation.
On the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, this exhibition portrays recent national historical moments through the lens of Mexican American, Chicano, and other contemporary artists. Centering the borderlands within the broader narrative of the American dream, these selections from the Zoe Diaz Collection explore the cultural, social, and political forces that shape the nation’s identity. El Paso-rooted artists Adriana Corral, Gaspar Enriquez, and Luis A. Jiménez Jr. reflect on national identity through works that question democratic ideals and portray the livelihood and stark realities of binational communities. Additional artists, including Mel Chin, Rubio, Vincent Valdez, and Kathy Vargas, confront the grotesque, surreal, and unjust in depictions of power and its potentially distorting effect on truth and reality.
Through the artworks on loan from the Zoe Diaz Collection, this nation is rendered as a beautiful yet complex tapestry – an embattled landscape, a canvas for dreams, and a stage for the ongoing pursuit of representation, justice, and belonging.
Edward Hayes Jr., Director, El Paso Museum of Art
This exhibition is organized by the El Paso Museum of Art with Georgina & Joe Diaz and EPMA Education and Curatorial Associate Eun-Ji Jun.
Support for this exhibition is provided by the Texas Commission on the Arts, the Mellon Foundation, and the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation. Additional support provided by the City of El Paso’s Museums & Cultural Affairs Department.
In composites-my eyes tear in the sun, Eric Santoscoy Mckillip explores the interconnected relationships between space, time, memory, and place through a body of work rooted in the U.S.–Mexico borderlands. Drawing from both personal experience and the wonder of the cosmos, the exhibition blends abstraction, vernacular design traditions, and celestial imagery to examine shifting perspectives on history, identity, and belonging. Through forms that exist between the familiar and the speculative, Santoscoy Mckillip reflects on the porous boundaries connecting culture, landscape, and lived experience.
Support for this exhibition is provided by the Mellon Foundation, the Texas Commission on the Arts, and the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation. Additional support provided by the City of El Paso’s Museums & Cultural Affairs Department.
This solo presentation by multimedia artist Connie Arismendi honors the lives of migrants who died while crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in search of better opportunities for themselves and their families. For decades, thousands of migrants–many of whom have never been identified–have perished from extreme heat, drowning, or violence at the hands of transnational criminal organizations that exploit their desperation.
Created more than two decades apart, Arismendi’s installations, Victoria and San Antonio, commemorate the victims who died after being abandoned inside tractor-trailers in 2003 and 2022, respectively. As news of these tragedies spread across the nation, media coverage often overlooked the names, identities, and lived experiences of those who lost their lives. Through these elegies, Arismendi creates space for reflection, where names of the victims resurface, not to be forgotten from public memory.
The 2026 Border Biennial / Bienal Fronteriza features 31 artists and two collectives representing Arizona, Chihuahua, New Mexico, and Texas. The exhibition is organized by the City of El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department in collaboration with the Secretaría de Cultura de México and the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (INBAL).
Inaugurated in 2008, the Border Biennial celebrates contemporary art from the U.S./Mexico border. The 2026 Biennial theme, Imagining the Border, invites visitors to engage with, experience, and challenge the narratives commonly associated with the borderlands. This edition draws from artists living within 300 miles of the El Paso/Juárez border and brings together over 80 artworks across two institutions less than ten miles apart: the Museo de Arte de Ciudad Juárez and the El Paso Museum of Art.
The 2026 iteration is curated by Dr. Adriana Miramontes Olivas and Alejandro Morales.
“Through subject matter and artistic experimentation, the selected artists propose new ways of thinking and seeing the borderlands.” - Adriana Miramontes Olivas, PhD
“The selection process became an exchange of perspectives on the border that opened readings neither of us had reached alone, as well as a valuable opportunity to encounter new voices and engage with proposals that address the contemporary concerns and questions surrounding the desert borderlands across political, affective, communal, and personal registers.” - Alejandro Morales
The 2026 Border Biennial / Bienal Fronteriza 2026 will open on September 4, 2026, at the El Paso Museum of Art and September 5, 2026, at the Museo de Arte de Ciudad Juárez (MACJ).
The exhibition is organized by the City of El Paso Museums & Cultural Affairs Department and the Secretaría de Cultura de México & the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (INBAL).
Support for the 2026 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.
2026 Border Biennial Selections
Explore ceramics in a welcoming, creative studio environment at the El Paso Museum of Art. Guided by local artist Fernando Armendáriz, these open studio classes are designed for all skill levels—from beginners discovering ceramics for the first time to established artists looking for dedicated studio space and kiln access. Participants can develop their skills, work independently, and connect with a community of fellow ceramic artists.
All materials and studio services, including kiln firings, are included in the cost of tuition.
Join local artist Angie Michelle Barraza for a six-session acrylic painting class at the El Paso Museum of Art. Open to artists of all experience levels, this class offers hands-on instruction in acrylic painting techniques while encouraging creativity and individual expression. All materials and services are included, so students can focus on learning, creating, and enjoying the process.
