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.
The El Paso Museum of Art is proud to host Congresswoman Veronica Escobar’s Congressional Art Competition, featuring the top 100 selections from across Texas’ 16th Congressional District (TX-16).
This year’s theme, “A Day in the Borderland” invited artists from across TX-16 to capture a snapshot of a day in El Paso. The works presented here represent unique perspectives and voices, and are a testament to our creative youth. Since 1982, members of the U.S. House of Representatives have sponsored this nationwide high school art competition to encourage and recognize the artistic talents of their young constituents.
The Congressional Art Competition is open to all high school students in the district. Students submit entries to their Representative’s office, and a panel of judges select the winning entries. Winners are recognized both in their district and at an annual awards ceremony in Washington, DC. The first-place winner from the TX-16 competition will have their artwork displayed in the U.S. Capitol Building for a year alongside other entries from across the nation.
Support for this exhibition is provided by the Texas Commission on the Arts and El Paso Electric. Additional support is provided by the City of El Paso’s Museums & Cultural Affairs Department.
The El Paso Museum of Art is proud to host Congresswoman Veronica Escobar’s Congressional Art Competition, featuring the top 100 selections from across Texas’ 16th Congressional District (TX-16).
This year’s theme, “A Day in the Borderland” invited artists from across TX-16 to capture a snapshot of a day in El Paso. The works presented here represent unique perspectives and voices, and are a testament to our creative youth. Since 1982, members of the U.S. House of Representatives have sponsored this nationwide high school art competition to encourage and recognize the artistic talents of their young constituents.
The Congressional Art Competition is open to all high school students in the district. Students submit entries to their Representative’s office, and a panel of judges select the winning entries. Winners are recognized both in their district and at an annual awards ceremony in Washington, DC. The first-place winner from the TX-16 competition will have their artwork displayed in the U.S. Capitol Building for a year alongside other entries from across the nation.
Support for this exhibition is provided by the Texas Commission on the Arts and El Paso Electric. Additional support is 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.
The El Paso Museum of Art is proud to host Congresswoman Veronica Escobar’s Congressional Art Competition, featuring the top 100 selections from across Texas’ 16th Congressional District (TX-16).
This year’s theme, “A Day in the Borderland” invited artists from across TX-16 to capture a snapshot of a day in El Paso. The works presented here represent unique perspectives and voices, and are a testament to our creative youth. Since 1982, members of the U.S. House of Representatives have sponsored this nationwide high school art competition to encourage and recognize the artistic talents of their young constituents.
The Congressional Art Competition is open to all high school students in the district. Students submit entries to their Representative’s office, and a panel of judges select the winning entries. Winners are recognized both in their district and at an annual awards ceremony in Washington, DC. The first-place winner from the TX-16 competition will have their artwork displayed in the U.S. Capitol Building for a year alongside other entries from across the nation.
Support for this exhibition is provided by the Texas Commission on the Arts and El Paso Electric. Additional support is 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.
This class session is designed for beginners and advanced students looking to work on self-guided projects with one-on-one assistance from an experienced instructor with an emphasis on wheel throwing and hand building. For beginners to advanced artists lacking access to a studio and equipment. All materials and services are included with the cost of tuition.
The El Paso Museum of Art is proud to host Congresswoman Veronica Escobar’s Congressional Art Competition, featuring the top 100 selections from across Texas’ 16th Congressional District (TX-16).
This year’s theme, “A Day in the Borderland” invited artists from across TX-16 to capture a snapshot of a day in El Paso. The works presented here represent unique perspectives and voices, and are a testament to our creative youth. Since 1982, members of the U.S. House of Representatives have sponsored this nationwide high school art competition to encourage and recognize the artistic talents of their young constituents.
The Congressional Art Competition is open to all high school students in the district. Students submit entries to their Representative’s office, and a panel of judges select the winning entries. Winners are recognized both in their district and at an annual awards ceremony in Washington, DC. The first-place winner from the TX-16 competition will have their artwork displayed in the U.S. Capitol Building for a year alongside other entries from across the nation.
Support for this exhibition is provided by the Texas Commission on the Arts and El Paso Electric. Additional support is 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.
This class session is designed for beginners and advanced students looking to work on self-guided projects with one-on-one assistance from an experienced instructor with an emphasis on wheel throwing and hand building. For beginners to advanced artists lacking access to a studio and equipment. All materials and services are included with the cost of tuition.
Thank you for your interest in Painting on Saturdays, for teens and adults. Taught in a community studio setting for all skill levels. Students will learn from talented teaching artist, Angie Michelle Barraza. This class session is designed for beginners and advanced students looking to work on self-guided projects with one-on-one assistance from an experienced instructor. For Beginners and Advanced students, develop color perception, explore paint application techniques and color theory. Concentrate on form and content while exploring various media, composition.
All materials and paint will be included.
Join us for FREE Sound Bath meditation at EPMA on Sunday, August 9, at 12:00-1:30 PM. As always, no registration is required. Make sure to bring a yoga mat and a blanket for maximum relaxation.
The theme of this sound bath is “Who Are You Without the Roles?” Throughout life, many people take on roles and expectations that can shape how they see themselves. This session offers space to reflect on identity beyond those roles, without pressure to define or label. Participants are invited to notice what feels true for them underneath external expectations. The sound bath will support introspection and openness, allowing individuals to explore their internal landscape in a non-structured way.
Presented in collaboration with Live Active El Paso. Support provided by Art Bridges.
Join us for Art & Wellness Family Day: Grief & Community Healing on Saturday, August 15, from 11:00 AM–3:00 PM at the El Paso Museum of Art.
This FREE, drop-in program invites families and visitors to explore art as a tool for reflection, remembrance, and healing. Create a personalized memory box to honor a loved one while spending time in a welcoming and supportive community. No registration is required. Activities are available while supplies last.
Generous support for this project provided by Art Bridges.
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 FREE Sound Bath meditation at EPMA on Sunday, August 23, at 12:00-1:30 PM. As always, no registration is required. Make sure to bring a yoga mat and a blanket for maximum relaxation.
The theme of this sound bath is “Living in Alignment”. Alignment can be understood as making choices that feel consistent with one’s values, even in small, everyday ways. This session explores how individuals can begin to notice what feels supportive or misaligned in their lives. Rather than focusing on major change, the emphasis is on awareness and small shifts that feel manageable. The sound bath will support clarity and a sense of direction, helping participants connect with what feels meaningful to them.
Presented in collaboration with Live Active El Paso. Support provided by Art Bridges.
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.
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.
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.
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.
