Monday, September 21, 2015

DESIGN YOUR OWN ART HOP



Sept.13 , 2015
We live in a land of art hops, from Silver City and Truth or Consequences to assorted neighborhoods in the Las Cruces metropolitan area.
Their granddaddy, the annual fall ArtsHop through galleries in Las Cruces and Mesilla, started here in 1994, and has evolved into the Downtown Ramble, a tour of 20 downtown museums, art galleries and shops and restaurants that have new art openings from 5 to 7 p.m. the first Friday of each month. It’s become a solid staple for arts aficionados.
Unfortunately, it leaves out a lot of impressive galleries that are scattered throughout Doña Ana County. There have been some attempts to remedy the situation.
The Mesquite Street Gallery Tour made a strong start, but never quite got off the ground.
The North Valley Art Loop Gallery Tour has hung in there, but I suspect many of us have a tough time remembering just when it occurs. Aa Studios owner Roy van der Aa opened his working studio, at 2645 Doña Ana Road, as a gallery in 2012 and participates in the quarterly event with artist Flo Hosa Dougherty, a founding organizer of the popular Downtown Ramble who moved her Main Street gallery to 4901 Chagar at the intersection of North Valley and Taylor roads, and El Jardín de Las Cruces Gallery, 4010 N. Valley Drive. A few home studios have dropped out, but the main three galleries continue to welcome visitors at a special event every three months. The next North Loop tour will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Nov. 13. For information, contact van der Aa at wysiwyg@zianet.com or 575-520-8752.
Mesilla galleries seem to be more inclined to support plaza fiestas rather than instituting any special joint gallery events of their own, though Carolyn and Henry Bunch, owners of Adobe Patio Gallery, 1765 Avenida de Mercado, have spearheaded some cluster art fiestas with their neighbors, A.me and Mitch Alamag’s Rokoko Art Gallery and sometimes include imaginative works by students at Las Cruces Academy (formerly Preston Contemporary). It’s always  fun to explore the pretty little enclave off Avenida de Mesilla, where recent additions will soon include a new private school, Roundtable Children’s Academy, at what was once Lorenzo’s Restaurant, according to a “coming soon” sign. Just across from the Mercado, the new LuLu Fine Art Gallery, inside the trendy LuLu emporium at 1800 Avenida de Mesilla, offers a chance to see some of the region’s newest, most creative artists.
There have been some downtown Alameda neighborhood special events over the past decade, usually organized by artists Georjeanna Feltha and Sherry Doil-Carter.
Thanksgiving weekend walking tours at several Picacho Avenue artists’ homes and studios flourished for a while, then consolidated under one roof, artist Bonnie Mandoe’s Quesenberry Farm House, 825 Quesenberry St., where she will again host several artists on Nov. 28 and Nov. 29.
Out west, the Artists of Picacho Hills, an association founded in 2008 that now includes more than 35 artists, hosts two annual events: Art in the Garden Tour in May and a Holly Day House, an arts and crafts show traditionally held the weekend after Thanksgiving. This year, it will be Nov. 21 and Nov. 22.
Some of our oldest and most prestigious galleries continue to do solo openings and shows, including The Cutter Gallery, 2640 El Paseo Road, NMSU’s University Art Gallery in Williams Hall, University Museum in Kent Hall, and Mesilla Valley Fine Arts Gallery, a cooperative of more than 30 artists,  just off the Mesilla Plaza. Newer galleries that have been offering some cutting edge contributions to arts here include Art Obscura, 3206 Harrelson St., Nopalito’s Galeria, 326 S. Mesquite St. and Unsettled Gallery, 905 S. Mesquite (read more about their second art exhibit with Australian artists in today’s Artist of the Week on page E5).
The scattered locations of some of our best and most innovative galleries, once honored at the annual ArtsHop, can make them less accessible for newcomers, visitors, and fans who appreciated a chance to start each fall with a state-of-our-arts-mecca tour.
One solution? Plan your own fall arts tour. Pick at least two or three favorite events or better yet, design a custom art tour of your own.
I did, with a new arts-adjacent category, that includes establishments, some of them brand new, that aren’t yet on any tours.
I’ll tell you about it in an upcoming Las Cruces Style column.

S. Derrickson Moore may be reached at  dmoore@lcsun-news.com, @derricksonmoore on Twitter and Tout, or call 575-541-5450.

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