New Highands University: Exhibition from Sept 10 - Oct 31

Jack McGowan, Chamisa and Moonset in Los Alamos Canyon, oil on linen, 12 x 16”

The regional invitational will feature artists from all around New Mexico, including Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Taos, as well as local artists from Las Vegas and NMHU. Artists include Jack McGowan, Juli Salman, Kallie Wilbourn, Todd Christianson, Louise La Plante, Nacho Jaramillo, Bernadette Maldonado, Estrella Encinias, Robert Henssler, Olivia Lovato, Duffy Peterson, Gilbert Smith, Dawne Holmes and many others.

McGowan will be showing one of his newest works, Chamisa and Moonset in Los Alamos Canyon. “For someone who took a 40-year hiatus between paintings, being included in this show, and the 15th Annual Plein Air Painters of New Mexico Juried National Show in the same year, is aspirational,” the artist says, adding that one of the reasons he paints is to bring attention to the environment.

For more information on the show and the artists involved, visit galleries.nmhu.edu (Kennedy Gallery). 

The university has exhibits throughout the year.

"New Mexico Highlands University has a long history with the visual arts. Our first president, Dr. Edgar Lee Hewitt, encouraged New Mexico artists to come to Las Vegas by offering them studio space on campus. One of those artists, Sheldon Parsons, gifted Dr. Hewitt with Taos Cattle Hacienca large oil painting that hangs in the President’s office to this day, and was saved by firemen during the 1922 Springer Hall fire.

The Highlands’ campus is graced with a number of WPA projects, from the large “The Evolution of Education” mural by Lloyd Moylan found in Rodgers Hall to a set of eight smaller murals in the lobby of Ilfeld Auditorium, painted in 1938 by Santa Fe artist Brooks Willis.

In the 1950s and 60s the Highlands Art Department experienced a renaissance of creativity under the leadership of legendary Highlands University art professors Elmer Schooley, Ray Drew, Harry Leippe, and Paul Volckening. Their contributions to Highlands and the arts are detailed in A Fine Frenzy, by Elizabeth Orem.

Today the arts tradition at Highlands is going strong. From our foundry’s connection with the world-renowned Iron Tribe to our print making program, the digital arts and modern designs, Highlands students, faculty and staff continue to make a home for the arts in Northern New Mexico."