About
The importance of the arts as communication, in the past, the present and the future, is pivotal.
This belief is the keystone of our programs, and it is the foundation for our primary goal, which is to expose students to the richness of art through a wide range of new and traditional media. We also seek to develop critical thought in our classes, and the practice and methods for understanding the teaching of the arts and the history of art.
The Department is dedicated to providing the best education possible no matter which degree a student might be pursuing. We are also committed to benefiting UNM, the city of Albuquerque, the state of New Mexico, as well as national, and international communities. To achieve these aims, the Department maintains a world-class faculty that is actively engaged in creative art, art education, and art history.
Art Department News
MFA Alum Emma Ressel Awarded Postdoctoral Fellowship at Center for Regional Studies
Emma Ressel is an artist working with large format film photography, re-photography, and archives. Her current work researches natural history collections to examine how we describe nature to ourselves over vast timescales. Ressel earned her BA in Photography at...
Celebrating the Retirement of Artist and Educator Randall Wilson
Randall’s sculptures are shaped not only by his hand, but also by time. Each piece is left to respond naturally to the environment, revealing surfaces that echo the temporal processes of nature. Rooted deeply in regional history, his carvings are imbued with a...
Confidence in Abstraction: Brandon Zech’s review of Raychael Stine’s “Falls and Springs and Stardust Things”
Brandon Zech of Glasstire: Texas Visual Art recently reviewed Professor of Painting and Drawing Raychael Stine’s exhibition, "Falls and Springs and Stardust Things," in his piece “Chimerical Colors.”
Department of Art Events
05mar(mar 5)4:00 pm31(mar 31)7:00 pmThe Weight of Grey
Event Details
The Weight of Grey MFA Thesis Exhibition by Kwakye Oppong-Asamoah Opening Reception: Thursday, March 5, 2026, 6:00-9:00 pm Artist Talk: Tuesday, March 31, 2026, 3:30 pm @ Art, Room 304 Closing
Event Details
The Weight of Grey
MFA Thesis Exhibition
by Kwakye Oppong-Asamoah
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 5, 2026, 6:00-9:00 pm
Artist Talk: Tuesday, March 31, 2026, 3:30 pm @ Art, Room 304
Closing Reception: Friday, March 20, 2026, 6:00-9:00 pm
Time
March 5, 2026 4:00 pm - March 31, 2026 7:00 pm
Location
6th Street Studio
1029 6th St NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102
09mar(mar 9)6:00 pm28(mar 28)8:00 pmThe Weather
Event Details
The Weather AN MFA THESIS EXHIBITION by Fen Root Opening Reception: Monday, March 9, 2026, 6:00-8:00 pm Public Lecture: Wednesday. March 25, 2026, 3:00 @ ARTSLab Closing Reception: Saturday, March 28,
Event Details
The Weather
AN MFA THESIS EXHIBITION
by Fen Root
Opening Reception: Monday, March 9, 2026, 6:00-8:00 pm
Public Lecture: Wednesday. March 25, 2026, 3:00 @ ARTSLab
Closing Reception: Saturday, March 28, 2026, 6:00-8:00 pm
ABQ INT’L
1206 Broadway Blvd. SE
Albuquerque, NM
(not wheelchair accessible)
on view by appointment
contact: froot@unm.edu
more information: altrbody.rip
Time
March 9, 2026 6:00 pm - March 28, 2026 8:00 pm
Location
1206 S Broadway Blvd SE
24mar(mar 24)11:00 am03apr(apr 3)5:00 pmShimmering Gloom
Event Details
Reception: Friday, March 27, 2026, 5:00-7:00 pm Workshop: Saturday, March 28, 2:00-4:00 pm Strata Gallery announces an Emerging Member solo exhibition Shimmering Gloom by New Mexico-based Brianna Tadeo. Join us
Event Details
Reception: Friday, March 27, 2026, 5:00-7:00 pm
Workshop: Saturday, March 28, 2:00-4:00 pm
Strata Gallery announces an Emerging Member solo exhibition Shimmering Gloom by New Mexico-based Brianna Tadeo.
Join us for a free unique workshop on March 28, 2026, from 2:00-4:00 pm for an immersive experience exploring the captivating world of silver gelatin paper and the impermanence of photographic art by Brianna Tadeo. Reservation required on Eventbrite.
Brianna Tadeo (they/them) is a visual artist whose work explores impermanence and transformation through experimental photography. Utilizing analog and digital techniques, Tadeo embraces fragility, inviting images to crack, fade, and disintegrate in pursuit of unexpected beauty. Their practice is rooted in curiosity and the quiet magic of light and material change.
Shimmering Gloom invites viewers into a world where photography is not just about capturing a moment, but about transformation and the shimmer that appears amid change. Tadeo offers a poetic meditation on light, loss, and the beauty found in impermanence.
Tadeo holds a BFA from California College of the Arts and an MFA from the University of New Mexico. Their work has been exhibited nationally and recognized by SF Camerawork’s FORECAST 2025 and Lenscratch as one of the “Top 25 Students to Watch.”
Time
March 24, 2026 11:00 am - April 3, 2026 5:00 pm
Location
Strata Gallery
125 Lincoln Ave Unit 105, Santa Fe, NM 87501-2637
25mar(mar 25)6:00 pm11apr(apr 11)9:00 pmPink Noise
Event Details
Pink Noise MFA Thesis Exhibition by Abbygail Nickels Opening Reception: Friday, March 28, 2026, 6:00-9:00 pm Artist Talk: Thursday, April 3, 2026, 3:00 pm @UNM CTR-ARTS 2018 Gallery open by appointment, contact
Event Details
Pink Noise
MFA Thesis Exhibition
by Abbygail Nickels
Opening Reception: Friday, March 28, 2026, 6:00-9:00 pm
Artist Talk: Thursday, April 3, 2026, 3:00 pm @UNM CTR-ARTS 2018
Gallery open by appointment, contact anickels733@unm.edu
Time
March 25, 2026 6:00 pm - April 11, 2026 9:00 pm
Location
6th Street Studio
1029 6th St NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102
Event Details
Come to our first LASER Panel for our exhibition Shimmer: Vibrant Art/Science of New Mexico Saturday April 4, 2026, 3-5pm in conjunction with an opening reception at the newly remodeled
Event Details
Come to our first LASER Panel for our exhibition Shimmer: Vibrant Art/Science of New Mexico
Saturday April 4, 2026, 3-5pm in conjunction with an opening reception at the newly remodeled Peterson Gallery of St. John’s College Santa Fe
Panel Presenters: Alyce Santoro, Kira Howard, Jeanette Hart-Mann and Palma Maya-Johnson
Featured Artists: Sophie Azzolina, Morgan Barnard, Bobbe Besold, Paul Biagi, Chad Colby, Shirley Crow, Deidre Greenly , Jeanette Hart-Mann , Evgenya Kirichenko, Jessica Lanham, Susan Latham, Richard Lowenberg, Palma Maya-Johnson, Jess Merritt, Heather Murphree, Andrea Polli, Nico Rasmussen, Alyce Santoro, Abigail Sapien and Lila Steffan
SHIMMER is dazzling, alluring, brilliance. According to multi-species ethnographer Deborah Bird Rose (1946-2018), SHIMMER is the iridescence of aliveness, the world as interactive, vibrant, and vibrating. It is ripples of sunlight glimmering on water, the irresistible sweetness that draws bee to flower, the pulse in a work of art that resonates in the viewer. SHIMMER is the visceral awareness of interconnection between species, between human and biosphere, between observer and observed. For our Spring 2026 exhibition, SciArt Santa Fe features 20 New Mexico artists whose work responds to this concept of SHIMMER.
Project Venue and Setting
At St. John’s College, science and art are complementary ways of knowing, and all students engage with the great works of mathematics, natural science, philosophy, poetry, music, and literature through close reading and sustained conversation. With a curriculum that moves from Euclid, Darwin and Einstein to the study and illustration of plants and the movement of celestial beings, St. John’s fosters an education rooted in inquiry, imagination, and the enduring dialogue between scientific discovery and artistic expression.
SciArt Santa Fe, founded in 2019, fosters artists across disciplines that reflect the cultural diversity of New Mexico, supports research that addresses issues that disproportionately affect people of under-represented races, ethnicities, religions, genders, sexual orientations, national origins, citizenship statuses and ages including climate change, species extinction and migration, that often do not fit within a traditional gallery framework.
Time
March 29, 2026 10:30 am - May 9, 2026 5:00 pm
01apr10:30 am12:30 pmIDesign Workshop with Rambod Vala
Event Details
As we approach UNM’s Undergraduate Research Opportunity Conference (UROC) as well as national conferences taking place this spring, Rambod’s workshop provides a timely primer on academic poster design. Students who
Event Details
As we approach UNM’s Undergraduate Research Opportunity Conference (UROC) as well as national conferences taking place this spring, Rambod’s workshop provides a timely primer on academic poster design. Students who will be designing an academic poster for a spring conference are encouraged to bring a 11″x17″ printed draft of their in-progress poster. If a student needs assistance printing a poster draft, we can assist them in the Honors College.
Please encourage your students to attend this workshop which is open to all UNM students. Refreshments will be provided.
Time
April 1, 2026 10:30 am - 12:30 pm
02apr3:00 pm6:00 pmFrederick Hammersley Visiting Artist: Laurie Nye Open Studio
Event Details
Open Studio: Thursday, April 2, 2026, 3:00-6:00 pm Laurie Nye’s colorful paintings of natural scenes, trees, flowers and plants explore and
Event Details
Open Studio: Thursday, April 2, 2026, 3:00-6:00 pm
Laurie Nye’s colorful paintings of natural scenes, trees, flowers and plants explore and present the possibilities of utopia, and embody the feelings of expression and freedom. She is invested in looking, sensing, feeling and seeing through the creation of the work. The Elements of color, line, and shape are paramount to her work. Her curvy lyrical positive and negative shapes, full, emphatic and soft materiality, varied brushwork, vivid and pastel color, and sophisticated use of line presents a picture plane that melds flatness with painterly shifts and gossamer space. Laurie also has a background in surface design and brings inspiration from textiles and fabrics and exploring the intersection of painting and design.
Laurie NYE (b. 1972, Memphis, TN) received her BFA from the Memphis College of Art (Memphis, TN), and her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts (Valencia, CA). In 2026, Laurie Nye’s work will be featured in a solo show at Philip Martin Gallery (Los Angeles, CA), with additional group shows at Haverkampf Leistenschneider (Berlin, Germany) and Rachel Uffner Gallery (New York, NY). Laurie Nye’s work has appeared in such solo and group exhibtions as “A Particular Kind of Heaven,” Parrasch Heijnen (Los Angeles, CA); “The Moth & The Thunderclap,” Modern Art (London, UK); “Encounter,” Rachel Uffner Gallery (New York, NY); “BodyLand,” Galerie Max Hetzler (Berlin, Germany); “Unnatural Nature: Post-Pop Landscapes,” Acquavella (New York, NY); Van Doren Waxter (New York, NY); Bark Berlin Gallery (Berlin, Germany); The Pit (Glendale, CA); Odd Ark (Los Angeles, CA); Big Pictures LA (Los Angeles, CA); Blake and Vargas, (Berlin, Germany); The Dot Project, (London, UK); Day and Night Gallery (Atlanta, GA); La Loma Projects, (Pasadena, CA); and Unpaved Gallery (Yucca Valley, CA). Laurie Nye’s artist project, “Chickasaw Moon,” at Odd Ark (Los Angeles, CA) was an Artforum Critic’s Pick. Laurie Nye’s solo exhibition at Philip Martin Gallery was Artforum Best of Year 2021 feature. Nye has work in the OZ Art Northwest Arkansas, (Bentonville, AR) collection. Her work has been reviewed in such publications as Artillery, Los Angeles Times, Artforum, FAD Magazine and LA Weekly. Laurie Nye lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.
Time
April 2, 2026 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Location
Art Annex
1901 Central Ave NE, Albuquerque, NM 87106
02apr5:30 pm6:30 pmPanel Discussion, moderated by Subhankar Banerjee
Event Details
Artists Neal Ambrose-Smith, Emmi Whitehorse and George Alexander discuss Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s artistic community and influence, moderated by UNM professor and author Subhankar Banerjee. Limited capacity: RSVP
Event Details
Artists Neal Ambrose-Smith, Emmi Whitehorse and George Alexander discuss Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s artistic community and influence, moderated by UNM professor and author Subhankar Banerjee.
Time
April 2, 2026 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Location
Tamarind Institute
2500 Central Ave SE, Albuquerque, NM 87106
03apr(apr 3)6:00 pm24(apr 24)9:00 pman anthology of arroyo logics
Event Details
an anthology of arroyo logics MFA Thesis Exhibition by daniela del mar Opening Reception: Friday, April 3, 2026, Dusk-9:00 pm Artist Talk: Thursday, April 9, 2026, 3:00 pm @ ARTSLab Closing
Event Details
an anthology of arroyo logics
MFA Thesis Exhibition
by daniela del mar
Opening Reception: Friday, April 3, 2026, Dusk-9:00 pm
Artist Talk: Thursday, April 9, 2026, 3:00 pm @ ARTSLab
Closing Reception: Friday, April 24, 2026, Dusk-9:00 pm
ni de aquí ni de allá gallery
2009 Ridgecrest Drive SE, Albuquerque 87108
Gallery open by appointment, contact danieladelmar@unm.edu
For more information vist, danieladelmar.com
Time
April 3, 2026 6:00 pm - April 24, 2026 9:00 pm
11apr6:00 pm11may9:00 pmSeeds of Compromise
Event Details
Seeds of Compromise MFA Thesis Exhibition by Saul Ramirez Opening Reception: Friday, April 11, 2026, 6:00-9:00 pm Artist Talk: Thursday, April 22, 2026, 4:00 pm @ Fine Arts Design Library
Event Details
Seeds of Compromise
MFA Thesis Exhibition
by Saul Ramirez
Opening Reception: Friday, April 11, 2026, 6:00-9:00 pm
Artist Talk: Thursday, April 22, 2026, 4:00 pm @ Fine Arts Design Library
Time
April 11, 2026 6:00 pm - May 11, 2026 9:00 pm
Location
AC2 Gallery
301 Mountain Rd NE
15apr5:30 pm6:30 pmGale Memorial Lecture Series: Anthony Hudson
Event Details
Artist Talk: Wednesday, April 15, 2026, 5:30 pm ARTSLab, 131 Pine St. NE Anthony Hudson is a Grand Ronde / Siletz artist and writer. Anthony’s theatrical work, from Looking for Tiger Lily to
Event Details
Artist Talk: Wednesday, April 15, 2026, 5:30 pm
ARTSLab, 131 Pine St. NE
Anthony Hudson is a Grand Ronde / Siletz artist and writer. Anthony’s theatrical work, from Looking for Tiger Lily to Queer Horror—and performances as Portland’s premier drag clown Carla Rossi—have earned him national fellowships, international engagements, and sainthood from the Portland Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Anthony’s writing has appeared in American Theatre, BOMB Magazine, Buckman Journal, Oregon ArtsWatch, and Arts and International Affairs. His first book, Lamp Back: Plays and Other Grievances, is forthcoming from Northwestern University Press in 2026.
Photo by Gia Goodrich
Time
April 15, 2026 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Location
ARTSLab
131 Pine St NE


