Ray Drew Gallery

Ray Drew Gallery
Thomas C Donnelly Library Highlands University 
802 National Ave, Las Vegas NM 87701

The Ray Drew Gallery is located on the first floor of Thomas C. Donnelly Library.
MON -FRI  8-5pm, SUN 1-5pm (When classes are in session) FOR HOURS CALL: 505.454.2275 raydrewgallery@nmhu.edu

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Ray Drew Gallery
TERRY MAKER

Distance and Desire

Sculptural Mixed Media

March 7 – April 26 2024
Reception March 7
5 – 7 pm


Terry Maker; Distance and Desire  a solo exhibition. Apart of the Ray Drew Gallery; VISITING ARTISTS SERIES ( #3)

It is a privilege to show such an accomplished artist here at Ray Drew Gallery, NMHU.  Maker has exhibited her work widely across the U.S. Her most recent exhibition was at the Museum of Art Fort Collins in fall 2023. Other notable venues Maker’s work has appeared in, Longmont Museum, CO, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center & Museum, CO, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, CO, & CU Art Museum, Boulder, CO.

Terry Maker’s sculptural mixed media to be exhibited March 7 – April 26 highlights some of the artist’s most significant aesthetic and conceptual work to date. Like most mixed-media artists, Maker is constantly exploring new materials and processes.

In this body of work each piece is the result of seemingly unpredictable trial-and-error. By layering and arranging found objects and industrial detritus , Maker aggregates numerous materials and means to create complex visual alluvial terrains. In their fabrication, Maker’s 2d works are more like sculptures. The surfaces are so highly worked that they became topographical in nature. The works are large and deeply layered, and in some regards almost episodic. Maker’s work has size and significance, but it also has a range of humility in the materials and its outward fragility.

This is indeed the work of a woman artist in its complexity and depth. In our current world we no longer have to be surprised by art of magnitude and girth being produced by women. We welcome acclaimed artist Terry Maker & her work to be on view to celebrate International Women’s Day & National Women’s History month.

– Head Curator; Ray Drew & Kennedy Galleries and University Art Collections ; Gina Hartmann

Each piece in my various bodies of work emerges from humble origins, taking shape from an eccentric collection of ordinary materials that initially offer no hint of what they might become when made to live together. The final dense, tactile assemblages and free-standing sculptures present themselves with minimal clues to their complex origins. The building materials are highly considered, formally and conceptually. Yet as they come into being, my position in relation to these materials is the sometimes uncomfortable one of sustained suspense. Discovering their ultimate destiny requires curiosity-driven play—which, with such materials, is a visceral, physically demanding, and mysterious process.

I explore the process of art making while addressing themes relating to human desire and decay, death and resurrection, and mundane and sacred and mark-making–both literal and figurative. In all my work, I intend to pull viewers into these universal tensions, to stimulate novel, transcendent responses to the existential questions behind humanity’s search for meaning. The revealed surfaces present the viewer with a visual puzzle, made even stranger by its unique visual vocabulary, that opens the possibility of new connections, new perspectives. One circle, one cut, one compressed or expanded square inch at a time, I invite viewers to engage and explore our mysterious universe, expanding ever since it was just a little dot of a thing. – Terry Maker terrymaker.com


Ray Drew Gallery
Bob Read

Paintings & Sculptures

Nov 16- Dec 15 2023
Reception Nov 16
5 – 7 pm


 Bob Read’s kaleidoscopic exhibition of paintings and sculptures opens November 16. On view will be over 25 works from both current & past series.

The creative process begins early in life.  For me, scribbling, making mud figures, drawing colorful children with big heads and tiny bodies was a common experience. At a very young age, oil spills on pavement with their light-catching colors of blacks, reds, greens and blues swirling around, intrigued me.  That was early on. Creating art over time changes and this has been a long, enjoyable journey.  These paintings are a continuation of my admiration of color and a child-like attitude of design and perspective.  – Bob Read

Read graduated with a B.A. and M.A. from Highlands University. He worked at the Maintenance Department, Art Department and HU Library where he curated many shows for the Ray Drew Gallery.  Fortunately, the University offered employees one free class per semester.  Although Read had little experience in sculpture, he soon recognized that Highland’s Professor, Harry Leippe, had extensive knowledge and experience in sculpture, so he began taking classes with Mr. Leippe.  For many years, Read was able to cast bronze sculptures at the Highlands’s foundry.  

 Some of the bronzes in this show are organic vases and some are whimsical. Enjoy them with a mature, yet childlike eye.  – Bob Read


Ray Drew Gallery
Stephen R Pruitt

A Cartography of Solitude Photographs

Oct 5 – Nov 10
Reception Oct 5, 5-7PM

Ray Drew Gallery is delighted to present A Cartography of Solitude, a solo exhibition by Stephen R Pruitt opening October 5, 2023. Ray Drew Gallery; VISITING ARTISTS SERIES ( #2 OF 3)

Pruitt invokes the natural cycles of time, aging, & endurance in his serene imagery, distilling the fleeting aura of the natural world while speaking to us about our own existence in time & place. Pruitt pays homage to a fragile plant through these images and brings us up close to the persistent presence we continue to leave behind. His work speaks volumes about solitude with an ever-present nod to the churn of humanity.

For years, I’ve taken long adventures with just my camera and journal for company, and in those travels, I’ve experienced some stunning places that seem to revel in their remoteness, in their quiet, in their inhospitality, unless you’re willing to accept their terms – no easy meals, no water, no roads – stay only as long as you can be self-sufficient. Sometimes these are wilderness areas, where people have never settled and nature has held the humans at bay. In other places, there are signs or remains of where people tried to settle, and maybe even stayed a while, but in the end, the conditions were just too difficult, or no one else came along, and so the place reverted back to its solitary ways. – Stephen R Pruitt

www.fluxionphotography.com
www.fluxiondesigns.com
www.instagram.com/fluxionphotography


Ray Drew Gallery Katherine Brimberry, Austin TX

TimeScapes What Was, What Is and What Will Be
Prints & Paintings

Aug 24 – Sept 29
Reception Aug 24, 5-7pm

Katherine Brimberry, NMHU Alumnus, Class of 1973 returns to Las Vegas, NM for a solo exhibition at the Ray Drew Gallery, NMHU. Brimberry’s new work; a series of multi-plate chine collé etchings with dry point, aquatint, and polymer photogravure will be on display as part of the Ray Drew Gallery; VISITING ARTISTS SERIES Ray Drew Gallery; VISITING ARTISTS SERIES ( #1 OF 3). The collection of prints presents the viewer with translucent layers creating beautifully minimal atmospheric landscapes. The compositions play with perception and reflect the transience of the natural & unnatural world. Brimberry, as visiting artist will be giving a demonstration for the Fine Art Department Printmaking Class plus visiting the student studios on campus during her time here.

Katherine Brimberry, printmaker and art educator, lives in Austin, Texas where she is a member of Women Printmakers of Austin. Brimberry is Co-founder, Director, and Senior Master Printer of the Flatbed Center for Contemporary Printmaking. Brimberry’s expertise as Senior Master Printer is in the collaboration phase of intaglio or relief projects.  She has worked as a technical collaborator with artists such as James Surls, Julie Speed, Frank X. Tolbert 2, Trenton Doyle Hancock and Joan Winter, among many others. She is an experienced instructor of printmaking having taught printmaking at Texas State University, St. Edward’s University and Austin Community College.

As an artist her primary medium has been intaglio printmaking, and she has exhibited her work widely. Her prints have been collected by private collectors and museums internationally. As Master Printer and director of Flatbed-CCP she is directly responsible for the artistic and technical development of all Flatbed projects and has collaborated with artists for over three hundred Flatbed projects.

Every other year, Brimberry directs and teaches a two-week workshop, Intensive Printmaking at La Romita School of Art in Terni, Italy. In her recent work, she combines printmaking techniques creating layered images picturing historic or futuristic aerial images of the landscape.  She was honored to be an artist in residence with an exhibition in Nis, Serbia in March 2019.
https://www.flatbedpress.com

Read more about this months Exhibition in New Mexico Magazine:

https://www.newmexicomagazine.org/blog/post/five-things-to-do-this-weekend-august-25-27/


RAY DREW GALLERY

Past Importance

July 6 – Aug 11

Reception Aug 5,  10 – 3pm

Past Importance

A selection from: The New Mexico – National New Deal Preservation Association; New Deal Photograph Collection

Exhibition includes 23 photographs of public art works & photo reproductions of valuable artistic pieces of New Mexico History, plus prints from the Donnelly Library Art collection

Works Progress Administration (WPA) ; In the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed a program he referred to as the New Deal, to help pull the United States out of the Great Depression. Although the New Deal did not end the depression, it relieved much economic hardship and renewed Americans’ faith in the democratic system at a time when other nations hit by the depression turned to dictators. While the New Deal focused primarily on helping farmers, industry, investors, and the desperately needy, it also bolstered and resuscitated the arts by providing work for artists, writers, actors and musicians through a program called the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Between 1933-1943, in the depth of the depression, 167 known artists lived in New Mexico, all struggling to sell art in a time when many Americans had little money available even for necessities. The New Deal’s Works Progress Administration Art Project provided an opportunity for artists to create artwork for public buildings, allowing them to remain independent, support their families, and enrich and enhance the community. Many of New Mexico’s best-known artists were involved in the New Deal program


Ray Drew Gallery
School of Schooley 
Students of Elmer Schooley, Exhibition

June 1 – 29
Reception Thursday June 1,   5-7pm

The exhibition features 12 artists all students of Elmer Schooley, showcasing a variety of genres & styles in printmaking & painting.

“This exhibition is simply a wink and a nod to our old friend, teacher, and guru Elmer “Skinny” Schooley. It is something many of us have wanted to do for a long, long time. Sometimes, good things take a while… Elmer’s way of seeing has stuck with all of us these many years, a gift we surely will treasure forever. Every one of us in our rag tag group has driven through the mountains on many occasions, looked up at the trees or meadows, smiled and said out loud “Now there’s a Schooley painting!” How lucky we have all been to have had Elmer as our guide and compass through art and life” 
– Enoch Doyle Jeter
N.M.H.U Class of 1976

MARK ADAMSON – PETER ANSELMO – KATHERINE BRIMBERRY – DAVID PEREZ ESCUDERO – ELAINE WIGGINS HOWE – ENOCH DOYLE JETER CARLOS QUINTO KEMM – LOUIS P. LUBBERING – SUSAN E. MORGAN  TED SCHOOLEY – ED SCHUTZ –  JERRY R. WEST 
Plus works from:
ELMER SCHOOLEY  – GUSSIE DU JARDIN 

ELMER SCHOOLEY
Elmer “Skinny” Schooley (1916 – 2007) was an American painter and printmaker. He received a BFA from the University of Colorado, and an MA at the State University of Iowa. Schooley was a Professor of Art and Head of the Department of Arts and Crafts, New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, New Mexico for 30 years.


2023 Northern New Mexico Devotional Exhibition

May 4 – 26

Reception May 4, 5-7pm

Exhibition includes 10 artists working in wood painting & carving, textiles, print making & mixed media.

Santos are revered for their simplicity, rich colors and intense expression of faith. The Hispanic Catholic devotional art of New Mexico is a window to view how people lived and how traditions are still carried on. Today’s santeros and santeras have found like any ongoing tradition, preserving it means making room for innovation. It is what keeps the art moving forward for future generations. New materials and subject matter bring differing responses but these modern artisans know traditions evolve, and in turn allow them to stay alive. Women have played an important role in bringing a contemporary voice to New Mexico’s Devotional Arts introducing embroidery & textiles into the art form. Fortunately, many historical santos have survived keeping the continuity of imagery alive.  New Mexico’s contemporary artists are choosing to keep the art form viable and in their work it’s not just about religion it’s about a cultural connection and passing it on to the next generation.


DISSOCIATION OF COLOR AND FORM

Monique Nevarez (BFA Exhibition)

Ceramics & Drawings

APRIL 6 – 28

Reception April 21, 5 -7 pm

Monique Nevarez: BFA Exhibition. A collection of 20 plus ceramic pieces, ranging from traditional designs to organic and sculptural forms.


Diala  Al-Daghlise  

LANDING (INTO THE SHADOWS)

RECEPTION FEBRUARY 24  5 -7 pm
Feb 20 – Mar 19                  
                                                                                              
BALLEN VISITING PROFESSORSHIP

 Al-Daghlise is a visual and installation artist, and the first woman in Jordan currently with a Masters in Fine Arts (MFA). She has earned multiple degrees from various prestigious universities including a Bachelor of Arts in print making from the University of Jordan and she received her MFA in sculpture from Fort Hays University in Kansas where she studied under Tobias Flores, renowned iron caster, metal artist, and professor of art and design at Fort Hays University.

Using both intense color, shadows, and projections, Al-Daghlise confronts social issues engendered by the displacement of people from homeland, separation from cultural heritage, and ideas that cross international boundaries, institutions, and cultures.

The Ray Drew Gallery exhibition consists of 8 large printed digital images, ranging in size from 3’ – 8’  all with intense color and line. The large size pulls the viewer in to Diala’s world of shadow and play. Join us for the reception & make sure to visit the Gallery regularly during the exhibition.


JOSHUA SANDOVAL

 (BFA) SHOW

DECEMBER  1 -20 2022


JUSTINA MEDINA

 (BFA) SHOW

NOVEMBER  3 -22 2022


A Season for The Dead

José Guadalupe Posada 1852 -1913 Mexico

The Calaveras, Etchings & Engravings

Posada’s work consisted of more than the calaveras, but his spirited skeletons were his main medium of expression. They are what he is most recognized for. Posada expressed the tragic destiny of man. He used the “calaveras” to mock our very existence. His skeletons portrayed the famous & heroic, the politicians & revolutionaries, and mostly the common person. Posada showed us his compassion for the woes of humanity through humor and satire. In his work he displayed the horrors of war and the injustices of humankind. Posada reminds us that no matter our wealth, power, or social status, all paths lead to the grave.

A collection of 28 works from the Dr. Robert Bell Fine Art Collection. Featuring everyday themes from workers to musicians, cooking to dancing, & politics to revolution. These intimate works range in size from 3 x 3” to 7 x 9”. Originally featured in illustrations for play bills, almanacs, card games, commercial advertisements, religious publications and newspapers.


May 4- May 20, 2022

Past Exhibitions

Creative Quest from an Empty Nest

April 19-May 1, 2022

March 7 – April 18, 2022

Video tour by Tim Hagaman, EDD

Interpretations of Nature

November 15- December 3, 2021

Flora-Fauna and Somewhere In Between

September 10 – October 25, 2020

2021 National Day of the Cowboy

Facundo Valdez School of Social Work Student Art Show

2021 Northern New Mexico Devotional Art Exhibition

 

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“Masks and Artifacts from the Congo” features ceremonial masks from the Republic of Congo, as well as masks created by Robertson High School students and inspired by these original artifacts.

Artist Reception Wednesday, May 30 from 4-6 PM

 

October 12 – November 21, 2017

 Opening Reception
Thursday, October 12, 5 – 7 p.m.
with performance and lecture at 6 p.m.

An interactive exhibition that examines concepts of health and medicine among contemporary American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawai’ians and features interviews with more than one hundred tribal leaders, healers, physicians, educators, and others.

The U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) developed and produced Native Voices: Native Peoples’ Concepts of Health and Illness. The American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office, in partnership with NLM, tours the exhibition to America’s libraries.

Exhibit Co-sponsored
New Mexico Highlands University Libraries
Ray Drew Gallery
The Native American Center
The Peoples Center for Indigenous Knowledges

B.F.A. Exhibitions

Kimberly Schlosser

basically becky poster

Reception 5-7 pm, Friday, May 5

Artist’s Talk ~ 6 pm.

Separation Distress by Martina E. Gallegos 

Artist’s Reception ~ Friday, April 7th from 5-7 p.m.

Artist’s Talk ~ Friday, April 15th from 6 p.m.

April 3 – 21, 2017

CLOSING RECEPTION AND ARTIST’S TALK

Sunday February 19, 2-4 p.m.

DAGGER AND CATHEDRAL: Portraits and Landscapes from the Republic of Georgia”raydrew117

Gelzer - Tenor, Wine, Backgammon

Photography by Stuart Gelzer

The exhibition runs from January 18 – February 19, 2017.

Art Works

Ray drew galleries faceoff

By Paul Maurer & Nancy Culmone
Paintings & Calligraphy
November 6 to December 7, 2016

The Past Beyond the Purple Brick Road
Highlights from New Mexico Highlands University’s
History from the Thomas C. Donnelly Library Collection
September 26 to October 30, 2016
Reception – Friday, September 30, 2016 from 5-7 p.m.

Photography by C.M. Montgomery

Whimsical Expressions in Wood by Terry Mossman

Rio Rancho blank screen with logo and books

August 15 to September 18, 2016

Artist’s Reception, Friday, August 19, 2016

Paintings from Highland University’s Dr. Robert Bell and Dr. Stirling Puck Fine Art Collection June 6 – July 25

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B.F.A. Exhibitions
Harley Godinez,  April 9 – 18, 2016
Artist’s Reception ~ Friday, April 15th from 4-6 p.m.

Alexis Hustito,  April 21 – April 30, 2016
Artist’s Reception ~ Friday, April 29th from 4-6 p.m.

Patricia Ortega,  May 3 – May 13, 2016
Artist’s Reception ~ Friday, May 6 from 5-7 p.m.

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2016 Northern New Mexico Devotional Art
February 26-March 30, 2016
Artist’s reception ~ Friday, February 26th from 4-6 pm

Northern_Nm_devotional_spring_2016

Modern European Prints
Works by Marcel Gromaire, Alberto Giacometti, Marc Chagall & Joan Miro
January 12 – February 13, 2016
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