Color Las Cruces 2011 Photo Spread in My Las Cruces
Plein Air Competition and Community Arts Festival
My Las Cruces, September 20 – 26, 2011
More than 30 artists from throughout the Southwest competed in the Dona Ana Arts Council’s second annual Color Las Cruces Plein Air Competition and Community Arts Festival, Sept. 9 through 11.
The Rio Grande Theatre on Main Street downtown was the perfect backdrop for this year’s event.
To read the entire article and view the two-page photo spread please click the following links:
The Doña Ana Arts Council Announces Color Las Cruces 2011 Winners
The Doña Ana Arts Council proudly presents the winners of the Second Annual Color Las Cruces Plein Air Competition and Community Arts Festival, held over the weekend of September 9 – 11, 2011. On Friday, September 9th, over 30 artists from throughout the Southwest gathered up their paints and easels and set out to capture the subtle beauties of Las Cruces in a timed painting competition. The resulting paintings were exhibited throughout the weekend at 201 N. Main Street, where guest judge Preston Thayer, the Director of the NMSU Art Galleries, did the honors.
The winners of the 2011 Color Las Cruces Plein Air Competition were: Meg Freyermuth – First Place; Beth Ray – Second Place; Judy Licht – Third Place. Honorable Mentions went to Arlene J. Tugel and Ouida Touchon. An interesting fact about this competition is that First Place Winner Meg Freyermuth was last year’s Second Place winner, while this year’s Second Place winner was last year’s First Place winner.
Winners of the Quickdraw competition, held Sunday, September 11th, were: Krystyna Robbins – First Place; Beth Ray – Second Place; Lois Griffel – Third Place. In the 15-and-Under category, the winners were: Reyna Andazola – First Place; Santana Andazola – Second Place; Alyssa Garnett – Honorable Mention.
Images of the winning paintings can be seen in the Color Las Cruces Gallery.
The Arts Council would like to congratulate all of the winners and give a big thank you to the artists and sponsors who participated, as well as the many volunteers who gave their time and energy to make this year’s event a special one.
Grammy Raffle Ticket Winners
Cassandra Herrera was the winner of the Grammy Ticket raffle. She attended the Grammy cermonies with her fourteen year old daughter in Los angeles, CA, at the Staples Center. They were both thrilled to be there.
53rd Annual Grammy Award Raffle Tickets Now Available!
A drawing will be held on February 4, 2011–during the Downtown ArtRamble and in conjunction with For The Love Of Art Month–for tickets to the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, on February 13, 2011. The Grammy Awards package includes airfare and hotel for two, along with two Bronze tickets to attend the ceremony at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA. Tickets will be on sale for $10 from now until approximately 6:30pm that evening. Purchasers need not be present to win. Go HERE for more details.
December 15th deadline is approaching for artist boothspace in March “Las Cruces Art Fair”.
There is still time for artists to apply on ZAPP for booth space during the Las Cruces Arts Fair on March 25-27, 2011. The “Fair”, to be held inside the beautiful new Las Cruces Convention Center, will be a first-time event and is anticipated to compete with major regional art fairs for both exposure and sales. Don’t miss out……access full details on the Dona Ana Arts Council/Las Cruces Arts Fair on this website, or call the Arts Council office at (575) 523-6403.
Winners Named at ‘Color Las Cruces’ Plein Air Competition
September 13, 2010 – Art was the word during Color Las Cruces and related events on Saturday, September 11th and Sunday, September 12. Six plein air artists were named winners of the Plein Air competition; Michael Martin Murphey mingled with guests at the VIP Reception and performed a highly entertaining solo show in the Rio Grande Theatre. Sunday’s Gallery Hop displayed the winners as well as all the fabulous work created on Saturday, capping a hugely successful first-time event.
Congratulations to all the winners (see below) and thank you to all the artists for making Color Las Cruces a great success!
The winners were: (click thumbnails for larger view)
| Professional Category Winners | |
| 1st Place – Beth Ray of Green Valley, AZ |  |
| 2nd Place – Meg Freyermuth of Las Cruces |  |
| 3rd Place – Ruth Paulsen of Tularosa |  |
| Open Category Winners | |
| 1st Place – Donald Brenner of Las Cruces |  |
| 2nd Place - Linda Hagen of Mesilla Park |  |
| 3rd Place – Marilyn Sahs of El Paso |  |
Las Cruces Plein Air Competition & Community Arts Festival
Saturday, September 11 and Sunday, September 12, 2010
The Doña Ana Arts Council presents the first Color Las Cruces Plein Air* Competition and Community Arts Festival. The annual event is two full days of ongoing activities and entertainment in Downtown Las Cruces, with an artist workshop, a “Quickdraw”, two Plein Air competitions, a VIP Artist Reception, and a Citywide gallery hop.
Color Las Cruces takes place September 11th -12th. During the event weekend, juried artists will compete for cash & merchandise prizes in one of two Plein Air categories. In a 4-hour period on Saturday morning, they must go to an outdoor location in Las Cruces, begin, finish, and return with a completed painting. Guest judge (and workshop instructor) is Kevin Weckbach, a noted professional fine artist. Winners of the two Plein Air categories will be announced Saturday evening at the VIP Artist Reception. A public exhibit and sale of the completed paintings, with artists in attendance to discuss their work, will take place in participating galleries on Sunday afternoon from noon until 4:00pm.
The VIP Artist Reception will be held Saturday evening at the Rio Grande Theatre where you can meet the artists, sample food from the best restaurants in town, and enjoy wine from local wineries and a live performance in the theatre.
Open to all for a wee fee, a Quickdraw competition takes place downtown at the Rio Grande Theatre during Farmers’ Market, held in front of the Rio Grande Theatre. Artists will have 1 hour to complete a drawing or painting, and finished work will be displayed and judged by the public for prizes. Artists can register prior to the competition at the Theatre on Saturday morning.
In conjunction with Color Las Cruces, event judge and Denver artist Kevin Weckbach will instruct a two-day plein air workshop on Thursday, September 9th and Friday, September 10th. Open to artists of all levels, the class size is limited for personal instruction, and a fee will be charged for this workshop.
Please contact the Doña Arts Council for artist entry applications, artist prospectus, workshop enrollment, and general information visit our website at www.las-cruces-arts.org or phone 575/523-6403.
*Plein Air: En plein air is a French expression which means “in the open air”, and is particularly used to describe the act of painting outdoors. (Wickipedia)
Project IN Motion Progresses
It has been an exhilarating week, here at the Rio Grande Theatre, where professional dance troupe Project IN Motion has been rehearsing in preparation for their big show on Saturday, May 23rd. The stage has been set, multi-colored strips of fabric suspended from overhead cables and dance moves honed. It’s coming together beautifully and we here at the Doña Ana Arts Council couldn’t be more pleased.
This truly is a unique experience, particularly for Las Cruces natives. The show itself combines modern terrestrial dance with Cirque de Soliel-type aerial feats and even a bit of stilt-walking. There have been moments during the rehearsal process when those of us watching have been completely spellbound and find ourselves staring in jaw-dropping amazement. Spontaneous applause has become the norm. How’s that for a ringing endorsement?
In other news, this show will inaugurate the brand, spanking new ticket purchasing system, now in use on the Rio Grande Theatre website. Those wishing to buy tickets on-line need only go to the Calendar section of the site, pull up the Project IN Motion page and follow the link to our ticketing partner, Brown Paper Tickets. It’s as easy as that. If you’ve got a credit card, tickets can be purchased fast and easy.
This process has been a long time coming, but it’s here now and we plan to make good use of it. Watch for such upcoming annual DAAC sponsored events as the Awards Gala, The ArtsHop and the Renaissance Festival to make use of this system. But first, get those tickets for Saturday night’s performance. It is guaranteed to be a show unlike anything that has ever taken place on the RGT stage. Considering that this theatre has been in existence for close to 100 years, that’s saying a lot. ~ ds
Famous Pianist Plays Las Cruces, Works for Peanuts
By: Jessamyn Buttram
Issue date: 2/5/09
George Winston performed at the Rio Grande Theatre on Jan. 27. He’s a well-known pianist who has performed in Las Cruces before. Not only did his show sell out well before the performance, the lobby was filled with patrons hoping for will call no-shows in hopes of edging into the show last minute.
Winston opened with an upbeat piece called “New Orleans Shall Rise Again,” which, said Winston, “is an ode to the city and its music, a buoyant salute to the rhythms of jazz, blues, and R&B.” The song is from his Gulf Coast Blues and Impressions album. It contains six Winston originals and four pieces by Dr. John, James Booker and Henry Butler-artists Winston appreciates and has emulated at different points in his career. The album is a hurricane relief benefit that was created and released solely for the purpose of raising money to reconstruct the broken city of New Orleans.
The next piece on the program was a slower, moody and intense song titled “Rain,” followed by a similarly paced “Woods” soon after. The resulting atmosphere in the audience was respect, serenity and a quiet sort of appreciation for the talented man whose fingers were performing acts of which contortionists would be envious. Simultaneously, his body and smiling face remained surprisingly relaxed and accessible (he could have been someone’s grandpa playing piano with the grandkids at a holiday gathering).
Winston soon decided to mix up the pace a little by throwing in “Cat and Mouse,” an impossibly fast-paced and fun stride style piece that was, without a doubt, an audience favorite. By the end of the song, many were standing up, whooping and whistling.
In each of the pieces before the intermission, Winston strove to showcase the different styles of piano that he performs.
“I play three styles,” said Winston. “New Orleans R&B piano, and the majority of songs I play are in this style; stride piano, which was the main way of playing that I worked on after hearing Fats Waller and Teddy Wilson; and third, folk piano, the style I came up with in 1971 which is influenced and inspired by instrumental R&B and Rock, North American folk music, and even more by the sounds of the piano itself.
Winston’s first solo album was Ballads and Blues, which was released in 1972. Since then, he has released 10 other albums: Autumn, Winter into Spring, December, Summer, Forest, Linus and Lucy-the music of Vince Guaraldi, Plains, Remembrance-A Memorial Benefit, Night Divides the Day-The Music of the Doors, Montana: A Love Story and Gulf Coast Blues and Impressions.
Winston often performs songs from Charlie Brown. At the Rio Grande Theatre Concert, he entertained the audience with two Valentine’s Day medleys from the beloved cartoon. He actually recorded music for the soundtrack of the Peanuts animation, This is America, Charlie Brown: The Birth of the Constitution (he played pieces by the show’s original, late composer, Vince Guaraldi). Additionally, he also recorded the solo piano soundtrack for The Velveteen Rabbit, with narration by Meryl Streep, in 1984. He also recorded music for the soundtrack of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, the true story of a Japanese girl who lived in Hiroshima and contracted radiation poisoning after the attack on Japan during World War II. She then spent her time in the hospital folding paper cranes because, as Japanese legend has it, someone who folds a thousand paper cranes will have their dearest wish granted.
A pianist with a heart as big, a repertoire as complex and skill as great as Winston is a pleasure to hear at any time, and a greater pleasure to see live. If he’s ever in town again, be sure to grab your tickets before someone else does.?
Paddy Jones Coming on April 4
Irish fiddler Paddy Jones, from County Kerry in the Southwestern part of Ireland, will be presented by the Dona Ana Arts Council on Saturday, April 4, 2009 at 7.00 pm at the Rio Grande Theatre. Paddy brings the rich musical tradition of the Sliabh Luachra along with the history of the songs and the people. Come join us for a special evening. Tickets are $10 at the door.