UNM’s Art Museum reopens with unveiling of unseen works

After a year of caring for artwork in its stewardship, the University of New Mexico's Art Museum has reopened with two transformative art exhibitions that offer fresh encounters with its permanent collections.

The recent opening reception was open to all UNM and broader community members. The reception invited everyone to come together to celebrate the hard work of staff and student assistants over the past year, as well as the efforts of those who brought these exhibitions to life.

This past year, UNMAM undertook a major, innovative project they affectionately called Collections Year, which gave staff and students valuable time and space to focus fully on caring for and preserving the items in their collections.

They transformed gallery spaces into active workspaces for collections management activities and with this opening reception, they showcased their hard work and the museum's vibrant, deeply resonant works with the museum's friends and supporters.

"I believe Collections Year permitted our team to focus on the collection, its breadth and quality," said Kathy Freise, UNMAM's communications and outreach specialist. "Both aspects are evident and celebrated in both exhibitions."

In the Main and Van Deren Coke galleries, visitors can view the exhibit entitled Abundance: New Acquisitions from 2016 to 2026, featuring works by 44 artists from nine countries, including paintings, prints, photographs, and sculptures created between 1810 and 2024. These selections showcase the breadth of UNMAM's collection and honor the people who have helped shape it.

Most of the artworks featured in the exhibition were actively involved in procedures throughout Collections Year and are a product of UNMAM staff and assistants' efforts during the initiative.

Mary Statzer, UNMAM's senior curator for the Abundance exhibition, shared, "Abundance celebrates many things, including the generosity of our donors. It joyfully embraces the diversity of the artists and the range of subject matter and ideas they express. Most importantly, it honors the visitor, especially our students, who bring their own experience and interpretations to this exhibition to make it and the collection meaningful and relevant."

Abundance will be on display through Dec. 5.

In the second exhibit, Tamarind Goes Global (1985-2020), on display in the Clinton Adams Gallery, viewers can see the global influence and connections Tamarind Institute creates through its unique fine art and practice of lithographic printmaking, as well as its commitment to this through the many international projects.

"We thought this exhibit was a perfect opportunity to look at the ways Tamarind connected with artists from around the world and present a diverse set of projects that exemplify this engagement," said Angel Jiang, Tamarind's curator of prints and drawings and co-curator of Tamarind Goes Global.

Jiang shared that the exhibition draws on archival research and collections held at UNM, including those at the Center for Southwest Research and the Tamarind Archive Collection. The exhibit gives students and community members an opportunity to explore these collections and connect them to a larger history of printmaking, collaboration and cultural exchange.

Tamarind Goes Global (1985-2020) will be on display through March 12, 2027.

"I think both exhibitions celebrate community, collaboration and partnerships," said Freise. "All of these are aspects the team has practiced throughout the years, but were emphasized more, or highlighted in different ways, during Collections Year."

To learn more about these exhibitions, visit the Art Museum's exhibition webpage.

** UNMAM's Collections Manager Andrea Perez-Martinez and Collections Year activities were recently featured on UNM's Podcast, It's (Probably) Not Rocket Science. Visit the podcast's webpage to listen to the discussion.