A Picture of Community
The goals of the Las Cruces Public Art Program include involving community members in public art creations, such as murals. While also aiming to beautify existing elements in our parks, streets, and other neighborhood structures. Murals have long been a go-to for community projects due to their capacity for lots…
Symbol of Misappropriation
Not long ago, one of our public art selection committees held artist presentations for a commissioned public art piece for one of our parks. This is when artists present their proposals for a project and show us a small-scale model or maquette of the proposed new art piece for our…
CAB Rides
When I first started as the public art coordinator, I remember hearing about cab this, cab that while in training. In my head, I thought “what is this cab? Does public art have a cab?” Not wanting to admit ignorance, I did a search for “public art cab”. Lo and…
4TLOA
It’s February and we’re in love! In love with art that is, because February is For the Love of Art month. The month officially kicked off with the Lunar New Year celebration at the Branigan Cultural Center, where we painted rocks with attendees to build a rock snake in the…
Art That Keeps Giving (Reposted from Dec. 21, 2021)
If you’ve ever doubted the power of public art, take a trip downtown to the Plaza de Las Cruces during the holidays and observe children and adults playing and laughing around the oversized Christmas gifts, snowmen, penguins, sleds, the Polar Express, and taking silly (and serious) selfies in front of…
Choosing To Be Picky
It amazes me how many people think that, as Public Art Coordinator, I choose the public art that gets commissioned and installed. In fact, my vote doesn’t count. The artwork I like is often not the artwork that is chosen, which could be a good thing. In hindsight, I don’t…
What the Duck
It’s been a while since we posted a new Rubber Ducks blog – so sorry to all our loyal Duck followers. Our website was undergoing a transition. We are happy to announce we are ready to go again with a better-looking blog design that is easier to scroll through and…
Identify as Public Art
What would the world be without art? Many different mediums of art touch the lives of people every day. Imagine our community without certain iconic art pieces. Imagine if all buildings were just boring boxes exactly all the same size, each painted beige, with none enhanced by the images of…
My Life As A Public Art Co-Op
Starting out, I didn’t know what to expect; I just knew I wanted to be able to do something that allowed me to express my creativity. In my first couple months of being here, I have gotten to experience so many different things and meet some kind people. Every day…
Who is ALICE?
No, it is not a drug reference or about a girl going down a rabbit hole. ALICE is an acronym forArtists +LibrariesInnovativeCollaborativeEntrepreneurship. The name is a nod to Alice Branigan, who founded the first Las Cruces city library in memory of her husband, Thomas Branigan. The Ask ALICE program is…
