Devasthali Hall (New Art Building) at New Mexico State University Public Art Project Request for Qualifications

The information currently on this page provides site information to supplement the Devasthali Hall at NMSU Public Art Project Request for Qualifications that are posted on www.callforentry.org.

The site of the new AIPP project, highlighted in pink, southwest of Devasthali Hall.

The Art in Public Places program enriches New Mexico communities through innovative and diverse public art. Since its inception in 1986, the program has placed more than 3,000 works of art in all of New Mexico’s 33 counties. The goal of the program is to reflect the diversity of the arts in New Mexico, the Southwest, and the nation while building a dynamic public art collection for the State of New Mexico. For this project on the New Mexico State University Campus, New Mexico Arts and the Local Selection Committee seek an artist or artist team to create a site-specific commission project to be situated on a landscaped area south and west of Devasthali Hall. The proposed location is a grassy landscaped area that measures approximately 90’ x 90’ square feet.

The site of Devasthali Hall was designed with the intention of being an art building. Home to the University Art Museum and the largest collection of retablos in the state, this location is the epicenter of the university’s art world. With nearly 1,000 students using this space on a weekly basis, the environment is full of inspiration and creativity. It is a welcoming contemporary space.

Below are photos of the site. The public art boundary is a landscaped zone south and west of Devasthali Hall. The land slopes (falls) east to west, and is currently grassed with a defined planting area. The requested project is expected to engage the natural environment with a landscape/environmental element, place-making or monumental work. Note that no interior art proposals will be considered. Artworks that incorporate water features or elements will also not be considered.

Devasthali Hall and the University Art Museum

ABOUT

The University Art Museum’s (UAM) mission is to serve as an academic environment for the critical analysis of visual art while making culturally relevant and conceptual practice accessible to the University and surrounding regional and border communities. The UAM actively acquires and stewards a permanent collection of contemporary visual art, houses the country’s largest collection of Mexican retablos, and facilitates educational programming to align with the teaching missions of both the Department of Art and New Mexico State University. The UAM’s overarching purpose is to provide enriching and informative experiences through participatory engagements with artists and contemporary and historical visual art. To accomplish these goals for our under-served area, we involve the full regional community in our educational programming, which range from exhibitions, performances and lectures, to catalogs and scholarly publications. We actively work to establish the importance and significance of the visual arts relative to the diverse human values present in our broader community.

OUR FOCUS

Our focus includes the alignment of our exhibitions and programming with the contemporary and interdisciplinary teaching missions of the NMSU Department of Art faculty, graduates students, and undergraduates and the whole of New Mexico State University. We curate original exhibitions; and steward over 4,200 works in the university’s permanent collection. Our collection includes the country’s largest collection of Mexican retablos (devotional paintings on tin) as well as contemporary and modern photographs, paintings, prints and graphics, book art, and small scale sculpture and metals. The UAM provides curatorial and exhibition management experiences for graduate and undergraduate students.

OUR VISION

With new and expanded facilities, a growing permanent art collection, and exceptional educational programming that facilitates creative economy opportunities at a land-grant, Hispanic-Serving Institution, the UAM actively aligns itself with the mission of NMSU to serve the diverse needs of the state through comprehensive art-based programs of education, research, extension and outreach, and public service.

For more information on the University Department of Art, click the link here.

Please note: This is not a New Mexico State University Public Art Program project. You must visit www.callforentry.org to apply.

Supplemental files for download:

• Devasthali Hall, Mechanical Site Plan showing utilities
• Architectural Site Plan showing public art site boundary
• NMSU Art Building (Devasthali Hall), Schematic Design
• Replacement of Dan W. Williams Hall New Art Building (Devasthali Hall), Design Development Final Presentation
• List of Best Materials for Outdoor Sculptures
• Utility Overlay Site Diagram for Buildable Area

Recently added supplemental files for download:

• Program for Design, Executive Summary (July 2015)
• Site Boundaries for NMSU Art Building Department Building (Devasthali Hall) construction project (July 2015)
• NMSU Art Building, Schematic Design, Excerpt for Design Narrative, Landscape (June 2016)
• NMSU Dan W. Williams Hall (replacement) Renovations & Additions, Concept Sketches for Donors (August 2015)
• Link to record files for Devasthali Hall in PDF format, showing as-build construction for public art project site

*Additional background and site information is being provided to assist the finalist artists for proposal of the project.  Note that early concept, planning and renderings are part of the design phase, and may not match final construction documents and as-built conditions.

Additional information:

• About the NMSU Permanent Art Collection
• Retablo Collection
• Contemporary Collection
• Campus Public Art Walking Tour
• Most recent exhibition in the museum

In the link above you will see the new Retablo Gallery:

INSTALLATION OF LABOR MOTHERHOOD & ART IN 2020- Margie and Bobby Rankin Retablo Gallery

The NMSU Permanent Art Collection has the largest holdings of Mexican retablos in the United States. In the Margie and Bobby Rankin Retablo Gallery we view motherhood by telling the story of The Virgin Mary who has represented the role of the traditional mother in the visual arts, literature and music of the Christian and Islamic worlds for thousands of years. In this gallery featuring the NMSU retablo collection, we explore Mary’s role as mother of Christ in a timeline format from Immaculate Conception to the moment her son died on the cross and she became Our Lady of Sorrows and subsequently, humanity’s ultimate mother. Mary’s life as seen in these paintings on tin, is a model to so many mothers in this world who simultaneously rejoice at the moment of conception and grieve for the suffering their children will go through in life. This chronology, including the multiple traits of Mary as seen in both the retablo santos (painting of saints) and ex-votos (paintings commissioned as prayers during moments of hardship), presents an intimate look at an iconic figure who provides relief and guidance to mothers around the world. This gallery was co-curated by Courtney Uldrich and Silvia Marinas-