By Michele RobertsonThe Carlsbad Museum is a hidden gem in our community. Many residents don’t know we have a museum, or they haven’t been since they were kids on a school field trip. Regional and local history, world class art, and exhibit space that changes often is what you can expect when you visit the Carlsbad Museum. As you walk in, to the right you will find a mud wagon stagecoach from 1858 and Carlsbad’s Hall of Fame. Head to the left side of the museum for the temporary gallery and you will pass the Rodrick F. Mead gallery which is hosting a variety of mediums from the artist. The temporary gallery hosts an assortment of exhibits throughout the year. It is currently hosting two exhibits from the Studio Art Quilt Associates, Habitat& Weather or Not. The exhibits opened to the public for viewing November 2, 2021 and will be on display until February 12, 2022. Unlike traditional quilt shows where standard pieces would fit on a bed, these quilts are smaller and meant for wall space. “This is an exhibit of ART quilts! Never before seen in Carlsbad, it represents work fromthe New Mexico and Oregon regional members of the international group, Studio ArtQuilt Associates,” shared Dave Morgan, Director for the Carlsbad Museum. “Many of our visitors are only familiar withtraditional quilts, so these art quilts are something new for some,” he added. “Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc (SAQA) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the art quilt through education, exhibitions, professional development, documentation, and publications. SAQA defines an art quilt as ‘a creative visual work that is layered and stitched or that references this form of stitch layered structure.’ Founded in 1989 by an initial group of 50 artists, SAQA now has over 3,600 members: artists, teachers, collectors, gallery owners, museum curators and corporate sponsors. A dedicated core of volunteers and staff keep the organization vibrant, dynamic, and progressive,” stated Vicki Conley, New Mexico managing curator for SAQA New Mexico Exhibition Committee, in a letter to the museum. Habitat is a show from the Oregon SAQA branch and is a part of a regional exchange program. The New Mexico SAQA show Out of the Blue is currently on exhibit in Oregon. Habitatfeatures works depicting places where you spend your time. Weather or Notis a show of fiber art designs from artists around the southwest, including New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Texas with a focus on weather. Edward VanScotter, Assistant Director for the Carlsbad Museum shared why It’s a Jungle Out There by Carolyn J. Walwyn is his favorite piece in the show, “At first glance it is an interesting piece of surreal art with the man turned away from the viewer and the giant flowers, then as you look closer you see that the man and the flowers are made out of buildings, creating an interesting juxtaposition between the natural and the artificial.”
The Carlsbad Museum is open Tuesday through Friday from 10:00 am -5:00 pm and on Saturday’s from 10:00 am-2:30 pm. You can find more information on their Facebook page, and on the website carlsbadmuseum.org which is under construction, yet still informative and beautiful. Be sure to check out their virtual tours if you aren’t able to make it into the museum yourself. “2022 will seethe return of a few annual community-generated exhibits that we haven’thosted in a few years due to the COVID pandemic. In March and April, the CarlsbadMunicipal Schools art exhibit will go up for the first time since 2019. This will be acombined show of elementary and secondary student art. The annual Zia Quilting &Stitchery guild quilt exhibit, which we also have not held since 2019 will go up in Sept –Oct. In May through September, we host a traveling exhibit by artists Toro Martinez andAndy Villarreal. It is essentially two shows in one. For the winter 2021-22 exhibit, we aredeveloping a retrospective exhibit of the life and art of Carlsbad Native artist GaryNiblett,” Morgan shared. Bobby Bowen Senior Tournament-Dec. 28B. Hunt, D. Chavez, D. Bair-62R. Torres, C. Hernandez, B. Thompson-66A. Martinez, T. Martinez, B. Ingram-66R. Eggleston, R. Temple, E. Anaya-67R. Garcia, C. Payne, R. Dominguez, B. Young-67