Historic. Beautiful. Diverse. Authentic.
We are “New Mexico True.”
We are a local Arts Council dedicated to serving artists and arts lovers,
and the entire community.
ANNOUNCING HOURS
Fridays 4-7 PM
Saturdays 1-4 PM
Sundays 1-4 PM
Please feel free to contact us. Leave a message at 505-425-1085 or email us at lvac@lasvegasartscouncil.org, and we will return your call or set up a meeting as quickly as possible.
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Mazel Tov!
The mission of the Las Vegas Arts Council is to preserve and expand both the historic and the contemporary arts and culture of our region, while promoting Las Vegas as home and a destination for artists and patrons of the arts. Our history and culture includes the first Jewish synagogue in the Southwest…the first between the Mississippi and the Pacific. Jewish community dispersed, those left were unable to continue to support the building and it was sold.
We have always appreciated the contributions of the Jewish community in Las Vegas,
NM. Between crypto-Jews escaping the Inquisition, leaving Spain and Portugal for Mexico, and then Northern New Mexico, and the migrant families escaping the Holocaust, and helping populate Northern New Mexico, building businesses and investing in our town, they were significant to our past and are still investing in our present. We honored them and their legacy with a gallery show, represented by the image in the right.
Seventy years after the sale of the synagogue, unexpectedly, the opportunity arose to purchase this beautiful and historic building, and the Jewish Community of Las Vegas went to work! It was going to take a lot of money to make this happen. Read the story here, with credit to the Albuquerque Journal.
In the spirit of community collaboration and support, we shared this opportunity with you, the Arts Council members and friends via Facebook and here on our website. We are thrilled to share this good news with you! The fundraising was successful, and the goal was reached. We gratefully appreciate eveyone who contributed from anywhere and everywhere, directly, through the GoFundMe site or word of mouth or “Over the Back Fence.”
After remodeling and restoration, this sacred and historic monument to hope and endurance is open again. Thank you to the Jewish Community of Las Vegas! MAZEL TOV!
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January 2023
December 2022
This was our most recent show in August into September…
And here’s a little recent history on the April exhibit that the wildfires ended…
Twenty-six outstanding local artists (listed below) exhibited almost 90 amazing works of art for most of April 2022 at Gallery 140, 140 Bridge Street in historic Old Town, Las Vegas, New Mexico. These represented the artists’ perspectives on…
“our connection with Nature,
Her wonders and Her forces.
We live each day with both
extreme beauty
and the unsettling reality
of a changing world
due to climate change.
Nature is giving us a silent message,
a visual one, and this was our opportunity to respond.”
The show came down in mid-April, as the area west of our Rio Gallinas was warned that we should get “Ready” for evacuation due to the wildfires closing on the Creston.
Participating Artists (In alphabetical order)
Anna Aragon
Enrique Archuleta
Meredith Britt
Leslie Broughton
Denise Fox
Jane Fritz
Stephen Goding
Karlene Gonzales
Susan Holland
K. Dawne Holmes
Jim Hunyadi
Ignacio (Nacho) Jaramillo
Kristy Klaiber
Ken Krusemark
Colin Lanham
Nancy Leippe
Martín Montoya
Anita Moss
Terry Mossman
Duffy Peterson
Elaine Querry
Mario Quilles
Kimberly Reed-Deemer
Fran Ryan
Mary Search
Christopher Thomson
A complete slide show from April 2022 is available on our Facebook page!
Thank you, K. Dawne Holmes, for photographing, editing and producing it.
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Quaran-Teen was our March 2022 show. This video is available below,
also produced by K. Dawne Holmes.
We celebrated our art students and our public schools during the winter months, January through March. Each student exhibiting becomes an honorary artist member of Las Vegas Arts Council for the entire year, and not only show their work, but have the opportunity to sell it as well. Special thanks to arts educators Amy Hufnal, McKaila Weldon, John Peden, and Faith Gelvin for all the extra hours they invested selecting, transporting, arranging, labeling, and advertising these student shows.
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Our February show celebrated the student artists of West Las Vegas High School and Rio Gallinas School of Ecology and the Arts.
WLV HS Instructor McKaila Weldon assigned a portrait project and ceramics, and John Peden had a mask-making class for his Rio Gallinas students.
In January 2022, we celebrated the New Year with Robertson High School’s “World Cultures in Music, Theatre, and Art” class, taught by artists and art educator Amy Hufnal.
The Bazaar on Bridge in December 2021 survived COVID closures and Bridge Street Construction, and we still had a great show, including a Cash Mob, thanks to MainStreet de Las Vegas. Thanks to all the shoppers and supporters who stopped by to shop, to encourage us, and to renew their memberships.
Quilts were the theme of our
November show.
Beautiful unique work and
creative quilters made it fun. 
Our October show celebrated the
photography and the photographers
of our beautiful northeastern New Mexico,
for the Las Vegas San Miguel Chamber of Commerce’ 2022 Community Calendar.
In August and September,
“Tradition” exhibited
both traditional Spanish Colonial
and contemporary art.
This show was dedicated to the memory of beloved local master tinsmith artist Eugenio Gurule.
March and April 2021
The Original
“What Women Do 1991”
and the next generation
“What Women Do 2021″|
What Women Do 2021
#ChooseToChallenge
View some of our 2020 shows.
Click to visit the galleries.
Plein Aire
Wheels ~ n ~ Steel
2020 LVAC Student Art Show
Holiday Show
SPLASH! – Watercolor Exhibit
For information related to Gallery 140
& Covid-19, please click here. 