Events
Museum Exhibits
Changing Pass: People, Land & Memory
December 1, 2022 - December 31, 2024
1st Floor, Permanent Exhibition Gallery
The museum’s permanent exhibition, “Changing Pass: People, Land & Memory” immediately greets visitors who walk through the door, inviting them to explore and reconsider what the borderlands are all about. Now covering more than 1,000 years of El Paso del Norte region history, Changing Pass begins with early Indigenous settlers and concludes with World War II and the Bracero Program in the 20th century.
More Information: https://epmuseumofhistory.org/exhibitions/permanent/
vanessa german: Art Bridges loan
January 12, 2023 - December 31, 2024
Black Girl on Skateboard… provides a meditation on the color yellow through physical objects and the written word. vanessa german, a self-taught ‘citizen’ artist, often crafts these, which she refers to as power figures, out of discarded materials from her local community. german’s power figures serve as protectors for Black people against violence. Drawing from Congolese Nkisi sculptures and elements of folk art, the works defy figurative expectations and emphasize their vibrancy through emotion and energy.
The 2022 iterations of german’s power figures include poetry written by the artist as the object’s materials list. In this decision to disrupt typical object information, german’s Black Girl on Skateboard… bridges materiality and abstraction. The artist describes the resonance of her power figures as, “active technologies of the soul that touch the vast history that exists in the spiral of our DNA.”
More Information: https://epma.art/art/exhibitions/vanessa-german-art-bridges-loan
Castner Range, A Community's Effort To Create A National Monument
December 9, 2023 - November 30, 2024
This exhibit focuses on the biodiversity and archaeological conservation, history of the range and the preservation movement that led to the proclamation of the national monument.
Exhibit is brought to you by the El Paso Museum of Archaeology, Museum and Cultural Affairs Department and the City of El Paso, and with the support of the El Paso Community Foundation, Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project and The Frontera Land Alliance.
More Information: https://epmarch.org/exhibits/changing-exhibits/
Siempre Selena
February 15, 2024 - February 9, 2025
Siempre Selena commemorates the enduring legacy of Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, the Queen of Tejano Music. A Grammy Award-winning artist, Selena’s posthumous impact resonates globally in the realms of music, fashion, and pop culture. Her influence extends to El Paso, inspiring new generations and fostering a lasting connection with her legacy. This exhibition features monumental photographs by John Dyer, Selena-inspired costumes, and memorabilia contributed by the El Paso community.
Selena Forever/Siempre Selena is inspired by an exhibition of the same name organized by the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas.
Support for this exhibition is provided by the Mellon Foundation, Wellpoint, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Texas Commission on the Arts, the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation, and the City of El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department.
Items on loan graciously provided by John Dyer, Touch Bar El Paso, El Paso Community College TV, and members of the El Paso community.
More Information: https://epma.art/art/exhibitions/siempre-selena-selena-forever
Tom Lea and Contemporaries
September 4, 2024 - January 26, 2025
Born in El Paso in 1907, Tom Lea was one of the Southwest’s most prolific artists of his time. Following his studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Lea painted numerous public murals throughout the U.S. and illustrated books. He served as an artist correspondent for Life magazine during World War II and later wrote the best-selling novels The Brave Bulls (1949) and The Wonderful Country (1952). Lea devoted his career to documenting the landscape, history, and people of his native Southwest.
More Information: https://epma.art/art/exhibitions/tom-lea-and-contemporaries
Dualidad: Indigenous Gender Identity In The American Southwest And Mexico
March 28, 2024 - March 31, 2025
“Dualidad” is a look into the Southwestern United States and Mexican Indigenous tribes, and their connection to community members who identified as gender-nonconforming including the concepts of individuals possessing both male and female identities. Throughout the process of colonization and its devastating effects to regional cultural identities, the respect and recognition of Two Spirit people has been lost, diminishing their roles in society. However, many Two Spirit and gender-nonconforming individuals have worked to regain their power and place in the community and culture through education, healing, and art practices.
This exhibition will highlight the Zuni, Diné, Apache, Laguna/Acoma/Pueblo, Mexica, Rarámuri and Zapoteca tribes who have honored gender-nonconforming individuals as foundational members of their culture as well as artists, medicine people, and visionaries within their given community.
More Information: https://epmuseumofhistory.org/exhibitions/upcoming/
