Category: Art
College of Fine Arts NewsArt MFA Student, Saúl Ramírez, reviewed by the Albuquerque Journal
Congratulations to MFA student Saúl Ramírez, whose work was recently reviewed in the Albuquerque Journal. Their thesis exhibit, “Seeds of Compromise: In Search of Digestive Architectures,” is currently on view at the AC2 Gallery.
Assistant Professor, Amanda Curreri’s, Newest Exhibition “Liber Floridus”
Congratulations to Assistant Professor and graduate director Amanda Curreri, who, along with multimedia artist Andy Ness, created the exhibition Liber Floridus presented by the Wege Gallery. Curreri contributed woven textile-based works, while Ness contributed...
Engaged Practices, Professor Subhankar Banerjee’s Showcase, looking at Nature Journaling as Pedagogy
Congratulations to Professor Subhankar Banerjee, whose classes “Introduction to Art and Ecology” and “Biodiversity, Creative Practice, Justice” explored nature journaling as both a visual and literary practice, culminating in a showcase last week. Banerjee, Art professor and founder and director of the Center for Environmental Arts & Humanities, described the motivation behind the project as creating “to have an alternative outlet to engage, not only a class project, but for their own life, and their own journey of learning at UNM,” particularly in the context of students living in “the digital space.” He further says, “Teens, as well as young adults, are spending increasingly more time on the internet.
Art MFA Student, Hanna Brody, featured in The New York Times
Art MFA student, Hanna Brody, recently completed a painting for author T Kira Māhealani Madden that was featured in The New York Times. Her book, titled “Somebody Killed Her Assailant. Was Justice Served?” has a featured review written by Catherine Chidgey and original art by UNM MFA student Hanna Brody.
Analisa Peña awarded Hulsman Undergraduate Library Research Award’s Emerging Researcher
Congratulations to Analisa Peña, who was selected as the 1st place winner in the 2026 Hulsman Undergraduate Library Research Award’s Emerging Researcher category regarding her work, The Many Faces of Christ: Understanding ‘Trifacial Trinity’ by Gregorio Vasquez Arce y Ceballos.
Principal Art Lecturer, Jessamyn Lovell, receiving fellowship at the MacDowell Artist Residency
MacDowell, the nation’s first artist residency program, has awarded 134 Fellowships to visionary artists working across seven disciplines for its Spring Summer 2026 season. The program is located in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Between March and August of 2026, each artist has an average stay of four weeks. These artists were selected from a competitive pool of 2,618 applicants with an acceptance rate of only 5 percent.
UNM Theatre Takes on Beckett
The worlds of Samuel Beckett are stark. Poetic. And meticulously choreographed. Beckett plays have lived long past him because while they are particular and abstract, they are also deeply human. Alejandro Tomás Rodriguez, director of the upcoming show Ashes. Short...
Honoring the Legacy of Jaune Quick-to-see Smith Panel Discussion led by Art & Ecology Professor and Author Subhnakar Banerjee
Subhankar Banerjee, a professor, photographer, writer, curator, and scholar of environmental humanities. He is also the founder and director of the Center for Environmental Arts & Humanities at UNM.
Principal Art Lecturer, Jessamyn Lovell, Featured in LENSSCRATCH
Jessamyn Lovell is a gender-fluid artist and licensed private investigator based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They hold a BFA from Rochester Institute of Technology, an MFA from California College of the Arts, and are currently a Principal Lecturer at the University of New Mexico.
Art History Professor, Ray Hernández-Durán, Named Regents’ Professor
Ray Hernández-Durán, professor of art history in UNM’s Department of Art & Art History in the College of Fine Arts, has been named a Regents’ Professor, a distinguished and lifelong honor recognizing senior faculty members who demonstrate excellence in teaching, research, and community impact. The title is awarded following a rigorous review process led by the College Dean in collaboration with the Provost’s Office and includes a three-year stipend to support the recipient’s work.
Stephanie Woods sculpture acquired by Perry Art Collection
Stephanie J. Woods’ sculpture Never Quite, Sweet Enough I was acquired by the nationally recognized Perry Art Collection following her 2025 residency at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. The work explores memory, legacy, and historical survival through an abstract porcelain form rooted in Black cultural history.
Kaitlin Bryson Selected for 2026 Cohort for Monument Lab Re:Generation!
Congratulations to Kaitlin Bryson for being selected to take part in the 2026 cohort for Monument Lab Re:Generation! She received a $100,000 grant for her ongoing project, Bellow Forth. Bellow Forth is a community project focused on restoring soil health and environmental resiliency through storytelling and collaboration, community and ecosystem science, and social art practice in wildfire-impacted lands and communities in northern New Mexico.
Alum Highlight: Eric-Paul Riege Receives 2025 Trellis Art Fund Grant
Eric-Paul Riege, a Gallup-based Diné artist and recent UNM graduate, has been recognized as a 2025 Stepping Stone Grantee by the Trellis Art Fund. His multidisciplinary practice uses weaving as both process and philosophy, blending ancestral knowledge, spirituality, and contemporary art to create works that are living, mobile, and deeply connected to cultural memory.
Neon Forge: Expanding Immersive Art Through NASA-Funded VR Innovation
Congratulations to MFA graduate student Ella Pigg and undergraduate student Finn Ellis on the success of their project, Neon Forge.
Art MFA Alum Kerry Cottle Builds a Career Blending Material and Meaning
Kerry Cottle, a 2022 graduate of the University of New Mexico’s Art MFA program, is emerging as a compelling voice in contemporary painting, with exhibitions across California and a studio practice grounded in material experimentation, abstraction, and sustainability....
Exploring Art and Activism at Highlands University: A New Article on the Voces del Pueblo Exhibition
We’re excited to share that Myrriah Gómez, Associate Professor at the Honors College at UNM, has written an insightful article titled “Art and Activism at Highlands University” in Santa Fe Magazine, El Palacio.
Jessamyn Lovell: Artist, Investigator, Innovator
Blending art, inquiry, and lived experience, Jessamyn Lovell creates work that challenges perceptions while forging new paths in contemporary photography.
MFA Alum Emma Ressel Awarded Postdoctoral Fellowship at Center for Regional Studies
Emma Ressel is an artist working with large format film photography, re-photography, and archives. Her current work researches natural history collections to examine how we describe nature to ourselves over vast timescales. Ressel earned her BA in Photography at Bard...
Celebrating the Retirement of Artist and Educator Randall Wilson
His practice merges the historical methods of carving green wood with embossed patterning inspired by traditional leather and tinwork of the Southwest. Randall’s sculptures are shaped not only by his hand, but also by time. Each piece is left to respond naturally to...
Confidence in Abstraction: Brandon Zech’s review of Raychael Stine’s “Falls and Springs and Stardust Things”
Brandon Zech of Glasstire: Texas Visual Art recently reviewed Professor of Painting and Drawing Raychael Stine’s exhibition, “Falls and Springs and Stardust Things,” in his piece “Chimerical Colors.” Zech writes, “Raychel Stine’s paintings are full of pleasurable...
How to Apply
• All students must be admitted to the University, whether as an incoming freshman, transfer student, or non-degree student. Apply online through the Admissions Department at UNM
•After meeting all CFA admission requirements, students must apply to become a declared major.
Academic Advisement
The College of Fine Arts Student Success & Advisement Center is committed to serve the UNM community with compassion, guidance, and respect as we promote academic excellence.
To speak with a CFA advisor, please call (505) 277-4817.



















