Story by Merge Staff

The Preston Contemporary Art Center of Mesilla celebrates its last showcase before closing its doors permanently at the end of February.

The Preston Contemporary Art Center in Mesilla will close at the end of this month. (Photo by Jesca Cervantes)

In July 2008, Tinsley Preston of Chicago decided to fund an art gallery in the Las Cruces area with the intent of showcasing contemporary artists worldwide.  With the help of business partner and friend Paul Shranz, Preston brought the idea to life.

The Preston Art Center features art from both local artists as well as national artists. This gallery features paintings and photography from featured artists from various locations in the country. (Photo by Jesca Cervantes)

However, Preston did not anticipate the economic crash of 2009 when the gallery suffered financially from both the recession and the community’s lack of wealth.  Since then, the art center has been unable to regain momentum.

“We have been open for four years, bringing in art from all over the world,” said Communications Director Bonnie Schranz. “But because of the lack of financial support from the community, the gallery has been too expensive to keep open.”

High cost, low return

Despite the fact that artists pay for their works to be displayed, steep shipping and handling costs are often funded by the gallery.

For each showcase there are up to 600 attendees who come to view the works of both local and foreign talent. But few people can afford to purchase a piece from the gallery, creating little-to-no revenue for the owners, Bonnie Shranz said.

They accomplished their goal,however,  of showing every type of medium from photography and paintings to mixed media pieces and large hanging sculptures, she explained.

The Preston Contemporary Art Center is the only gallery of its kind in the Las Cruces region. Not only does Preston feature local-inspired work, but the gallery brings  in work from places as far as Hawaii and Minnesota.

This sculpture, created by NMSU graduate student Aubrey De Cheubell, is titled Lymphocyte, KS-AIDS, 1991. (Photo by Jesca Cervantes)

“What’s really cool is when people come in and say ‘Wow, I like this,’” the communications director said.

Local talent

The concluding exhibition, called “The Last Picture Show,” is a ‘juried exhibition,’ featuring artists from the southern New Mexico and El Paso area. More than half of the 64 artists are from Las Cruces.

One of the artists featured is New Mexico State University student Aubrey de Cheubell, who is a second-semester art history graduate student.  Cheubell created a sculpture piece in memory of her father’s death to complications from AIDS.

“The piece was a grieving process, as well as an acceptance mechanism,” Cheubell said.

This is Cheubell’s first showing in Las Cruces, and she said getting recognition from Preston Center gave her confidence going into her second semester at NMSU.

Her piece is a series of large ball-form sculptures which represent the Lymphocyte cells. Creating the piece took her about two-and-a-half months to build, and she added it was quite a process.

“(It is) nerve racking putting large work up…always a challenge, but really rewarding seeing it up,” Cheubell said.

Other NMSU affiliates who are featured in this exhibition include student Annika Rundberg, former art department chairman, Carl Coker and Louis Ocepek, retired art professor Jacklyn St. Aubyn, and graduates Paul Neff (creator of the largest sculpture piece on display) and Meg Freyermuth.

The Preston Contemporary Art Center houses work by NMSU students. This piece was done by current graduate student Annika Rundberg, who specializes in jewelry making. (Photo by Gina Palombit.)

Saying goodbye

Preston is not just a gallery, but also a place for artists to socialize and learn from each other. “Artist Dialogues” were held, during which artists to discussed their work.

Bonnie Schranz said the artists and spectators enjoyed the opportunity, and that the gallery will be missed by the community. There will be an absence felt from the unique opportunity it provided for art goers and creators.

Cheubell said that the gallery is comparable to larger galleries that you would see along the East Coast in places like New York and Philadelphia.

“People look forward to seeing something new — the gallery offered a challenge to what Southwest art is and could be,” Cheubell said.

Preston closing is the result of a struggling economy, along with the sense of community it created, will be missed by many.

“The community has been there for us and embraced us, but there is nothing we can do,” Schranz said.

– Andrea Rojas, Jesca Cervantes, Cody Johnson and Gina Palombit contributed to this story