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By Victoria G. Molinar

Nearly a thousand attendees came to the lab to see what was on the slab at Saturday night’s free showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Presented by the El Paso Community Foundation for the 7th annual Plaza Classic Film Festival, the movie was projected on an inflatable screen between the historical Anson Mills and Plaza Motor Hotel buildings.

Fans of the cult classic dressed up in their best Rocky Horror garb, with many young men sporting corsets and fishnet hose while women were adorned with wigs, flamboyant glasses and party hats.

But it’s not a true Rocky Horror Picture Show experience without the audience participation. A tradition since the 70s, many members of the audience brought prop bags filled with things to toss up in the air:  handfuls of rice during the wedding scene, water squirting from toy guns and water bottles during the rainstorm scene and pieces of toast when Dr. Frank-N-Furter proposes a toast.

We asked some audience members to strike a pose for The Art Avenue Magazine and captured fun moments as the film played into the evening.

The film festival will continue for the next several days until Aug. 17. Visit PlazaClassic.com for more info.

Photographed by Victoria G. Molinar

The Art Avenue Art Market at the Camino Real Hotel was a big success for local artists. More than 25 painters and designers exhibited their works in Downtown El Paso.

Photos by Karina Rivera

Story by Lisa Garibay
Pictures by Ivan Pierre Aguirre

Metalsmith and jewelry maker Rachelle Thiewes—who has been teaching at UTEP for more than 35 years—presented her first-ever retrospective entitled Something Gleams at the university’s Rubin Center for the Visual Arts, giving visitors the opportunity to see how accessories become art.

The exhibit was celebrated with an official public opening on Thursday, June 26 as part of the Rubin Center’s “Summer Celebration of the Arts”. The event also featured a newly commissioned mural by Gaspar Enriquez.

Something Gleams marks the first time many of Thiewes’ pieces will be on display in El Paso as well as at UTEP. The exhibit is a site-specific retrospective celebrating Thiewes’ work in the context of the place it was made: Here, in the starkly beautiful Chihuahuan desert landscape that has informed her decades-long study of light, movement, order and chaos.

Thiewes’ art is in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Museum of Scotland, Victoria & Albert Museum, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and the Museum of Arts & Design, among others. In 2009 she was named “Texas Master” by the Houston Center of Contemporary Craft and in 2010 was nominated for a United States Artist Fellowship.

Thiewes is also the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artist Fellowship, the University of Texas Regents Outstanding Award for Teaching and Distinguished Achievement Awards for Research and Teaching at UTEP. Her work has been featured in numerous publications including Calder Jewelry, The Art of the Book, Jewellery Moves: Ornament for the 21st Century, One of a Kind: American Art Jewelry Today, The Best in Contemporary Jewelry, Jewelry in Europe and America: New Times, New Thinking; and American Craft;and Metalsmith.

The Art Avenue Art Market at the Camino Real Hotel was a big success for local artists.  More than 25 artisans, exhibited their work in Downtown El Paso.  Guests were treated to the music of DJ Michael and enjoyed the live art of Lu-E Fresh.  Art supporters viewed works from vendors Lula-Squid, AG Stone Art and printmaker Brisa Ochoa.  Make sure to attend The Art Avenue Art Market on July 31 with the Last Thursdays art walk.

The Art Avenue Art Market at the Camino Real Hotel was a big success for local artists.  More than 25 painters and designers exhibited their works in Downtown El Paso.  Guests were tantalized by the music of jazz musician Daniel Rivera and enjoyed the live art of Alejandro Lomeli.  Art supporters viewed works from new vendors like Pop-Artist Reggie Watterson, henna artist Lu E-Fresh and Meiko and print maker Alexis Ruiz.  Make sure to attend The Art Avenue Art Market on June 26 in union with the Last Thursdays art walk.

Photographed by: Victoria G. Molinar

By Monique Oxford

It may be one of the poorest neighborhoods in the nation, but the history and culture of El Segundo Barrio will come alive on Saturday.

Commemorating its fourth year, Celebramos El Segundo Barrio will focus on the arts and culture of its Latino roots. Chicano artists from around the area will display their works at the Lydia Patterson Institute while visitors have an opportunity to take part in a guided walking art and history tour throughout el barrio. They can experience the lives of residents through life-sized murals painted on walls and buildings through this historical neighborhood whose roots date back to 1834.

Additional events to experience will include a health fair with free screenings, mariachi music, food booths, folkloric dancing and a food distribution from El Pasoans Fighting Hunger. There will be a Low-Rider Car Exhibit along with artwork on display from elementary and middle school students in Segundo Barrio.

Jesus “Cimi” Alvarado is an artist participating in the event and said the murals he painted are a way for him to help those maintain the culture of Segundo Barrio. “I grew up in el barrio. I am from this area. I left like many people did, but I came back. Most of my artwork is about our culture and I want to educate the kids on our past. What our parents sacrificed for us,” said Alvarado. His work can be seen throughout El Paso on buildings in both Central and South El Paso, including one on exhibit at the El Paso Museum of History.

Location:  Lydia Patterson Institute 517 S. Florence
Date:  Saturday March 29 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Photographed by Matt Crouch