The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is celebrating its centennial and UTEP’s Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts is turning ten, so the Ruben is throwing a party on Friday, September 12, 5–7 pm. Two hours is hardly enough time to grab a drink, gobble down some appetizers, check out the current exhibitions, and hear about plans for the coming year—but they’re packing even more into the evening.
Painter Gaspar Enriquez, the subject of one of the current shows, will be honored, and he will gift the mural, “IGNITE,” painted by some of Enriquez’s former students, to Bowie High School, where he taught art for 33 years. They will also be honoring Rachelle Thiewes, another current exhibition artist, and announce a new endowment from Thiewes, which will fund research in the Department of Art for UTEP creative faculty and staff. And there will be a preview screening of Machine Project Presents!, documenting ten years of eclectic, performative events by the L.A.-based Machine Project collaborative, founded by Core Program alumnus Mark Allen.
