Tradition and sheep to modern and chic: home-based Montana gallery turns urban downtown Las Cruces boutique
By: Paul Dahlgren
Las Cruces Convention & Visitors Bureau
 
From the elegantly minimalistic décor to the multitude of powerhouse artists, Tierra Montaña gallery brings a sense of urban chic to the ever-growing art community in downtown Las Cruces.
 
Opened in September of 2009, the gallery began in Livingston, Montana, as a home-based studio for Owner Ben Maestas’ intricately woven blankets made of naturally dyed sheep’s wool. As the gallery expanded and Maestas and his wife moved to Las Cruces, the gallery continued to grow in size and diversity as a number of artists from around the globe are featured in the gallery.
 
“It’s evolved…I’ve tried to create that special place here, like we had in Montana,” said Maestas as he explained how his vision of the gallery came to fruition as opportunities arose.
 
“We love being around art and artists,” said Maestas while mentioning that the tight knit relationships within the art community of Las Cruces form “a family of artists,” who continually work towards creating what Maestas called, “the next best art community.”
 
Offering a variety of contemporary and traditional artwork ranging from paintings and ceramics to jewelry and fiber art, the wide variety of art found in the gallery is nothing short of astounding.
 
“It’s the collection, we try and bring a little bit of everything for everyone,” said Maestas while describing the rich diversity of the close to 40 artists represented in the gallery. Featuring national, international and local artists interspersed throughout the gallery one truly begins to sense the melting pot of cultures, cohesively melding into the gallery displays.   
 
Among the many artists represented in the gallery is renowned Mixed-Media Artist Akira Blount.
 
“She’s [Blount] a phenomenal artist, we felt lucky to show her work…it’s an inspiration,” said Ben Maestas, owner of the Tierra Montaña Gallery.
 
With works displayed in numerous galleries worldwide, including the Louvre, Musee des Arts Decoratif in Paris, France and the White House’s American Craft Collection, Blount’s unique nature-inspired works continue to highlight her mastery of doll making and showcase her definitive style.
 
“These latest pieces by my husband Larry and I are a natural extension of the collaborative direction we have been working in for the past 2 years,” Blount said in a statement on her website. Blount also stated that her creative impulses have taken her more recent works, “beyond the more traditional ‘doll’ forms I have been known for over the past 30 years.”
 
Blount, considered by many to be one of the world’s premier doll-makers, began her doll making career making dolls out of cotton stockings, after receiving her Bachelor’s degree in Arts Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, according to the biography on her website.
 
“Since early childhood, I’ve been absorbed by the colors, forms, textures and smells of nature and I have always tried to incorporate these elements in my work,” Blount said in a statement on her website, mentioning that she has gradually been adding more natural materials to her works.
 
Blount has been published in a number of magazines throughout the years and her artwork can be found in a number of public and private collections, both nationally and internationally.
 
Blount is just one of the close to 40 unique artists displaying their work in the gallery including a number of “emerging and established artists from the Rocky Mountain region,” and “a small group of carefully selected fine craft artists from east of the Mississippi, artists whose work is not shown anywhere else in the West.”
 
Tierra Montaña Gallery is located in the downtown mall at 525 N. Main Street and is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
 
For more information on the gallery or any of the artists represented in the gallery call 575-635-2891 or visit www.tierramontana.com.

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