Community Calendar

Silent Meditation every Mon/Wed/Fri from 12 - 1 pm, located at 424 N Main St., Suite 500

The Las Cruces Really Really Free Market is back, hosted by a group of local volunteers who believe in mutual aid, community care, and resource sharing.

This isn’t a sale or a swap — it’s a free community event where anyone can give or take items like clothes, books, household goods, toys, and more. There’s no money, no bartering — just people helping each other out.

Join us the first Saturday of every month from 10am - 2pm at 1701 Missouri Ave (Peace Lutheran Church).

We do this because we believe our community already has enough — enough resources, enough support — if we just find ways to share it.

If you’d like to get involved, donate, or have questions, email us at lascrucesrrfm@proton.me

The Really Really Free Market takes place every first Saturday of the month from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 1701 Missouri Avenue in Las Cruces. It’s a community gathering built on solidarity, not charity — where everything is free. Bring what you can, take what you need, or just come hang out. There’s no buying, selling, or trading — just neighbors supporting neighbors. Along with free clothes, furniture, books, toys, and supplies, we also offer free bike repairs and so much more! For more information or to volunteer, email lascrucesrrfm@proton.me or call (575)528-8671. That’s the Really Really Free Market, because we have everything we need when we take care of each other.

This summer, the NMSU Art Museum welcomes the return of Louis Ocepek, local artist, former Department Head, and Professor Emeritus of the NMSU Department of Art for his solo exhibition: Homage to Then/Small Worlds. This exhibition opens June 11, 2026 and will be on display in the museum’s Mullennix Bridge Gallery through September 12, 2026. Please join us for the opening reception on June 11 from 4:30-6:30 pm.

Homage to Then/Small Worlds is a two-part exhibition of direct gravure prints, gouache paintings, and digital prints that pay tribute to a history of artistic influences and explore the abstracted physical world. Homage to Then comprises sixteen gravure prints and four gouache paintings, while Small Worlds features an array of acrylic and gouache paintings on paper and chromogenic prints. The detailed selection in Homage to Then/Small Worlds reflects on the aesthetics of time, space, and the perceptions of our physical and metaphysical worlds.

Louis Ocepek is an artist and designer born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He studied design and fine art at Wayne State University, and earned his graduate degree from the University of Iowa in Iowa City. He was a professor in the art departments of Montana State University, Portland State University, and New Mexico State University, where he served as Department Head for several years while teaching additional courses in the NMSU Honors College. Ocepek works in a variety of media–exhibiting prints, paintings and hybrid works in national and international group and solo exhibitions. His work is included in the public art collections of Oregon, Washington, New Mexico and Texas. Ocepek is the author of Graphic Design: Vision, Process, Product and his design work has been featured in publications such as Graphis International and The Painter Wow!.

The NMSU Art Museum is excited to announce the opening of Mapping Spaces: Selections from the Lannan Art Collection at NMSU. This exhibition will showcase selections from the generous gift of 63 works of art from the Lannan Art Collection to the NMSU Permanent Art Collection in 2024. Mapping Spaces will open in the Contemporary Gallery on Thursday, June 11th, and run until September 5th, 2026.

After almost 65 years, with 27 of those spent in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Lannan Foundation closed in 2024. As part of Lannan’s closure, the Foundation gifted its remaining collection of more than 1,600 objects to 55 institutions, including the NMSU Art Museum. By adding these pieces to the UAM’s collection, this gift deepens the significance of the works by placing them into an academic context, where teaching, research, and public engagement further activate each of them. The NMSU Permanent Art Collection continues to evolve and grow not only as a repository of contemporary art objects, but also as a living resource that invites ongoing dialogue about the role of artists in shaping how the NMSU and Las Cruces communities understand our dynamic border region.

Featuring artists such as Claudia Andujar, Subhankar Banerjee, Max Cole, Pard Morrison, Victoria Sambunaris, and James Turrell, Mapping Spaces brings together a dynamic range of artists whose works explore landscapes and the environment, documentary photography, abstraction, and traditional art historical references. Together, this exhibition features artists at the center of the UAM’s mission, emphasizing the importance of continued support for art, research, and community-engaged practices in cultivating a creative ecosystem across New Mexico.

Join us for the opening reception on June 11th from 4:30-6:30 PM. The museum is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-4pm. Admission to all programming is free and open to the public. For more information and a detailed calendar with associated programs and dates please visit uam.nmsu.edu.

Mesilla Valley Film Society is launching Night School, a new late-night screening series celebrating cult classics, horror landmarks, obscure oddities, and underrated gems. The first set of shows will run Saturday nights at 10:30pm throughout July and August. Conceived by self-proclaimed Professor Austin Wolf-Sothern, and hosted by Austin with fellow film scholars Rian Gonzales and Jeff Bennett. Each show will begin with a PowerPoint presentation pertaining to that week’s film, offering production history, cultural context, and behind-the-scenes trivia.

More than just a screening series, Night School embraces the communal spirit of repertory cinema, where audiences gather to experience movies the way they were meant to be seen: on the big screen, with fellow fans. To honor that, we felt it was important to dedicate our first semester to highlighting the cinematic experience with “Movies at the Movies!” Eight films that take place in, or memorably feature, a movie theater.

The inaugural lineup includes:
• July 11: Popcorn (1991) – A loving celebration of horror gimmicks and movie theater mayhem.
• July 18: Taxi Driver (1976) – A defining portrait of urban alienation and one of American cinema's most influential character studies, celebrating its 50th Anniversary.
• July 25: The Blob (1988) – The gloriously gooey remake that deserves its place among the greatest practical-effects horror remakes ever made.
• August 1: Messiah of Evil (1974) – Or is it MESILLA OF EVIL? A dreamlike descent into cosmic dread and one of horror's most haunting cult discoveries.
• August 8: Hunting Humans (2002) – Presented on VHS, preserving the analog grit and underground spirit of this independent cult oddity. Preceded by a cartoon on 16mm.
• August 15: Anguish (1987) – A mind-bending psychological horror experience that blurs the line between audience and screen.
• August 22: Donnie Darko (2001) – A generation-defining genre blend of science fiction, mystery, comedy, and drama, celebrating its 25th Anniversary.
• August 29: Demons (1985) – An explosive Italian horror classic where the movie theater itself becomes a nightmare.
Each presentation is brief, entertaining, and designed for casual moviegoers and die-hard film buffs alike. Whether you're seeing a favorite for the fiftieth time or discovering it for the first, Night School is designed to make every screening a little more rewarding—and a lot more fun!

This summer, the NMSU Art Museum welcomes the return of Louis Ocepek, local artist, former Department Head, and Professor Emeritus of the NMSU Department of Art for his solo exhibition: Homage to Then/Small Worlds. This exhibition opens June 11, 2026 and will be on display in the museum’s Mullennix Bridge Gallery through September 12, 2026. Please join us for the opening reception on June 11 from 4:30-6:30 pm.

Homage to Then/Small Worlds is a two-part exhibition of direct gravure prints, gouache paintings, and digital prints that pay tribute to a history of artistic influences and explore the abstracted physical world. Homage to Then comprises sixteen gravure prints and four gouache paintings, while Small Worlds features an array of acrylic and gouache paintings on paper and chromogenic prints. The detailed selection in Homage to Then/Small Worlds reflects on the aesthetics of time, space, and the perceptions of our physical and metaphysical worlds.

Louis Ocepek is an artist and designer born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He studied design and fine art at Wayne State University, and earned his graduate degree from the University of Iowa in Iowa City. He was a professor in the art departments of Montana State University, Portland State University, and New Mexico State University, where he served as Department Head for several years while teaching additional courses in the NMSU Honors College. Ocepek works in a variety of media–exhibiting prints, paintings and hybrid works in national and international group and solo exhibitions. His work is included in the public art collections of Oregon, Washington, New Mexico and Texas. Ocepek is the author of Graphic Design: Vision, Process, Product and his design work has been featured in publications such as Graphis International and The Painter Wow!.

This summer, the NMSU Art Museum welcomes the return of Louis Ocepek, local artist, former Department Head, and Professor Emeritus of the NMSU Department of Art for his solo exhibition: Homage to Then/Small Worlds. This exhibition opens June 11, 2026 and will be on display in the museum’s Mullennix Bridge Gallery through September 12, 2026. Please join us for the opening reception on June 11 from 4:30-6:30 pm.

Homage to Then/Small Worlds is a two-part exhibition of direct gravure prints, gouache paintings, and digital prints that pay tribute to a history of artistic influences and explore the abstracted physical world. Homage to Then comprises sixteen gravure prints and four gouache paintings, while Small Worlds features an array of acrylic and gouache paintings on paper and chromogenic prints. The detailed selection in Homage to Then/Small Worlds reflects on the aesthetics of time, space, and the perceptions of our physical and metaphysical worlds.

Louis Ocepek is an artist and designer born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He studied design and fine art at Wayne State University, and earned his graduate degree from the University of Iowa in Iowa City. He was a professor in the art departments of Montana State University, Portland State University, and New Mexico State University, where he served as Department Head for several years while teaching additional courses in the NMSU Honors College. Ocepek works in a variety of media–exhibiting prints, paintings and hybrid works in national and international group and solo exhibitions. His work is included in the public art collections of Oregon, Washington, New Mexico and Texas. Ocepek is the author of Graphic Design: Vision, Process, Product and his design work has been featured in publications such as Graphis International and The Painter Wow!.

Silent Meditation every Mon/Wed/Fri from 12 - 1 pm, located at 424 N Main St., Suite 500

Join us for our monthly volunteer gatherings, held on the second Tuesday of every month from 9:30AM - 10:30AM at the Asombro Institute for Science Education office at 401 E. College Drive, Las Cruces. This is a great opportunity to meet other volunteers who have worked in the education and STEM realms, have shared interest in promoting science among K-12 students in our local schools, and have a passion for contributing to the great community we live in! We work on a variety of tasks such as prepping materials for Asombro's education programs, compiling kits for teacher workshops, assembling items for classroom science experiments, and whatever else is needed to increase natural science literacy through engaging place-based education!