More than 60 pieces of Western art will go up for bid at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum on Saturday, October 17, when the fundraiser Art on the Range returns with a juried show, a chuckwagon dinner, live music, and an outdoor painting competition on the museum grounds. The opening gala runs from 5 to 9 p.m. at the museum's 4100 Dripping Springs Road campus in Las Cruces, with the full exhibition remaining open to the public for a month afterward.
According to Visit Las Cruces, the showcase features work from regional and national artists. KTSM 9 News reported that the show included more than 60 pieces. Artists were invited to submit original work reflecting the American West's landscapes, people, traditions, agriculture, ranching, wildlife, history, and culture, per the station's report, with contributors ranging from painters based in southern New Mexico to names from across the country.
Live Painting Against the Organ Mountains
During the day of the event, participating artists will set up easels on the museum grounds for a plein air competition, painting the desert landscape in real time as guests look on, according to Art on the Range. The finished pieces, capturing the museum and the Mesilla Valley's light and terrain, go straight into the evening auction alongside the rest of the juried show, per the same account.
Jeff Hunter, a board member of the Friends of the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum, said the event gives artists a first-class venue and the community a reason to celebrate Western art, per the station's report. He added that the gala will play an important role in Las Cruces while supporting the museum, and said Western art tells the story of the land and its workers in a way that makes the museum an ideal venue for it, KTSM reported.
Chuckwagon Dinner, Bingo, and Campfire Stories
Guests at the opening event will sit down to a chuckwagon dinner under the stars, with a cash bar, Western bingo, campfire stories, and what organizers describe only as other surprises rounding out the evening, the station's report notes. Hunter said the combination of art, dinner, and music adds up to a memorable evening for attendees.
Music comes from The Consequences, a band from Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, that describes its sound as high-desert cosmic Americana and includes Grateful Dead songs in its repertoire, according to a Facebook post from the Friends of the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum. The group performs throughout the Southwest, with a repertoire that KTSM reported ranges from the Grateful Dead to Merle Haggard.
Funding a Museum Built to Save Farming History
Tickets cost $50 and are available at artontherange.org, where sponsorship information for businesses is also posted, according to the station's report. Every ticket and sponsorship helps support the museum and preserve New Mexico's agricultural heritage, organizers said, with proceeds backing the nonprofit's mission to preserve and share the state's agricultural and ranching legacy.
The Friends of the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit that funds public education programs, summer camps, and living history demonstrations at the museum, according to its about page. The group raises money through memberships and endowments, and beyond Art on the Range it also runs an annual Museum ROCKS! event.
The museum itself spans a 47-acre campus with livestock barns, indoor galleries, and a theater, and is part of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. The idea for the institution was conceived in the 1970s, with former state agriculture secretary Dr. William P. Stephens and New Mexico State University President Dr. Gerald Thomas leading the grassroots effort.
Backdrop of a Billion-Dollar Farm Economy
The fundraiser sits atop an agricultural economy that still drives Doña Ana County, which generated over $320 million in agricultural market sales in 2022 and leads New Mexico in pecan production with more than 38,000 acres of orchards, according to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. Statewide, total agricultural cash receipts reached $4.19 billion in 2024, led by $1.89 billion in cattle sales and $1.25 billion in milk production, the agency reported.
New Mexico also leads the nation in chile pepper acreage, with more than 8,000 acres harvested statewide centered largely in Doña Ana and Luna counties, per the USDA. Those specialty crops, chile and pecans alike, form a core focus of the museum's educational exhibits, tying the gala's Western art theme directly to the farmland surrounding it. The museum campus recently served a different public role too, acting as a shuttle hub for a federal anniversary jubilee at the nearby Dripping Springs Natural Area.
