Magdalena students shine in first-ever community art exhibit

More than 200 young artists from Magdalena Municipal Schools are taking over a downtown space with color, creativity, and community spirit in the school’s first-ever off-campus student art exhibit. The show is part of the Magdalena Studio Tour and will be open to the public on Saturday, May 17, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., in the historic Salome building next to the Steer Stop.

The exhibit, spearheaded by art teacher Kim Henkel, features artwork from kindergarten through 12th grade students. Every participating student contributed to a collective installation titled “Drip”—a colorful, immersive wall filled with cascading paint designs created on paper.

“It’s more of an experience than something you just take home,” Henkel said. “It’s vibrant and completely fills the space—it really has to be seen in person.”

Six high school students, currently enrolled in a dual-credit Art Practices course through UNM Valencia, played a major role in curating the exhibit. These students not only created and installed their own portfolios, but also took on the challenge of arranging and hanging the collective pieces.

“I don’t think they knew what to expect, but they really got into it,” Henkel said. “They made some great decisions and worked hard. After installing their own work, they helped with ‘Drip’—we were up on ladders, hanging work up to a 20-foot ceiling.”

In addition to “Drip”, the show includes ceramics such as garden gnomes and coffee mugs, black and white pinhole photography, printmaking, cyanotypes, landscape paintings, and even student-made jewelry and small-scale metalwork.

Some of the artworks will be available for sale, with all proceeds going directly to the student artists.

“This is the first time we’ve done a student art exhibit outside of the school,” Henkel said. “It’s been a lot of extra time and effort, but so worth it. The kids have learned so much—how to title and price work, how to curate a show, and what it means to share art with the public.”