In the fall of 2019, WNMU Expressive Arts assistant professor of painting and drawing Jennifer Douglas and Director Emerita Dr. Cynthia Ann Bettison developed a collaborative interdisciplinary project between the Museum and an art course. The purpose was to emphasize the significant and valuable roll the Museum and its collections can play in shaping and promoting Western New Mexico University’s status as the state’s only Applied Liberal Arts and Sciences university. Another goal was to host a long-term digital version of the exhibition.

Over the course of seven weeks the museum became an art studio for over 15 diverse Drawing I students. The interdisciplinary project became so much more than just a learning exercise. The drawings represent a journey of discovery, set by the initial concept of curiosity. The process developed the students’ critical thinking skills and encouraged individual exploration of who we are as human beings. By this, the past culture and complex designs became humanized. But most importantly, the students started asking “What?” and “Why?” As you look through their work and essays, be inspired by the beauty of the drawings that these beginner students created. Delight in the fact that all were briefly connecting past and present.