Content and Photo provided by Nancy Dunn

While everyone was out at the Eddy County Fair, the Artesia Arts & Cultural District snuck in and completed another mural for downtown Artesia—this one by night! 

Artist Simona Rael and her team of 3 completely installed their music-themed piece on the enclosure next to the pump house in the Heritage Plaza in 3 nights. Her piece harmonizes with the recently completed “La Plaza de Música” mural by Oscar Hernandez on the adjoining pump house, although the techniques used were quite different. 

Simona Rael is a graduate of the New Mexico School for the Arts and is currently pursuing a graduate degree in Art Studies at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Her design was inspired by New Mexico’s culture, music, and colors. The team even played some of their own music pieces while working. (They’re good, too!) 

What made this mural unique was that we (unanimously) decided to work at night to beat the heat. I met Simona and her team at 1:00 am the first night, and spent the next 2 nights helping them with the installation. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed staying cool. 

Our artists had to head out of town to a music-paint jam event in Albuquerque before heading to Los Angeles for a fashion-art event this week (Simona is also a designer). Hopefully, they will return to Artesia soon, so stay tuned!