MUSEUMS

Welcome to the Las Cruces Museums!

COVID-19 UPDATE

The Las Cruces Museum System is committed to ensuring the health and well-being of all our patrons and staff.  

Per the most recent public health order issued by the State of New Mexico regarding COVID-19, masks are no longer required indoors, however we encourage our guests to still practice safe distancing while visiting our museums.

The Museum of Nature and 

Science, the Museum of Art, Branigan Cultural Center and the Railroad Museum are OPEN. Our normal operating hours are: 

Tuesday – Friday, 10am – 4:30pm and Saturday – 9am - 4:30pm

Please check out our Calendar of Events for July-September, 2022.

The Las Cruces Museum System aims to provide a welcoming environment for the curious so they can gain new insights and experience personal and community enrichment. The museums showcase exhibitions on local, national, and global themes to educate and inspire visitors from near and far. Admission is FREE. Our museum system includes:

Senior Couple watching a old Mexican wrestler movie surrounded by luchador mask

BRANIGAN CULTURAL CENTER

The Branigan Cultural Center is dedicated to engaging visitors in the rich heritage of the Southwest and the world-at-large through artistic, cultural and historical exhibitions and programs. Housed in a 1935 Pueblo Revival- style building, it was the first library in Las Cruces.

Gallery with pictures, ceramic vases and a big wooden bench

MUSEUM OF ART

The Museum of Art features juried, invitational, and traveling exhibitions with artwork by nationally and internationally known artists. Through the Studio Program, the Museum offers professional art instruction for youth and adults in drawing, painting, ceramics, and other media.

Little Boy playing at the exhibit

MUSEUM OF NATURE & SCIENCE

The Las Cruces Museum of Nature and Science, or MoNaS, inspires curiosity about the sciences, facilitates life-long learning, and promotes stewardship of the natural environment of the Chihuahuan Desert and southern New Mexico.

Model railroad train

RAILROAD MUSEUM

The mission of the Railroad Museum is to preserve the heritage of railroading through a series of miniature representations of New Mexico railroads, as well as research and preserve the history of model railroading.

EXHIBITS

illustration of ravens in circle with their beaks facing towards the center. Exhibit Title on Top

Illumination: Crows and Ravens

July 1st - September 24, 2022


This exhibit features Fourteen, large-scale encaustic paintings by artist Catherine Eaton Skinner. Crows and ravens have been embraced as significant messenger birds in a wide variety of cultures across the world and throughout time. They are known as speakers from the underworld, guardians of souls, and tricksters who test human resolve. Recent scientific experiments on crows and ravens show that they have an amazing capacity for spatial memory, social interaction, and tool use. Skinner embraces all these characteristics as she portrays them in her artwork.


Take off Aviation

Cleared for Take-Off:

Aviation in Southern New Mexico

Oct 1st-Fall 2022 


Cleared for Takeoff examines over 100 years of regional aviation history, both military and civilian, in southern New Mexico, using photographs, oral histories, and historic objects. Starting with the introductory use of military airplanes in 1916 after Pancho Villa’s raid on Columbus, NM, the exhibition explores the local impact of aviation-related training programs offered through the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts during World War II and the post-war era. It addresses the flourishing of civilian aviation in the 1950s–1960s, with the formation of flying clubs and shuttle airlines dotting southern New Mexico. With the decline of leisure flying beginning in the 1980s, it notes the changing nature of local aviation in the 21st Century. Come learn more about aviation history in southern New Mexico.

 

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painting of an orange cat looking down on a shades of green mountain range

Symbols of New Mexico: A Personal Experience

July 29 - September 24, 2022


Victoria Chick explores New Mexico’s open space, diverse plants and animals, and brilliant sunshine and presents them as personal hallmarks of her time in the Land of Enchantment. Her large, colorful paintings delve into the spiritual and embrace similar characteristics found throughout the state. Chick’s artwork captures symbols and makes them personal.

 

Painting of an angel, a devil, a skeleton fighting. The 3 figures arranged in a circle.

Icons and Symbols of the Borderland

Art From U. S.-Mexico Crossroads

August 5 - October 15, 2022


Stylistically diverse and thematically varied, the exhibit features 30 Borderland artists who examine their complex cultural inheritance and the ever-shifting relationship between the United States and Mexico—curated by Diana Molina.

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