Axle Contemporary
a mobile artspace based in Santa Fe, New Mexico
E Pluribus Unum
E Pluribus Unum:New Mexico Southeast
an Axle Contemporary project
Western Heritage Museum, Hobbs
August 22 – November 3, 2019
opening reception and artist talk: 5:30 pm, August 22
Artesia, 510 Gallery
(Artesia portraits only)
opens August, 24, 2019
510 Main Street, Artesia, New Mexico
part of the Red Dirt Black Gold Festival
Roswell Museum & Art Center
November 16 – April 22, 2020
Reception and artist talk, December 7
The portraits from our 2018 E Pluribus Unum project will exhibited in museum exhibitions this year.
E Pluribus Unum is Axle’s free mobile photo portrait studio. People sit for a portrait while holding a small personally significant object. Prints are distributed to the participants and wheat-pasted to the exterior of the studio-gallery. For each project, an image is created by overlaying all the portraits to create one face that includes equal portions of all the participants. Each project is published in its entirety as a book.
In October 2018, we spent the month on the road to create E Pluribus Unum: New Mexico Southeast in Roswell, Lovinton, Hobbs, Alamogordo, Tularosa, Carrizozo, Ruidoso, Mescalero, Artesia, Carlsbad, Portales, and Clovis.
The E Pluribus Unum: New Mexico Southeast book with all 950 portraits and one image on the cover blending all off the hundreds of portraits into one face, represents the entirety of the community of participants. The book is $20 and is now available at the exhibition venues and through Amazon here.
More information on this project here.
E Pluribus Unum: New Mexico Southeast
In 2012, the Axle artist-collaborators, Jerry Wellman and Matthew Chase-Daniel, began a photographic portrait project, E Pluribus Unum. This ongoing biennial project enlivens and documents communities throughout the state of New Mexico, with a mobile photographic portrait studio built inside the vintage aluminum Axle vehicle.
Participation is free to all. Participants bring a small object of personal significance, and enter the mobile studio and sit for a black and white photo portrait while holding the object. The objects brought are as diverse as the participants. Objects have included car keys, photos of loved ones on cell phones, artworks, tools, books, food, toys, and vintage collectibles.
Two copies of each portrait are immediately printed with the gallery’s solar-powered printer. One is given to the participant, another is pasted to the exterior of the vehicle, creating a mobile and growing exhibition throughout the span of each regional project. At the close of each project Axle Contemporary Press publishes a book containing all of the portraits, and one image on the cover blending all off the hundreds of portraits into one face, representing the entirety of the community of participants. After each project the portraits are also exhibited in regional exhibitions.
In October 2018, E Pluribus Unum: New Mexico Southeast, took place in the communities of Roswell, Lovington, Hobbs, Alamogordo, Tularosa, Carrizozo, Ruidoso, Mescalero, Carlsbad, Artesia, Portales, and Clovis.
The portraits from the 2018 E Pluribus Unum: New Mexico Southeast project will exhibited in regional exhibitions this year.
Western Heritage Museum and Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame, Hobbs
August 22 – November 3, 2019
Roswell Museum & Art Center
November 16, 2019 – April 22, 2020
Artesia, downtown
Exterior wheatpate exhibition of the Artesia portraits, August, 2019
The book, E Pluribus Unum: New Mexico Southeast will be published in August 2019. It contains all of the 950 portraits, photos of the activities of the project, an essay by the artists, a foreword by Joshua Wheeler, and a cover blending all of the portraits into one face.
OCTOBER 2018 SCHEDULE
Mon. October 1
10 am - noon Eastern New Mexico State Fair Parade, Main Street, Roswell
Noon - 10 pm Eastern New Mexico State Fair, Roswell, (either near Arts & Crafts or Commercial Bldg.)
Tues. October 2
Noon - 10 pm
Eastern New Mexico State Fair, Roswell, (either near Arts & Crafts or Commercial Bldg.)
Wed. October 3
9 am - 12pm Stellar Coffee, 315 N Main St, Roswell
1:30 - 3:00pm Pioneer Bank, Main Branch, 3000 N Main St, Roswell
4pm - 7pm Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art, 409 E College Blvd, Roswell
Thurs. October 4
10am - 8pm Bob's Supermarket, 906 W. Ave. D, Lovington
Fri. October 5
10 am -1pm New Mexico Junior College Cafeteria/bookstore, 5317 N Lovington Hwy, Hobbs
3pm - 7pm Pool at the CORE Center of Recreational Excellence, 4827 N Lovington Hwy, Hobbs
Sat. October 6
10 am - 4pm Western Heritage Museum and Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame, 1 Thunderbird Cir., Hobbs
Sun. October 14
10am - 4pm Tularosa Basin Museum of History, 1004 N White Sands Blvd, Alamogordo
Mon. October 15
10am - 12:30pm New Mexico State University, 2400 N Scenic Dr, Alamogordo
2pm - 5pm Twice Blest, 2920 North White Sands Blvd., Alamogordo
Tues. October 16
11am - 2pm Tulie Freeze, 419 St Francis Dr, Tularosa
3pm - 7pm MoMAZoZo, 503 12th St, Carrizozo
Wed. October 17
10am- 1pm Sacred Grounds Coffee and Tea House, 2704 Sudderth Dr, Ruidoso
2:00-3:30 Mescalro Tribal Store
Thurs. October 18
9:30am - noon New Mexico State University, 1500 University Dr, Carlsbad
1pm - 5pm Carlsbad Museum and Art Center, 418 W. Fox St., Carlsbad,
Fri. October 19
9:30am - 6pm Artesia Public Library, 205 W. Quay Ave., W Richardson Ave, Artesia
Sat. October 20
9am - 4pm Art in the Park, Central Park, S. 7th St & W. Quay Ave, Artesia
Sun. October 21
11am - 5pm Peanut Festival, Portales
Mon. October 22
9am - 12pm Eastern New Mexico University
1pm - 5pm Courthouse Square, Downtown Portales
Tues. October 23
10am - 2:30pm Red Arrow, 320 W 21st St, Clovis
5:00pm - 7:30pm Eula Mae Edwards Museum, 417 Schepps Blvd, Clovis
Wed.. October 24
9:00am - 2:00pm Clovis Carver Public Library, 701 N.Main, Clovis
Axle Contemporary has created three E Pluribus Unum projects to date.
E Pluribus Unum: Santa Fe (2012) includes over 550 portraits and was exhibited as a video in SITE Santa Fe’s Time/Lapse: March 2012 exhibition.
E Pluribus Unum: Albuquerque (2014) includes over 650 participants and was exhibited at 516 ARTS in Albuquerque as part of the Heart of the City exhibition.
E Pluribus Unum: Dinétah (2016) took place on and near the Navajo Nation in New Mexico and Arizona, with over 800 participants. The exhibition took place at the Navajo Nation Museum, in Window Rock Arizona in 2017 and 2018.
-------------------------------------------
We are working with partners throughout the region. Our heartfelt thanks to all: Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art, Roswell Artist-in-Residence Foundation, Roswell Museum and Arts Center, Lovington Mainstreet, New Mexico Junior College, Western Heritage Museum & Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame, NMSU Alamogordo, Alamogordo Mainstreet, MoMAZoZo, Donna Stern at Mescalero, Carlsbad Creative Arts Council, NMSU Carlsbad, Artesia Arts and Cultural District, Artesia Mainstreet, Artesia Arts Council, Artesia Historical Museum and Art Center, Artesia Public Library, Portales Mainstreet, ENMU Portales, and Clovis Mainstreet.
This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, This project is made possible in part by New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Support also provided by the FUNd of the Albuquerque Community Foundation, and the PY Foundation.
Food for the artists generously provided in part by Lowe's Signature Market in Alamogordo, Alamogordo Mainstreet, Lovington Mainstreet, MoMAZoZo, Sacred Grounds in Ruidoso, Larry Bob Phillips and Tamara Zibners, Stellar Coffee in Roswell, David Morgan at the Carlsbad Museum and Art Center, Red Arrow in Clovis, Clovis Mainstreet, and Lina & Ally's Tea Shoppe in Clovis.
Lodging provided in part by by The Roswell Artist-in-Residence Foundation, Lovington Mainstreet, The Western Heritage Museum & Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame in Hobbs, Country Inn and Suites in Hobbs, Alamogordo Mainstreet, MoMAZoZo, Holiday Inn Portales, Comfort Inn Clovis, and Clovis Mainstreet.
Special thanks to towing services provided by The City of Lovington, Crystal Ball, New Mexico Junior College, and The Western Heritage Museum & Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame.
E Pluribus Unum: New Mexico Southeast is open to all to participate. Accomodations are available to those people with disabilities. Please come by or phone or write for information.
Matthew (505) 670-5854
Jerry (505) 670-7612