Marcus Xavier Chormicle: “I am a lens based artist from Las Cruces, New Mexico and lineal descendant of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. My work focuses on grief and generational cycles of systemic violence and the history of the Southwestern territories of the United States. I make collages, land based installation, artist books and performance work that centers around my photographic works. My work as an artist, curator, archivist and educator all converge within a social practice that canonizes my own experiences and those of my family, within the legacy of violence perpetrated against Indigenous people, Chicanos and Nuevo Mexicanos in the region. I frequently return to the family photo, and my academic roots in journalism as a framework of expression, and create access points to history and culture through photography and its relationship to time. I expand on forms like the family scrapbook, the funerary photo montage, and the domestic portrait wall as a way of connecting my lived experience to my fine art practice.”

Eric Romero: Born and raised under the New Mexican sun, Romero draws inspiration from the Land of Enchantment. His allegorical figurative paintings echo the Old Masters in technique and methodology. Catholicism, mythology and New Mexican social landscape have influenced his oil paintings to tell a rich story of history, culture and mysticism. Working in the medium of oil, he tirelessly and painstakingly pays close attention to detail within the paintings and often paints hidden symbology within the composition. Self-taught Artist, his paintings have a feeling of mannerism combining bold color with metaphorical imagery.

Arla Lucia: Arla Lucia is an enrolled citizen of the Seneca-Cayuga Nation of Oklahoma. Raised in southern Colorado, like her mother before her, without a direct connection to her tribal stories, material culture, or community. Arla decided to pursue Haudensosaunee raised bead embroidery as a vehicle to make her way home to her traditions. It has begun the lifelong process of healing for her family and reconnecting to traditions for future generations. In her culture beading is medicine through the act of peace making with the very first wampum beads having been strung together as an offering that brought the Haudenosaunee people together. The material culture manifests in an alchemical effort of transforming unassuming, tiny, glass beads into magical creations filled with spirit. In the absence of knowing anyone to teach her, she became a “self-learning” artist; sitting at the feet of master’s by meticulously dissecting historical grandmother pieces, photo archives, and even contemporary artists to reverse engineer the art and techniques. Following the path that each line of beads laid out and where it took her, they came to life before her eyes. It is through this study that personal adornments were transformed into living extensions of the artists themselves and began the technique of 3d sculptural beadwork that is uniquely identifiable as Arla Lucia. Recognized as an emerging talent, Arla was recently featured in Cowboys & Indians Magazine as an upcoming artist to watch in their spring 2025 issue as well as a feature in Native Max Magazine’s Spring 2025 Fashion Issue. She has been an accepted artist at prestigious fine art markets such as Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair and Market (Best of Division 2026), Autry Museum of the American West: American Indian Arts Festival, Southwest Association of American Indian Arts Santa Fe Indian Market (2nd Place Contemporary Beadwork 2024), and Cherokee Art Market (Best of Division & 2nd Place Contemporary Beadwork 2025) in just her first few years as an artist. A multiple award winner in her medium, she also is a featured artist at the Four Winds Gallery in Pittsburg, PA and Agua Caliente Museum in Palm Springs, CA. Her works have been exhibited during La Luz de Taos in Taos, NM and The Contemporary Native Art Biennial (BACA) in Quebec, CAN in the spring of 2026. She will begin her artist-in-residence program this winter at the Institute of American Indian Arts.

Debbie Carrillo, a well known New Mexican micaceous potter explores the colonial history of the Pueblo de Abiquiú through traditional pottery practices. Her hand-coiled, utilitarian micaceous vessels draw from pottery traditions made by Genízaro villagers in the 18th and 19th centuries, connecting historical craftsmanship with contemporary cultural storytelling. Debbie has been making Micaceous since 1991, which has been used historically by Hispanic and Native American families for utilitarian purposes.