Contact: Linney Wix, 277-5533 Media Contact: Laurie Mellas-Ramirez, 277-5915

July 2, 2002 UNM GALLERY FEATURES 'PAINTED PONIES' INSPIRED EXHIBIT "On the Trail of the Painted Ponies" an exhibit of stick horses, also known as hobbyhorses, created by students of art instructor Laura Percival at Edgewood Middle School opens Monday, July 8, in the Masley Art Gallery at the University of New Mexico College of Education. The exhibit is open to the public July 8-12 and July 15-19 from 1 to 4 p.m. A closing reception for the young artists, their parents and visitors will take place Sunday, July 21, from 1 to 3 p.m. Percival's drawing and painting class provides students with an opportunity to learn fundamentals of drawing and painting both contemporary and traditional. New Mexico artists from a variety of cultures were a resource for students. The students were exposed to various artistic styles through a vehicle that they are familiar with - horses. The Trail of the Painted Ponies provided inspiration for the assignment. Students were asked to create a stick horse using any artist they admire for inspiration and theme. They were encouraged to use acrylics, tempera, pastels, charcoal, and decoupage materials. Layering these materials until the final result was satisfactory to student and instructor resulted in a strong foundation of technique. M.C. Escher was one of the favorite artists to model, as well as a more contemporary artist, Christian Reese Lassen. Other artists students adapted work after are James Coleman, Louis Buchetto, Georgia O'Keeffe, John P. O'Neill, Patrick Coffaro, Daniel Morper, among others. Student artists and the artist they picked for inspiration are noted on the credits by each student's work. In addition to the stick horses, each of the two classes created a three-dimensional horse from papier-mâché. Children each made their own patches using the same materials and artistic theme used on their stick horse. This allowed them to experience the same challenges the professional artist faced. ###

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