Contact:

Beverly Ortiz O'Connell, 277-2744 or Laurie Mellas-Ramirez, 277-5915

March 19, 2002
UNM SYMPOSIUM EXPLORES COSTUME AS CULTURAL ARTIFACT

The University of New Mexico College of Fine Arts Department of Theatre and Dance and UNM Arts of the Americas Institute will host a symposium, "Re/Fashioning New Mexico: The Relevance of Costume as Cultural Artifact for New Mexico History," Thursday, April 4, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Albuquerque Museum in Old Town.

The symposium, free and open to the public, is in concert with a Spanish American costume historical research collection being developed by Dorothy Baca, UNM assistant professor of Theatre and Dance.

The symposium will conceptualize the results of Baca's ongoing research within historical, social, political and cultural perspectives.

"Clothing provides a valuable and rich source for social and cultural historiography. It is particularly pertinent to the developing history of New Mexico because it provides an accurate documentation of the state's cross-cultural heritage and surviving popular cultures," Baca says. "Viewing the past through the evolution of costume enriches New Mexico's past enabling greater understanding of the links between regions, nationalities and countries."

The symposium consists of a panel discussion, moderated by Chuy Martinez, associate curator of education at the Albuquerque Museum. Panelists are: Enrique Lamadrid, UNM professor of Spanish and Portuguese, Skip Miller, archeologist for the Carson National Forest and author of "A Land So Remote," Larry Miller, author of numerous books and currently translating "the DeVargas Papers," Reeve Love, director of Performing Arts at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, David Snow, curator of History Collections at the Museum of New Mexico's Palace of the Governors.

This program is made possible by a grant from the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities. For more information, call Dorothy Baca, 277-4109.

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The University of New Mexico
Public Affairs Department
Hodgin Hall, 2nd floor
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0011
Telephone: (505) 277-5813
Fax: (505) 277-1981