Born and raised in El Paso, TX, Bryant was exposed at an early age to a vast amount of cultural diversity and musical performances. He quickly gained interest in becoming a musician and educator, and has since pursued this passion. His careers began at the age of seventeen when he was asked to perform with his first professional ensemble and later that year becoming the youngest Track Trumpeter in the horse racing circuit; a position that is televised live nationally and internationally every week. After maintaining that position for three years he felt the need to start his path towards becoming an educator, shortly thereafter he took on the role of Head Mariachi Instructor for the Court Youth Center and created the Mariachi program for Gadsden Middle School and Gadsden High School in Anthony, NM. In 2009 after many years of performance in two of the largest and most well-known Mariachi ensembles in the Southwest and Mexico, Bryant founded his own professional group Mariachi Raices de America. Since then he has successfully lead the group to  winning many awards and gaining prestigious recognition throughout the region. Beginning his career at WNMU, Bryant has worked his way up from an Adjunct Instructor to his current position as Music Program Coordinator. With the support of University Administration Bryant has taken Mariachi Plata from its modest beginning of four students to the now continually growing and award-winning ensembles of the Southwest.

ARTS 442

Michael Metcalf ‘s attraction to smooth, fair curves began with the several boats he built before attending Skidmore College. There he focused his technical skills and aesthetics toward creating sculpture, and received a B.S. in Fine Arts. He studied sculpture and architectural structures at the University of Pennsylvania, where he received his Master of Fine Arts degree in sculpture. He has been an artist in residence at the Gutman Center in New Hope, PA and the Delfina Studio Trust in London, England. In the summer of 2010 he expanded his cultural awareness while teaching sculpture in Xi’an China. Metcalf’s work appears in collections throughout the United States and in Europe. He creates his unique sculptures, using bronze, wood, stone, and stainless steel. While the configurations and materials may be diverse, they all sustain his sense of form, which implies graceful force, but still maintains calculated stability. Since 1995 Metcalf has been teaching sculpture at Western New Mexico University and creating sculpture in Silver City, New Mexico. While much of his laminated wood and bronze work relates to smooth fair curves, he also pursues technical innovations, and unique processes for creating his graceful forms – his current spline and stone sculptures use his patented process. Metcalf’s sculptures reveal investigation into form with both organic and geometric surface transitions. All of these works explore the relationship between curves and how a combination of simple curves creates a complex form, which evokes tension, movement, and beauty. The New Mexico environment has had a powerful impact on his work, as he now blends parts of the New Mexican landscape with his graceful style. In 2007 he completed two nearly thirty-foot tall sculptures located on Louisiana Avenue on each side of I-40 for the City of Albuquerque. The Positive Energy of New Mexico was an ambitious two year project which further reveals Metcalf’s exploration with man-made vs. organic materials in an environment where one can contrast the Sandia Mountains with the Albuquerque skyline while viewing the work which represent earth, civilization, spirit and beyond. His latest work Speculation seems to defy gravity by suspending two granite boulders from a central crescent stainless steel spire in a site overlooking the Rio Grande in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

ARTS 362 Sculpture II

Cynthia received her BFA in Drawing from New Mexico State University in 2014 and her MFA in Drawing from the New York Academy of Art in 2016. During that time, she discovered a passion for teaching and inspiring the next generation of artists. She taught at Uplift Preparatory in Fort Worth Texas followed by her current positions at Deming High School and Western New Mexico University in Deming. She strives to impart the same fundamental principles and technical focus in her teaching that was integral to her own growth as an artist.  Being born and raised in Southern New Mexico she was profoundly shaped by the landscape and the people there. In her own work, she explores the concept that memories are inextricable linked to the places in which they are formed. Life stories and experiences are the threads that weave our identities and she aims to visually capture this intricate idea in her work.

Stacey Heim is the Curatorial Assistant for the Art Department at the Albuquerque Museum. Heim’s work includes supporting exhibition research and planning, including preliminary design layout; maintaining records for the museum’s artist files and incoming acquisitions. Stacey also assists with ongoing cataloging projects and online eMuseum exhibitions. In 2008, she received an MFA from the University of Wisconsin, in Madison, Wisconsin, where she studied printmaking. During her time in Madison, she was a collaborator with Tandem Press, the professional fine art printmaking studio and art gallery affiliated with the University of Wisconsin. Heim previously taught courses in printmaking, art history and art appreciation at Western New Mexico University located in Silver City. During her time at the Western New Mexico University Museum as Assistant Director she found a deep appreciation for museum work. In addition to her current museum work, Stacey is glad to have the opportunity to teach WNMU art students again this semester in an online History of Art I course.

BME - New Mexico State University