Creatures of the Gila 2026
The wild things of the Gila take center stage this September as the Grant County Art Guild presents Creatures of the Gila 2026, a juried exhibition celebrating the animals that share our corner of southwest New Mexico.
Opening Reception: Friday, September 4, during September’s First Friday Art Walk
Show Dates: September 5–7 & 11–13
Join us for the opening reception, where this year’s judge, Diana Ingalls Leyba, will announce the winners:
- Best of Show — $250
- Second Place — $75
- Third Place — $50
A People’s Choice ribbon will be on display during the show’s closing weekend, giving visitors a chance to weigh in on their own favorite.
Before the awards are announced, three local poets will share original work written in response to pieces in the show — poetry inspired by the creatures of the Gila. Readings by Christina Nealson, Silver City/Grant County’s Poet Laureate, along with Cheryl Howard and Beate Sigriddaughter, will bring another layer of storytelling to the gallery walls. Special thanks to Christina Nealson for her ongoing work weaving poetry into the fabric of life in Silver City.
About the Judge Diana Ingalls Leyba
“My paintings come ‘off the wall’ through a build up of layers and construction on the paint surface and I’ve begun to think of them as tapestries of paint. Surface texture and depth is achieved through a layering of many different materials and transparencies with a constant of paint, paper, colored pencils, threads, and beads. Images and symbols come from the everyday, from different cultures, and from within.
I am a literal person and pick imagery that evokes the universal in the personal or the sacred in the commonplace. The models that pose for me stand in as symbols for ideas and feelings. Juxtaposing images, whether people or animals or objects, set up a dialogue to be interpreted by the viewer.
A tapestry of interwoven brush strokes, layers of paper, paint, and thread have meaning or reason marking time in ritual form. I respond to one color coming through another as well as one image coming through another so that one’s mind must sort its perceptions. I enjoy the complexity of the surface. The act of painting becomes ritual as the layers build to create the result. Work as a stream of consciousness…work as spirituality…work to satisfy an aesthetic…”
Diana Ingalls Leyba was born in Georgetown, Guyana, and raised in Philadelphia, PA, getting her BFA at the Tyler School of Art, Temple University. She relocated to Silver City, NM in 1996, where she works as an artist, operates an art gallery, and is a founder and director of the Youth Mural Program.
Diana Ingalls Leyba Studio & Gallery 315 N. Bullard Street • Silver City, New Mexico • 88061 dianaingallsleybastudioandgallery.com | [email protected]
Creatures of the Gila 2026 runs September 5–7 and 11–13 at Grant County Art Guild Studio, 307 N Texas St, Silver City, NM.
