An exhibition of the work of Ella Sala Myers, who died at the age of 16 in a plane crash, opens on Thursday, November 12, 2015. Ella’s parents and curators of the exhibit, Jennifer Douglass and Brian Myers will speak at Western New Mexico University’s Parotti Hall at 6:30 p.m., followed immediately by an opening reception at 7:30 p.m. at the McCray Gallery, adjacent to Parotti Hall.
The exhibition runs through January 7, 2016 at the McCray Gallery of Contemporary Art on the Western New Mexico University campus. A successful Kickstarter campaign, “Somewhere In Between, The Work of Ella Sala Myers,” helped raise the funds for high quality, large scale prints to be made of her photographs. The exhibition is envisioned as a journey, a story that unfolds by moving through the gallery into different spaces. The show will also include Ella’s words and videos.
Ella was an accomplished artist, writer, musician and composer. Just before her death she had received numerous awards including: admission to The Chicago Art Institute’s Summer Art Program in film, a Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design portfolio scholarship, two National Scholastic Writing awards for her two novels and several gold and silver keys regionally for her photographs and drawings. As curators of the exhibit, Ella’s parents express their intentions for the exhibit.
“It is our desire to see our daughter’s work reach a wider audience, she truly had a gift at seeing the beauty in the everyday and the verbal skill to capture the profoundly meaningful. We think people will be moved and inspired by Ella’s work. She was a teenager well beyond her years,” said Douglass and Myers. Many of Ella’s journal writings and poetry were not discovered until many months after her death. “Even we were overwhelmed by the depth and complexity of what we found, she was so modest and private.”
“The WNMU Expressive Arts Department, the Department of Cultural Affairs, the Western Institute for Lifelong Learning and the Mimbres Region Arts Council are happy to be hosting this exhibit at the WNMU McCray Gallery. I believe it will provide a healing experience for this community, and indeed for anyone who has suffered loss in this life. Ella’s words, music and photos are moving and inspirational,” said Faye McCalmont, Special Assistant to the President for Cultural Affairs at WNMU.
Ella Myers was one of three students tragically killed in a small plane crash after flying over the Silver Fire burn scar in Southern New Mexico. The students were eco-monitors for Aldo Leopold Charter School in Silver City and were studying the effects of the fire on their study area.
The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information visit www.mimbresarts.org or www.wnmu.edu/culture.