Art Treasures of Las Campanas

There is more to Las Campanas than its beautiful setting, golf courses, spa, equestrian center and clubhouse. Members may not realize it, but The Club also has a tremendous collection of paintings, bronze sculptures, Native pottery, basketry and weavings. The Club’s original developer, Lyle Anderson, worked with local galleries and acquired an extensive, curated collection of Western art which was included in Las Campanas members’ purchase of The Club in 2010.

Linda Smith and Carol McDonald of the Art Committee realized that over time artwork had moved from building to building and they set out to create a thorough inventory. As a bonus, they saw an opportunity to educate interested Club members about the art and artists through a charity tour, proceeds benefitting the Las Campanas Community Grants Fund. As with most great ideas there was a lot of work involved!

An appraisal done years before was the starting point to identify just what was in the collection. Linda & Carol’s first-pass search found pieces that had not been previously cataloged, and some pieces are yet to be found. In the meantime, Patricia Greaves researched the backgrounds of the artists and wrote biographies. It became clear that many of the artists are highly regarded.

A group of about 30 members met at the Clubhouse on January 30th for the tour. Because of renovation work, the tour was a chilly adventure as the Clubhouse was without heating and a good part of its lighting. Al Antonez and Jared Hopkins found work lights and tour members good-naturedly became lighting crew. CT opened the tour with a brief history of The Club’s collection. Linda & Carol discussed artists’ backgrounds, preferred media and the history of many works. Members sipped wine, asked questions and learned much about the collection.

Linda & Carol plan to finish cataloging art in the Clubhouse then visit the Spa, Log Cabin and Equestrian Center. If you missed the inaugural tour don’t worry—more tours are in the works!  

The Las Campanas Scholarship Fund through the eyes of recipient Ximena de los Rios.

As kids we grew up dreaming and thinking "What are we going to do when we grow up?" Dreams are motivation for people, they are the reason for our effort every day. Dreams aren’t easy to accomplish, they take time, effort and a lot of dedication. They’re not easy but luckily they are not impossible either.

I always had two main goals in mind: study and travel. I grew up in a small town located in Chihuahua, Mexico, very unique and beautiful, but not with a lot of opportunities. When I was fourteen years old I realized that If I wanted to accomplish my dreams I would have

to go somewhere else. A couple of months later I was already in New Mexico with my Guardian, Norma Deets (an employee at The Club at Las Campanas), starting my sophomore year in high school. 

After finishing high school, I wanted to keep studying and preparing myself, but reality again came into my life and made me realize that college is not as cheap as high school. Fortunately, the Las Campanas scholarship gave me an opportunity, and since my freshman year of college, they have been helping and supporting me with all my tuition, fees and books.

I talked to one of the Directors of the Las Campanas Scholarship Fund, Dr. Lori Adcock, and told her about my dream to go to Costa Rica and study abroad. As soon as I told her, she right away showed interest in helping me, and again a couple of months later I was studying in Costa Rica with all the expenses of the program covered. 

Today, I’m in my senior year of college, just one step behind accomplishing another of my dreams. I will be graduating with a double major in Linguistics and Spanish at the University of New Mexico. I couldn’t be more thankful to all the Directors and people from the Las Campanas Scholarship Fund that since my first day of college believed in me and have been there helping and supporting me with my career.

I still want to travel to other places and learn from other cultures and I definitely would like to take my education to the next level by getting a Master’s degree, and since we are talking about dreams, why not, a Ph.D. as well.

Excerpted from an article for El Vocero written by Ximena de los Rios, a multi-year recipient of the Scholarship Fund