Opening Reception for Zara Kriegstein: A Thousand Points of Light

Women’s Board Public Reception: Saturday, October 17, 12:00–2:00pm
Location: New Mexico Museum of Art on the Plaza, 107 W. Palace Ave.

Refreshments provided by The Women’s Board of the Museum of New Mexico

Please join us for the Opening Reception of Zara Kriegstein: A Thousand Points of Light, an exhibition celebrating the work and legacy of Zara Kriegstein (1952–2009), one of the unsung muralists and painter-historians to emerge from Northern New Mexico in the late 20th century. The exhibition brings together Kriegstein’s paintings, prints, and large-scale public art, illuminating an artist deeply engaged with personal and collective histories.

Born in West Berlin, Kriegstein came of age in a physically and ideologically divided environment. Early experiences of political tension in Cold War Germany laid the foundation for Kriegstein’s artistic practice, which was dedicated to exploring themes of justice, power, loss, memory, and human desire. Working across painting, print media, and public murals, Kriegstein created bold, research-driven work about the forces that shape individual lives and communities. After arriving in New Mexico in the late 1970s, she found a landscape and cultural history that resonated with her longstanding interest in human civilization, morality, and social responsibility. Over three decades, she brought the perspective of an outsider and immigrant to her work, alongside a deep commitment to research, writing, and community organizing.

The title A Thousand Points of Light reflects the interconnected nature of Kriegstein’s practice. Her paintings, prints, murals, research, and community work offer multiple points of entry into questions of memory, cultural identity, and social responsibility. The exhibition presents her work not simply as a record of a particular time and place, but as an enduring meditation on history and social change.

A Thousand Points of Light offers an opportunity to reconsider Kriegstein’s contribution to New Mexico’s artistic history and to encounter the lasting relevance of an artist whose rigorous inquiry was inseparable from her commitment to community.

Generous support for A Thousand Points of Light is provided by The Bell Family and in recognition of their dear friends, Drs. George and Sheryl Tolbit.

image: Zara Kriegstein, The Shallow Breakfast, 1991, color lithograph, 24 × 18 15/16 in. Collection of the New Mexico Museum of Art. Gift of Robert M. Bell and Stirling M. Puck, 1991 (1991.89.9). © Bell Family Collection. Photo by Addison Doty.