Artist Dialogue: Jesus Miguel Avena

Artist Dialogue: Jesus Miguel Avena A Dialogue on Memory and Ancestral Knowledge between Artist Jesus Miguel Avena and Curator hazel batrezchavez Sunday, October 4, 2026 12:30 – 1:30 pm NHCC | Wells Fargo Auditorium Join NHCC Curator hazel batrezchavez for a dedicated series of one-on-one conversations in connection with our Community Gallery exhibition i thought i saw you yesterday. Each dialogue functions as an individual chapter, unpacking a single artist’s material practice, ancestral ties, and creative process. This dialogue with artist Jesus Miguel Avena focuses on navigating Nepantla, and the visceral connection to the spaces in between. i thought i saw you yesterday is a group exhibition that explores memory and ancestral knowledge to create a dialogue between life cycles, food, land, place, and the body. Featuring artworks by artists Amanda Dannáe Romero, ashleigh steele chavez, Caroline Liu, claudia hermano, Esteban Ismael Durán, Jesus Miguel Avena, Joe Ramiro Garcia, Margarita Paz-Pedro, and Stephanie J. Woods. Free Community Event, please register in advance using the link below. PLEASE MAKE YOUR RESERVATION HERE! About the artist: Amanda Dannáe Romero is a Nuevomexicanx interdisciplinary artist and musician of Indo-Hispano heritage. Her practice incorporates sound, video, colcha embroidery, tinsmithing, composition, and performance. Her work explores the interconnectivity between humans and environments and the ways that cultural, regional, and environmental practices are shared between families and communities. The work in this exhibition draws from Romero’s ongoing exploration of memory, devotional practices, and artistic lineage. Using imagery from family photo archives dating back five generations in northern New Mexico, she integrates cyanotype prints on muslin fabric with colcha embroidery and tinsmithing, two mediums passed down from her great grandparents. By integrating this artistic language into a more contemporary context, Romero considers how memory is preserved and how informal spaces of gathering, like her grandmother’s kitchen table, are access points to intergenerational knowledge and experience. Romero is an art and music educator and received a master’s from St. John’s College and a BFA in Art Studio from UNM. She is a founding member of Fourteenfifteen Gallery and the L.o.A. artist collective. Artist Dialogue: Jesus Miguel Avena | New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs