A Fiery Light: Will Shuster’s New Mexico
Thu, Apr 01
|Zoom registration link below.
After Carlsbad Caverns was designated a National Monument in 1923, painter Will Shuster was one of the first artists to capture the magnificence of the caves. The following year, he and fellow artist Walter Mruk visited Carlsbad Caverns, where they were lowered into the caverns by bucket.


Time & Location
Apr 01, 2021, 6:00 PM MDT – Jul 25, 2021, 6:00 PM MDT
Zoom registration link below.
About the Event
Shuster and Mruk painted by the light of lamps. Shuster wanted to capture the geology of the caverns in a vibrant, technicolor fashion.
When the New Mexico Museum of Art (MOA) displayed the Carlsbad paintings in 1925, a reviewer called them the “most extraordinary paintings shown here in a decade.” Shuster and Mruk’s were among the earliest artistic renderings of Carlsbad Caverns, the beauty and majesty of which has continued to enchant generations.
“A Fiery Light: Will Shuster’s New Mexico,” currently on exhibit at the museum through July 25, 2021, includes works from artist’s time at Carlsbad Caverns. The exhibition also explores the legacy he developed in Santa Fe and elsewhere in New Mexico, emphasizing the artistic relationships he forged throughout the state.
To give visitors a deeper look at the exhibition, MOA will host a livestream talk via Zoom, featuring curator, artist, and caver Lois Manno at 6 p.m. MDT…