Las Cruces artist helps Zambian orphans
Art therapy challenges children

What if you knew a child had lost both parents to AIDS - a child emotionally crippled by fear, anger and pain? What if you knew that painting a picture would provide a way for that child to deal with his or her suppressed emotions? What would you do?

That was the challenge Las Cruces artist Gerie Muchnikoff faced when she visited Zambia last year. She didn’t go in search of the challenge. She was fulfilling a desire to visit Africa with her daughter, Jamie Pollack. A vacation. An adventure. An opportunity to see and photograph African wildlife. To experience the Dark Continent as so many others have.

It was her lost luggage that brought the challenge, dared her to do something, to make a difference. Muchnikoff and her daughter departed the United States for Johannesburg with a layover in Senegal.

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Artists showcase Big Apple

Would you like some Big Apple with your green chile?That’s what is happening Friday at Blue Gate Fine Art Gallery with the show “New York, New York.” Gallery owner Flo Hosa Dougherty said the show is by New Yorkers for all “New Yorkers at Heart.” All the featured artists are current or former New Yorkers with a Las Cruces connection.

Teacher brings out creativity in her students

Las Cruces-Gerie Muchnikoff loves teaching kids to create as much as she enjous making art herself.

"Look at this. A fruit salad in space. Such joy! And look at this roadrunner. Can you believe a 5-year old did this?” she asked, surveying a gallery of her small students works at Meerscheidt Recreation Center.

Muchnikoff was one of the regional artists selected to be featured in upcoming episodes of HGTV’s “That’s Clever.” Producers recently visited her studio to tape segments scheduled for broadcast this fall.

“I was filmed in my home with the Organ Mountains behind me,” said Muchnikoff, who has found much artistic inspiration from the wildlife plants and landscapes of her new home.

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Gerie Muchnikoff is alive and well and she’s painting her heart out. The brand-new Las Cruces resident (she and her husband moved to the city from Illinois only six months ago) has opened her first show in Las Cruces at the The Bean Café, located at 2011 Avenida de Mesilla.

“In My Garden” features multi media works – many with flowering subjects- inspired by the sunshine and clean air of Las Cruces. Each painting sits inside a custom frame because Muchnikoff feels frames should work with the art itself.

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