El Paso: Texas’ New Hot Spot For Art
Art lovers will have a new favorite destination in Texas this year when the final pieces of El Paso’s Downtown Arts District slot into place, bringing a cultural renaissance to a city worth a visit in its own right. El Paso is hoping to tap into the buzzy type of art tourism that Marfa attracts—and convince the glitterati and gallerists flying in from New York, Los Angeles, and Miami to take a detour from the car rental lot at the international airport to the city itself.
A Thriving Arts Community
In recent years, El Paso has prioritized increasing arts access and community-facing programs to residents, including those across the border in Juarez, many of whom cross daily. The city even has an appointed director of Quality of Life who oversees cultural affairs and recreation. New museums like La Nube STEAM Discovery Center, designed by starchitect firm Snøhetta, and the Mexican American Cultural Center (which opens in March) embrace the region’s people, its border, and its creativity, providing El Pasoans a point of unity and pride in their city.
“This cultural explosion is nearly 15 years in the making,” says Edward Hayes, Jr., director of the El Paso Museum of Art, which is in the heart of the Arts District. Here are five reasons that art lovers—and really, any travelers—should spend a few days in El Paso in 2025.
The El Paso Museum of Art
The El Paso Museum of Art features permanent collections of North American, European, and pre-Columbian art, but now it also places a large emphasis on contemporary work from the Southwest and Mexico. “The focus has been to transform the institution from the inside out, while still reflecting the community,” says Hayes. A major part of this reflection is the Border Biennial, which will next be held in 2026. This unique binational exhibit will showcase the works of contemporary artists on both sides of the border—not just from Juarez and El Paso but also Tijuana, New Mexico, and California. The 2024 biennial, a collaboration with Museo de Arte de Ciudad Juárez, garnered major national attention.
Connecting with Marfa
Hayes is also eager to close the gap between the city and its more famous neighbor to the southeast. “New ties are being formed between Marfa and El Paso arts communities and patrons,” he says. In fact, the museum received its first minimalist work in 2024, an aluminum sculpture by Dutch artist Cecilia Vissers, which was donated by the estate of longtime Marfa-resident Lineaus Hooper Lorette. “To engage the visitor who comes to see minimalism in the desert, we should have complementary exhibitions,” Hayes notes.
Star Ceiling by Leo Villareal
A major draw for El Paso is Star Ceiling (El Paso), a new work from artist Leo Villareal that is both a twinkling urban canopy and dramatic entry to the museum. “If you are traveling to Marfa and are aware that there is a Villareal along the way, you will stop,” says Hayes, who recommends timing your visit at dusk to really appreciate the work. Villareal, who grew up in El Paso–Juarez, says his light-based work is partly inspired by his childhood observing the night sky over the desert.
La Nube STEAM Museum
This striking STEAM museum opened in 2024 and was designed by famed Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta (whose managing director, Elaine Molinar, is from El Paso) to look like a cloud. (Nube is Spanish for cloud.) Its white curves and misting fountains outside add something otherworldly to the earthy, adobe colors surrounding it, while the interiors are designed to reveal amazing displays as visitors make their way through the museum, floor by floor.
The Mexican American Cultural Center
When it opens on March 22, the Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC) will celebrate a city that’s nearly 80 percent Hispanic. Designed by El Paso architecture firm Exigo, the center’s horizontal terra-cotta panels and bronze facade create a harmonious relationship with the neighboring El Paso Museum of History. The opening exhibit ¡Es Hora! / ¡It’s Time! features Mexican American art from 1960 to now, and the center contains a state-of-the-art auditorium and black-box theater for live events, as well as recording studios and a rooftop lounge.
The Centennial Museum and Chihuahuan Desert Gardens
Located on the University of Texas at El Paso campus, the Centennial Museum and Chihuahuan Desert Gardens is a natural history museum showcasing native flora, fauna, and geology of the Chihuahuan Desert, along with Native American artifacts and armor of the Conquistadors.
The Rubin Center for Visual Arts
Across campus, the Rubin Center for Visual Arts is a contemporary art gallery that celebrates a diversity of perspectives with rotating exhibitions, large installations, and experimental projects. The current Mud + Corn + Stone + Blue exhibit brings together art and artists from agricultural regions across Central America and North America, including the fields of Nicaragua and Great Plains states like Kansas. This compelling show runs until April 2025 and will then travel to other university museums in Massachusetts and Illinois.
The Underground Art Scene
On top of the incredible, city funded art spaces that exist in the Sun City, El Paso has a vibrant tapestry of underground art culture. The space is full of local, grassroots organizations doing the groundwork to make sure local musicians, unknown artists, up and coming comedians, and writers of all kinds have spaces to practice their craft. El Paso is dripping with passionately run spaces that dont get as much advertising as the more mainstream museums and galleries noted above. Organizations like The Barbed Wire Open Mic, The Falstaff, The Jazz Exchange, Old Sheepdog Brewery, and so many more! These businesses and locally run institutions are doing the work to be sure that every artist, big or small, has a space to feel heard and be seen. THAT is the spirit of El Paso's Art Scene.
The Art & Sculptures of El Paso's Ho Baron
LOOK: An Inside Look at La Nube Children’s Museum
Gallery Credit: Iris Lopez