Violin Making Exhibit Opens at UNM

A new exhi­bi­tion, titled “Vio­lin Mak­ing: Con­struc­tion and Cul­ture,” opens in the Fine Arts and Design Library on Fri­day, March 8 and will be on dis­play through Sat­ur­day, May 11. An open­ing recep­tion will be held on Fri­day, March 22 from 4–6 p.m. in the Fine Arts and Design Library. The exhi­bi­tion fea­tures pho­tographs, tools and musi­cal instru­ments in var­i­ous stages of construction.

The exhi­bi­tion fea­tures stu­dent work from Pro­fes­sor Peter White’s vio­lin mak­ing class Amer­i­can Stud­ies 314. The class is held in a work­shop oper­ated by the New Mex­ico Musi­cal Her­itage Project. Stu­dents not only learn the his­tory of vio­lin mak­ing but also work on con­struct­ing their own musi­cal instru­ment which can take up to three years to complete.

There is a well-established tra­di­tion of vio­lin mak­ing in New Mex­ico and the South­west that has lan­guished in recent years. The New Mex­ico Musi­cal Her­itage Project estab­lished by White is unique stu­dio and class­room envi­ron­ment where UNM stu­dents learn both the art of play­ing and the craft of mak­ing violins.

The exhi­bi­tion is spon­sored by Uni­ver­sity Libraries Fine Arts and Design Library and the Col­lege of Fine Arts Bunting Visual Resources Library.

For more infor­ma­tion on the exhi­bi­tion, email Kath­leen Keat­ing kkeating@unm.edu.

For more infor­ma­tion, visit: New Mex­ico Musi­cal Her­itage Project.