Captstone Exhibitions
The Museum Exhibition Design Lab is the crown jewel of UTEP’s Museum Studies Program. Modeled on the immersive, hands-on format of university bench-science labs and studio art courses, the Museum Exhibition Design Lab class (ART 3309) meets twice a week for three hours per meeting. Over the course of the semester, ART 3309 students work as a team to research, design, produce, and install a museum exhibition that will be open to the greater El Paso community for two weeks or more. In Spring 2027, advanced MUSE students will tackle the theme of adobe legacies at El Paso’s Texas State Historic Site “Magoffin Home,” ultimately designing an exhibition for installation in the El Paso Museum of History (opening May 2027).
MUSE Capstone Exhibitions, Through the Years:
- 2018 – A Story in Every Stitch: Women’s Clothing, 1895-1925
- 2019 – The Border That Does Not Divide: Artists and Art Along La Frontera
- 2020 – Their Permanent Collection: Personal Objects and the Stories They Tell
- 2021 – Beyond the Borderland: Chinese and Japanese Objects in El Paso
- 2022 – Celebrating Life: Connecting Humanity and Nature in the Chihuahuan Desert
- 2023 – Dressing Ourselves: Fashioning Identity in the Past and Present
- 2024 – Creating Memories: Every Object Has Its Story
- 2025 – The Popular: Memories of Local Luxury
