Los Alamos artists join Route 66 centennial exhibit at Mesa library

Los Alamos is getting its own Route 66 centennial moment inside Mesa Public Library, where Step Up Gallery has gathered more than 60 works for an exhibit that turns the Mother Road into a local art show. The display, titled Ode To The Road, brings together artists from Los Alamos, White Rock and nearby Northern New Mexico communities as Route 66 marks 100 years since its 1926 establishment.

The exhibit opens with a reception from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, June 20, and will run through July 23 on the upper level of Mesa Public Library, 2400 Central Ave. Step Up Gallery describes the show as a non-juried call for art, with artists allowed to enter up to 10 works honoring Route 66. Artwork may be for sale, and the gallery says it does not take a commission.

That makes the show more than a seasonal display. It turns a public library gallery into a sales outlet and a community stage at the same time, a format that has helped Step Up Gallery build its 30-year legacy of curating fine arts and educational exhibitions for the greater Los Alamos community. The gallery also says it regularly features artists of northern New Mexico, traveling museum exhibits and regional cultural shows, keeping the space tied to both local makers and broader heritage programming.

The Route 66 theme fits that mission. New Mexico’s centennial materials note that the state holds one of the longest stretches of the historic highway and one of its richest histories, and communities across the state are marking the anniversary with preservation, murals, public art and neon restoration. In Los Alamos, the response comes through paintings, quilts and mixed-media work rather than roadside signs, but the cultural pull is the same: a shared visual language of travel, memory and Southwest identity.

The exhibit’s range underscores that point. The participating artists include people from Los Alamos, White Rock, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Espanola, Ojo Caliente, Cerrillos, Pecos and Cedar Crest, giving the show a reach that extends well beyond the county line. Together, the submitted pieces include plein air paintings of scenes along Historic Route 66, studio works imagining the past and fabric quilts that honor the highway.

For visitors looking for a reason to stop at the library this summer, the exhibit offers one in plain sight. Route 66 may be a national symbol, but in Los Alamos it is arriving as a neighborly, regional show, built from the work of local artists and the communities that still shape Northern New Mexico’s cultural economy.