STEMarts Lab is excited to partner with Seco Live to create the Lowrider Design Challenge which complements the Low ‘N Slow exhibit, produced by Seco Live, a 501c3 building community through creativity in the little village of Arroyo Seco, New Mexico. This project is made possible with thanks to our sponsors, The Taos Revolt Giving Fund@Revolt Gallery and Seco Live.
Low ‘N Slow is a satellite exhibit that emerged from the Harwood Museum of Art exhibit: Santo Lowride: Norteño Car Culture and the Santos Tradition. It is an immersive outdoor experience for art lovers of all ages providing a multi sensory tour through the world of lowrider arts and culture in Northern New Mexico. The Lowrider exhibit is curated by the prolific voice of New Mexico artist, Toby Morfin, who is also exhibiting in the Harwood show. Taking place throughout the summer of 2021, this safe and socially distant exhibition takes visitors through every aspect of lowrider culture from a 101 guide to hydraulics and pinstriping and tattoo classes to lowrider movie cult classics and interactive community gathering experiences.
Santo Lowride: Norteño Car Culture and the Santos Tradition curated by Nicole Dial- Kay, unrolls the unique story of New Mexico’s interwoven expressions of devotional art and lowrider culture. Just as the santos artists seek a physical channel between the heavens and their daily life, the lowrider has evolved as a modern-day vessel for the belief systems of multicultural Norteño communities. In this exhibition, santeros, santeras, and famed lowrider artists cruise low ’n’ slow side-by-side to make apparent how these two art forms share subject matter and religious function, binding them across past and present people
Lowrider of the Future
The theme of the STEMarts Lowrider Design Challenge is ‘Lowrider of the Future’. Students delved into the history of the lowrider to understand its artistic and cultural significance, as well as the hydraulics and engineering, to inform their designs. At the same time they researched the latest scientific and technological innovations to ask: How might a Lowrider look in the future if they applied these new innovations to a lowrider design? How might it improve its hydraulic system, become more sustainable, change its style? How might these future influences alter the cultural connection of lowrider cars?
Cash prizes will be awarded for Best of Show ($300) and several categories such as Best Traditional Design, and Best Futuristic Design ($100ea). There will also be a Best Teacher Curriculum Integration Award ($150). The Design Criteria below will be used by the Seco Live jurors to select the winners. Stay tuned for the announcement of winners!
Teachers were given access to a comprehensive curriculum tool to help create lesson plans around this activity.
