![Omar Contreras looks at "48 Days," an art project by Jonathan Hawes, during the opening night of "Land Art Students Exhibit" at [AC]2 Gallery.](https://snworksceo.imgix.net/tdl/b91723e5-8d92-4caf-a465-e8369496da61.sized-1000x1000.jpg?ar=4%3A3&fit=fill&fill=blur)
Art students are taking their work to new levels through a program that takes them to new places.
Students in UNM's Land Arts of the American West program presented their work Friday at the [AC]2 Gallery at 301 Mountain Rd. NE.
Students went on two 23-day trips through different ecosystems all over the Southwest and Mexico. Their artwork reflected the experiences they had on the journey.
Bill Gilbert, an art history professor at UNM, has taken 12 to 14 art students to different landscapes around the Southwest since 2000.
"They get a whole semester out of it," he said. "So the work is more complex and more developed than if they were just taking a three-hour studio program on campus."
He said the program gave students a way to look at developing their art in a new way.
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"We're trying a different model about how to teach students to become artists - it's a research laboratory," he said.
Gilbert said the program was funded by a grant from the Lannan Foundation, a Santa Fe organization dedicated to supporting the arts.
"It was their grant that allowed us to get it started," he said.
They had one week between the two trips to live and work in the environment they were in, developing ideas for future pieces of art, student Ben Johnsen said.
"We were just living - camping outdoors, living in the landscape and using it to also make work," he said.
The students created work in a variety of mediums, including photography and performance pieces.
Johnsen said some of the artists worked in the actual environments while others used the time to gather research for future projects.
Student Emma Lee Young said the program offered her an opportunity to develop as an artist.
"There's no way I could have had the opportunity to do this at all," she said.
Young said her artwork was a response to the environment and the landscape she was in.
"Everyone's work developed so much," she said. "It was a class about finding out how you react to the land."
Nina Frieer, who attended the event, said the exhibit reflected the progression students made as individual artists.
"I like the large mix of different mediums," she said. "I think it represents well the different experiences that people walk away with."
