By Roz Brown
Jennell Juarez, a 2025 Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate at New Mexico State University, is the rare family member with a college degree but her legacy is already sealed, literally, in a red chile tile.
She was one of two artists at the university asked to create 2-by-2-inch artwork for the nation’s 250th time capsule, now sealed and buried at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia.
Juarez said she was mostly given free rein but asked to incorporate local chile peppers.
“The hands, they are from a woman and she is making a ristra, so that’s representative of not just the arts but handcrafted art, which is often overlooked in the art world,” Juarez explained.
Another art graduate from the university contributed a second 2-by-2 tile depicting New Mexico’s counties.
What items will join Jennell Juarez’s red chile tile
Other art items contributed by the state were a Pueblo seed pot and a Navajo squash blossom necklace, plus memorabilia including a letter from the governor, a Route 66 Centennial challenge coin and a White Sands National Park vial of sand.
Juarez pointed out she comes from a long line of migrants and farmworkers. She hopes the image on her handcrafted tile honors her parents and grandparents, whom she credits for her opportunity to pursue higher education.
“I put my name on the back and I was like, ‘The Juarez name will live on.’ And so it was wonderful to see in real time the fruit of all of their labor and the foundation that they’ve built for me to stand on and to have this opportunity,” Juarez added.
The state of Maine might have contributed the most unusual item to the 250 America time capsule: a vertebra bone from an endangered North Atlantic right whale. The 900-pound time capsule is set to be unearthed on America’s 500th anniversary in 2276.
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