UNM’s Chelsea Snow shines as 2025 Reggie Behl Award winner

The UNM Department of Art has recently recognized undergraduate student Chelsea Snow as the recipient of the 2025 Reggie Behl Award.

The award includes a $1,000 cash prize and is presented annually to a student whose drawing portfolio demonstrates exceptional skill, creativity and artistic achievement.

"Artists are always searching for and working toward opportunities like this award, and I'm incredibly grateful to be recognized," Snow said. "It's an honor to have been chosen."

Snow's work will be featured in the John Sommers Gallery lobby during the Spring 2026 semester as part of the Undergraduate Juried Show, an exhibition showcasing work from undergraduate students across the department.

"I create my work by layering, arranging and drawing images in ways that bring forward the elements I believe matter most," Snow said. "These pieces reflect parts of my own life and those around me, capturing both warnings and memories that continue to resonate."

The award honors artist, educator and world traveler Regina "Reggie" Behl. Behl grew up in Long Beach, New York, and earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute in 1944, the same year she married her high school classmate, Hal Behl. After Hal began work on the Manhattan Project and was assigned to the K-25 plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in 1945, Reggie joined him and taught art at Highland View Grammar School, where she was promoted to head art teacher within a year.

Following the Manhattan Project, the couple raised three sons before Behl returned to school to earn a master's degree in painting from California State University at Northridge. A prolific artist and lifelong educator, she became known nationally for her "Quick Sketching for Travel" workshops and went on to teach drawing around the world, including at the University of New Mexico.

For more information, visit, art.unm.edu.