Summer at the Museums

Catch up with our local institutions over the next few months

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With news that the Vladem Contemporary satellite wing of the New Mexico Museum of Art will open in the fall instead of the original summer plan, now is a good time to refamiliarize yourself with our other local institutions. They’re not just for visitors: If locals time it right, they pay nothing (at state museums, the free part runs 5–7 pm Fridays and all day on the first Sunday of each month). Anyone with a library card can check out a pass to the state-run museums for any other day, too! And though not all of these shows opened recently—nor is this list all-inclusive—consider it a refresher.

Museum of Spanish Colonial Art

750 Camino Lejo, (505) 982-2226

If you didn’t know the importance of New Mexico’s role in the connectivity of the region and the overall development of culture, Trails, Rails, and Highways: How Trade Transformed the Art of Spanish New Mexico from Curator Emerita Robin Farwell Gavin has tons of info you, you, you oughta know (through August).

New Mexico Museum of Art

107 W Palace Ave., (505) 476-5063

With exhibits such as An American in Paris: Donald Beauregard and With the Grain lighting up the hallowed halls of the downtown museum, now’s the time to visit. With the Grain (through Sept. 4) proves a rather interesting trip through the history of New Mexico’s wood carving artisans, but the Beauregard stuff (through Oct. 22) sneaks up on you. You can practically see the modernist artist evolving in real time across paintings, watercolors and drawings.

Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian

704 Camino Lejo, (505) 982-4636

Chief Curator Andrea Hanley went to town with the Wheelwright’s California Stars show (through Jan. 14, 2024), a groundbreaking coming-together of artists both living and dead, featuring photos, paintings, fashion, video and so much more. Famed Coyote creator Harry Fonseca and living legend photog Cara Romero in one show? Dude. Not only that, but the Wheelwright’s Always in Relation show (through Oct. 21) features jewelry, vessels and various 2D works from the estate of collectors Ruth and Sidney Schultz.

IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts

108 Cathedral Place, (505) 428-5912

We constantly hear about the notable Native artists out there who attended the Institute of American Indian Arts, and its museum’s rotating exhibits bring the fire, too. Catch The Stories We Carry (through Sept. 30, 2024), which features jewelry work from more than 100 Indigenous artists.

Museum of Indian Arts & Culture

710 Camino Lejo, (505) 476-1269

If you have yet to catch the sprawling Here, Now and Always exhibit at MIAC (through July 2, 2024), go now. A massive undertaking that cuts a swath across regions, media, tribal affiliations and history, the show features over 600 pieces in a gorgeously renovated and thoughtful section of the museum.

Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

217 Johnson St., (505) 946-1000

Phasing from O’Keeffe’s famous flowers to showcase her work as a maker of books, furniture, art supplies, clothes and more, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum’s Making a Life (through March 27, 2024) provides insight into arguably the most famous woman artist ever.

Museum of International Folk Art

706 Camino Lejo, (505) 476-1204

MoIFA’s Ghhúunayúkata / To Keep Them Warm: The Alaska Native Parka (through April 7, 2024) provides a fascinating glimpse at how the survival garment affects people living in the most extreme climes.

SITE Santa Fe

1606 Paseo de Peralta, (505) 989-1199

In addition to all the live programming, special events and, frankly, killer openings SITE has hosted of late (we’re not crazy, right, SITE has really upped its party game?), artist Bruce Nauman kicked off his first solo show in New Mexico earlier this month. We’re talking 3D video and self-portraiture, and the early images we’ve seen are intriguing. Make sure to check the building’s exterior on Paseo de Peralta, too, for billboard works by a cohort of international artists.