All Press Releases
New Mexico History Museum | Jan 15, 2014
Beginning with his early years working as a research photographer at the Sacramento Peak Solar Observatory in southern New Mexico, photographer Donald Woodman honed his photographic vision first through stars and clouds and then through sandy soil, majestic peaks and his own interior life. Donald Woodman: Transformed by New Mexico explores that journey through a series of photographs on exhibit February 23 through October 12, 2014, in the New Mexico History Museum’s Mezzanine Gallery.
Transformed by New Mexico is one of the commemorations of the History Museum’s fifth anniversary, a yearlong series of exhibits and events celebrating all the museum has accomplished since its opening in May 2009.
New Mexico History Museum | Jan 7, 2014
Experts on pinhole photography, the Taos Mutiny of 1855, New Mexico’s Civil War slave code and more will speak in the first half of the 2014 Brainpower & Brownbags Lecture Series. Organized by Tomas Jaehn of the museum’s Fray Angélico Chávez History Library, the lectures are free and open to the public (and, yes, you can bring a lunch). Each lecture begins at noon in the Meem Community Room; enter through the museum’s Washington Avenue doors. Seating is limited.
Mark your calendars. The schedule:
Wednesday, Jan. 15: Andres Armijo on “Witness to the Light: A History of Vernacular Photography in New Mexico.”
Armijo, an Albuquerque resident, is the author of Becoming a Part of My History: Through Images & Stories of My Ancestors (LPD Press/Rio Grande Books, 2010).
Wednesday, Feb. 19: Stefanie Beninato on “Land Grants and Water Rights: Fighting Words in the 21st Century"
Beninato, a Santa Fe tour guide, holds a doctorate in Southwest history from the University of New Mexico.
Wednesday, March 5: Brian Stout on “Tree of Life: Our Forests in Peril”
Stout is a Michigan-based forester and author of Trees of Life: Our Forests in Peril (Friesen Press, 2013).
Wednesday, April 23: Nancy Spencer and Eric Renner on “Contemporary Pinhole Photography in the West and Southwest"
Spencer and Renner created the Pinhole Resource Collection from their home in New Mexico’s Mimbres Valley. They guest-curated the exhibition Poetics of Light: Pinhole Photography at the New Mexico History Museum, April 26, 2014–March 29, 2015, along with its accompanying book (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2014).
Wednesday, May 21: John Ramsay on “The Year 1855: Excitement in the Taos Plaza”
Ramsay, a retired Los Alamos National Laboratory researcher, is a longtime board member of the History Society of New Mexico.
Wednesday, June 18: John P. Hays on “The Curious Case of New Mexico’s Civil War-Era Slave Code”
Hays is an attorney in the Santa Fe firm of Cassutt, Hays and Friedman.
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture | Jan 1, 2014
Turquoise, Water, Sky: The Stone and Its Meaning, opening April 13, 2014 at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, highlights the Museum’s extensive collection of Southwestern turquoise jewelry and presents all aspects of the stone, from geology, mining and history, to questions of authenticity and value.
People in the Southwest have used turquoise for jewelry and ceremonial purposes and traded valuable stones both within and outside the region for over a thousand years. Turquoise, Water, Sky presents hundreds of necklaces, bracelets, belts, rings, earrings, silver boxes and other objects illustrating how the stone was used and its deep significance to the people of the region. This comprehensive consideration of the stone runs through May 2 2016.
New Mexico History Museum | Dec 3, 2013
Meet the new kids on the block, check out a cool education program, find out what artist Kumi Yamashita is up to, map out your holiday events. All that and more in the December-January edition of The Museum Times, a publication of the New Mexico History Museum/Palace of the Governors. Give it a read by clicking here (or log onto http://media.newmexicoculture.org/press_releases.php?action=detail&releaseID=291) then tap on "download PDF" at the bottom of the page.
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture | Oct 27, 2013
A 1974 Triumph TRB decorated by Hopi Tewa artist Dan Namingha and nine other Native American artists is parked in the lobby of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (MIAC), a symbol of a broadened approach by the museum to create partnerships with other area institutions that share a mission in honoring and perpetuating Native art and education.
The 1974 Triumph was donated this summer by Dr. Elizabeth Sackler, the founder and president of the American Indian Ritual Object Reparation Foundation and a key figure in arts education and philanthropy. Sackler is the founding president of the Friends of the Freer and Sackler Galleries of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Sackler also is responsible for the gift of The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago to the Brooklyn Museum, where it is permanently installed in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art.
Warrior and Dr. Sackler agreed the car was the perfect symbol of collaboration to mark the beginning of MIAC’s partnership with IAIA.
Museum of International Folk Art | Oct 24, 2013
A fascinating range of unique and vibrant folk traditions are presented in BRASIL & ARTE POPULAR, an exhibition opening Sunday, November 17, 2013, at the Museum of International Folk Art. The exhibition runs through August 10, 2014.
This show will feature over 300 pieces from the museum’s rich Brazilian collection: woodblock prints, colorful ceramic and wood folk sculptures, toys and puppets, religious art, festival costumes, and more.
The varied cultural mix found throughout the vast region of Brazil draws from the original indigenous inhabitants and from the Portuguese colonists who began to settle there in the sixteenth century. Enslaved Africans brought by the Europeans contributed their own religions and rituals, as well as vibrant music and dance. The curator, Barbara Mauldin, tells us that “eventually merging traditions created the dynamic cultural fusion that is so uniquely Brazilian.”
The majority of work in the exhibit is from the twentieth century when the last vestiges of colonialism had faded. Then, folk artists found that they had more freedom to portray their history, folklore, and daily life. And, at last, religious practitioners could carry out their rituals openly, and festival performers were able to both draw from old traditions and use contemporary issues to create lively pageants and dramas. One type of performance, known as capoeira, will be presented at the opening on November 17, 2013, by Mestre Virgulino and his group, Capoeira Cordão do Ouro Cangaço.
The opening is free to New Mexico residents, and to others by museum admission, between 1 and 4 p.m. on Sunday, November 17, 2013 with refreshments provided by the Women’s Board of the Museum of New Mexico.
Two public programs are currently scheduled. On Sunday, January 26, 2014 between 1 and 4 p.m. will be a “Festival Toy Making Workshop” where participants can try their hand at making an armadillo, a nationally favored animal and official mascot of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. On Sunday, April 6, 2014 between 2 and 4 p.m. Frank and Pilar Leto and their band PANdemonium will perform the high-energy original music and dance for which they are well-known in both this country and abroad. Both events are open free to New Mexico residents, and to others by museum admission.
High resolution images may be downloaded from the Museum of New Mexico Media Center here.
Media Contacts:
Steve Cantrell, PR Manager
505-476-1144
Barbara Mauldin, Curator of Latin American Art
505-476-1222
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New Mexico History Museum | Oct 8, 2013
Starting Nov. 1, the New Mexico History Museum’s Free Friday Evenings will switch from every Friday to the first Friday of each month through April. Admission will be free from 5 to 8 pm for everyone on those evenings, and we’ll spice them up with casual staff-led gallery talks about special items in our long-term collections.
Meet up with friends, learn a little something, then head onto dinner with the money you saved. The talks will be repeated at 5:30 and 6:30 each evening.
Free Friday Evenings will resume their traditional weekly schedule May through October 2014.
New Mexico History Museum | Oct 7, 2013
This event is SOLD OUT. Thanks for your support!
Fred Harvey all but invented cultural tourism, inspiring travel on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway that brought new life to the American West. From 4–7 pm on Sunday, Nov. 17, the New Mexico History Museum joins with KNME-TV and La Fonda on the Plaza to celebrate that legacy with a fund-raising event for the museum’s exhibitions and public programming funds.
An Evening with the Harvey Girls begins with the premiere of Producer Katrina Parks’ new documentary, The Harvey Girls: Opportunity Bound, in the History Museum auditorium. Following the film, participants will enjoy an exclusive reception at La Fonda with Harvey House-inspired hors d’oeuvres and tours of newly renovated suites featuring the architectural and design legacies of Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter. Special guests include Parks; former Harvey Girls; and Stephen Fried, author of a 2010 book about the Harvey empire, Appetite for America.
Tickets are $80; $100 for reserved seating, and are available at the museum’s shops or by calling 505-982-9543. Ticket holders will also receive a complimentary set of note cards featuring historical Harvey images.
Museum of International Folk Art | Oct 2, 2013
The Museum of International Folk Art will screen the documentary film, La Festividad de los Muertos /Lanii Xtee Tugul in the New Mexico History Museum/Palace of the Governors’ Auditorium on Wednesday, October 30 at 2 p.m.
The film focuses on Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) or Todos Santos (All Souls) celebrations by members of today’s Zapotec community in Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico. The film highlights the enduring influence of the ancient Zapotecs’ cultural legacy, that is deeply rooted in pre-Hispanic indigenous cultures, in pagan, and in Catholic rituals (as it is throughout Latin America).
New Mexico History Museum | Sep 30, 2013
Learn more about a special Harvey Girls event, new awards, a new book, and lots of great events at the New Mexico History Museum/Palace of the Governors. iIt’s all in the latest edition of The Museum Times. Give it a read by clicking here (or log onto http://media.museumofnewmexico.org/press_releases.php?action=detail&releaseID=284) then tap on "download PDF" at the bottom of the page.
New Mexico Museum of Art | Sep 20, 2013
Three exhibitions opening at the New Mexico Museum of Art on Friday, September 20, 2013 examine the intent behind collecting art – from the perspectives of the museum and the private collector. Organized by three of the museum’s curators those exhibitions are:
Museum of International Folk Art | Sep 15, 2013
Santa Fe’s first-ever food conference of its kind grew out of the exhibition. It will take place at the Museum of International Folk Art the weekend of November 8—10, 2013. James Beard Award-winning authors and chefs from across the US will gather with leading historians, archaeologists, cultural commentators, and folklorists to discuss and demonstrate how traditions and techniques from diverse heritages have intersected to create a culinary tradition uniquely New Mexican (and transported globally).
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture | Sep 3, 2013
A celebration of sight, sound, and activity for visitors of all ages, Heartbeat: Music of the Native Southwest, opens Sunday, September 29, 2013 at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. Over 100 objects relating to Southwestern Native dance and music will be featured, including a flute made by Grammy award-winning artist Robert Mirabal of Taos Pueblo.
Museum of International Folk Art | Aug 29, 2013
An exploration of the dawn of world cuisine as we know—and consume it— today opened last year at the Museum of International Folk Art with New World Cuisine: The Histories of Chocolate, Mate y Más, on view through January 5, 2014.
Digging deeper into the topics covered in New World Cuisine will be FUZE.SW 2013. Santa Fe’s first-ever food conference of its kind takes place at the Museum of International Folk Art the weekend of November 8—10, 2013. James Beard Award-winning authors and chefs from across the US will gather with leading historians, archaeologists, cultural commentators, and folklorists to discuss and demonstrate how traditions and techniques from diverse heritages have intersected to create a culinary tradition uniquely New Mexican (and transported globally).
Museum of New Mexico | Aug 29, 2013
The New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs’ four Santa Fe museums will continue to be open on Mondays through October 7, 2013. Historically, the four museums (New Mexico History Museum/Palace of the Governors; New Mexico Museum of Art; Museum of International Folk Art; and Museum of Indian Arts & Culture) were only open on Mondays during the summer from Memorial Day thru Labor Day.
“We are pleased to have our doors open on Mondays to attract and welcome numerous visitors including those here for the Balloon Fiesta,” said Cultural Affairs Secretary Veronica N. Gonzales. “The additional day will give our visitors an extra day each week to explore New Mexico through the exhibits at our four Santa Fe museums and discover New Mexico’s culture, art, and history.”
New Mexico Museum of Art | Aug 15, 2013
The New Mexico Museum of Art is the only American venue for the exhibition Renaissance to Goya: Prints and Drawings from Spain that is literally rewriting the book on Spanish art. After the British Museum in London, the Prado in Madrid and the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia the exhibition opens December 14, 2013 in Santa Fe and runs through March 9, 2014.
New Mexico History Museum | Aug 1, 2013
Learn more about the History Museum’s upcoming Wild West Weekend. Meet our newest staffers. Check out the collections vault’s toys, toys, and more toys. It’s all in the latest edition of The Museum Times. Give it a read by clicking here, then tap on "download PDF" at the bottom of the next page.
New Mexico History Museum | Jul 22, 2013
Immerse yourself in cowboy culture August 9—11 at the New Mexico History Museum’s Wild West Weekend, a special event celebrating the exhibition Cowboys Real and Imagined. Cowboy musicians and poets join trick ropers, saddle makers, silversmiths and more to provide three days of hands-on fun for the whole family. The events are free; the exhibition is by regular admission (Sundays free to NM residents, Friday evenings free to everyone, children 16 and under free daily).
New Mexico History Museum | Jul 10, 2013
Gregory Hinton grew up in the cowboy country of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado, but evacuated to a California more tolerant of him as a gay man, finally making peace with his roots thanks to gay rodeo. Blake Little showed up at his first gay rodeo in the 1980s intending only to take photographs, but became so enchanted that he eventually earned his spurs as a champion bull rider.
Hinton and Little will talk about their experiences, joined by Brian Helander, founder and president of the Gay & Lesbian Rodeo Heritage Foundation, and renowned Santa Fe photographer Herb Lotz, on Sunday, Aug. 4, at 2 pm in the New Mexico History Museum Auditorium. “Pride in the Saddle in New Mexico: The Story of Gay Rodeo” is free with admission; Sundays are free to NM residents.
Museum of International Folk Art | Jul 7, 2013
HighLet’s Talk About This: Folk Artists Respond to HIV/AIDSopens in the Museum of International Folk Art’s Mark Naylor and Dale Gunn Gallery of Conscience on July 7, 2013 in conjunction with the International Folk Art Market – Santa Fe. This is the fourth in a series of annual exhibitions in the gallery and runs through January 5, 2014.
New Mexico History Museum | Jun 26, 2013
Experts on the early history of baseball, Mable Dodge Luhan, Edith Warner, and hippies will participate in the second half of the 2013 Brainpower & Brownbags Lecture Series. Organized by Tomas Jaehn of the museum’s Fray Angélico Chávez History Library, the lectures are free and open to the public (and, yes, you can bring a lunch). Each lecture begins at noon in the Meem Community Room; enter through the museum’s Washington Avenue doors. Seating is limited. Go to http://media.museumofnewmexico.org/press_releases.php?action=detail&releaseID=271 for details.
Go to http://media.museumofnewmexico.org/press_releases.php?action=detail&releaseID=271 for details. -->
New Mexico History Museum | Jun 25, 2013
Staffers of the New Mexico History Museum are delighted to welcome an offshoot of the popular dulce bakery + coffee to the museum’s Cowden Café. Now up and running, “dulce downtown” is operating a coffee shop and bakery/café in the museum’s second-floor space through this fall. The bakery serves sumptuous helpings of fresh-baked pastries, quiche, coffees and teas to customers eager for red velvet cupcakes, blueberry-ginger scones, banana-walnut muffins, bread pudding, lemon tarts, and cheesecake.
New Mexico History Museum | Jun 18, 2013
Besides selling authentic handmade artwork, jewelry, pottery and more beneath the Palace Portal, the Native American Artisans Program of the New Mexico History Museum/Palace of the Governors brings back two of its most popular events this summer, the annual Young Natives Arts & Crafts Show, July 6 and 7, and the Palace Portal Artisans’ Celebration during in the SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market weekend, Aug. 17 and 18.
New Mexico History Museum | Jun 14, 2013
When he heard African American cowboys singing made-up songs under the New Mexico stars, N. Howard “Jack” Thorp decided to compile the world’s first book of campfire lyrics, Songs of the Cowboy.
Born a slave, George McJunkin grew up to become foreman of the Crowfoot Ranch near Folsom, NM, where he discovered ancient bones that proved, at the time, to be the oldest of their kind.
From the freed slaves who found work on the earliest cattle drives to the contemporary rodeo circuit, African Americans have been part of New Mexico’s cowboy heritage for generations.
Learn more about the roles they played at “African American Cowboys” on Sunday, June 30, at 2 pm in the History Museum Auditorium. See the short documentary African American Cowboy: The Forgotten Man of the West, by film student Victoria Lioznyansky, followed by a discussion with Kevin Woodson and Aaron Hopkins of Cowboys of Color, sponsors of the largest multicultural rodeo tour in the world.
The event, part of the exhibition Cowboys Real and Imagined, is free with admission. Sundays are free with admission; children 16 and under are free every day.
New Mexico History Museum | May 31, 2013
From a fine-press reprise of the book that started country singers singin' to railroad maps, conservation of an awesome artowork, a photographer of vernacular architecture and more, the latest edition of The Museum Times from the New Mexico History Museum fits the bill. Give it a read by clicking here, then tap on "download PDF" at the bottom of the next page.
, then tap on "download PDF" at the bottom of the next page.-->New Mexico History Museum | May 14, 2013
In the hallowed tradition of campfire tales and cowboy poetry, the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project holds a special session at the New Mexico History Museum on Friday, June 21, 10–11 am. People living with dementia, their family members and the general public are invited to participate in performing and creating poetry inspired by the new exhibit Cowboys Real and Imagined. Poet Gary Glazner, founder and executive director of the Alzheimer's Poetry Project, will lead the session.
The event is free by reservation, but limited to 30 participants. For more information or reservations, contact Gary Glazner at (505) 577-2250 or gary@alzpoetry.com.
New Mexico History Museum | May 6, 2013
Author, painter, and raconteur Max Evans is joined by Jim Harris, director of the Lea County Museum, to talk about his storied career, including the making of movies from his works, at 6 pm on Friday, May 17. After jawin’ about the cowboy life, the two will introduce a special showing of The Hi-Lo Country (1998), starring Woody Harrelson, Billy Crudup, and Patricia Arquette. The evening, part of the exhibition Cowboys Real and Imagined (through March 16, 2014), is in the History Museum auditorium. Admission is free every Friday 5-8 pm.
New Mexico Museum of Art | May 3, 2013
PETER SARKISIAN: VIDEO WORKS, 1994-2011
Santa Fe-based video artist to open mid-career retrospective
at the New Mexico Museum of Art
May 3 – August 18, 2013
(Santa Fe, March 4, 2013—Throughout his career Santa Fe-based artist Peter Sarkisian has been an innovator working at the cutting edge of multi-media art. Juxtaposing projected video and physical objects, his installations explore the intersection of the moving image and sculpture.
Peter Sarkisian: Video Works, 1994-2011 opens at the New Mexico Museum of Art Friday, May 3, 2013 with a free reception hosted by the Women’s Board of the Museum of New Mexico. The exhibition features 15 video and mixed-media works spanning 18 years and will be on view through August 18, 2013.
New Mexico History Museum | Apr 16, 2013
Museum-trained guides in Santa Fe history will resume their Downtown Walking Tours on April 22, Monday—Saturday, through mid-October. The tours begin at 10:15 am in front of the Blue Gate just south of the New Mexico History Museum’s main entrance at 113 Lincoln Ave. Tours cost $10; children 16 and under free when accompanied by an adult. Museum guides do not accept tips.
New Mexico History Museum | Apr 14, 2013
When America needed hard workers, the cowboy was there. The job was dirty and difficult, low-paid and lowly regarded. But when an America torn by the Civil War needed a hero to unite its soul, the unassuming cowboy was an unlikely—and ultimately lasting—pick. Since riding out of Spanish horse culture, he’s been an itinerant hired hand, an outlaw, a movie star, a rodeo athlete, a radio yodeler, and a rhinestoned disco diva. He’s been Spanish, Mexican, African American, Anglo, male, female, straight, and gay. His image has been co-opted to sell trucks, beer, boots, beans, jeans, tires, cigarettes, leather couches, presidential candidates, and a lifestyle far beyond the means of real-life buckaroos.
Using artifacts and photographs from its wide-ranging collections, along with loans from more than 100 people and museums, Cowboys Real and Imagined (April 14, 2013, through March 16, 2014) blends a chronological history of Southwestern cowboys with the rise of a manufactured mystique as at home on city streets as it is in a stockyard.
