New Mexico History Museum | Apr 1, 2015
Hot off the interwebs, it’s all the latest news from the New Mexico History Museum/Palace of the Governors. Discover a flag that saw action at the Civil War’s Battle of Glorieta Pass. Take a slow ride on a horse-drawn hearse. Dance! All that and more. Click here to download a PDF.
New Mexico History Museum | Apr 1, 2015
Civil War battles raged across America’s northern and southern states as Texas Confederates launched a plot: Head north and west through the New Mexico Territory with hopes of seizing California’s goldfields and sea ports. In 1862, battles erupted in Mesilla, Valverde, and Glorieta. Confederate forces briefly occupied the Palace of the Governors. Despite such victories, breaks in supply chains forced the Texans to retreat. In the History Museum’s Mezzanine Gallery, May 1 through Feb. 26, 2016, three curators join forces for the exhibition, Fading Memories: Echoes of the Civil War. Photo Curator Daniel Kosharek, 19th- and 20th-Century Southwest Collections Curator Meredith Davidson, and Palace Press Curator Thomas Leech approach the subject from different angles and invite visitors to consider the possible meanings behind the fragments of memories on exhibit and how a long-gone war still defines us as Americans.
Museum of International Folk Art | Mar 22, 2015
Face jugs of the American South are the subject of a two-part public program at the Museum of International Folk Art on Sunday, March 22, 1-4pm. John Burrison will give a lecture on the history of this Southern tradition at 1pm, followed by a face jug demonstration by Georgia potter Mike Craven. The programs are in conjunction with the museum’s current exhibition Pottery of the U.S. South: A Living Tradition. Both events are by museum admission. New Mexico residents with ID are free on Sundays.
New Mexico History Museum | Mar 17, 2015
Take part in the debut of CreativeMornings’ latest chapter. Learn more about the Santuario de Chimayo, Fred Harvey artisans, and pinhole photography. Plus: It’s the annual return of the Historical Downtown Walking Tours, Monday through Saturday, April 13 through Oct. 17.
New Mexico History Museum | Mar 14, 2015
In an age when every cell phone can take a respectable picture, cameras as low-tech as an oatmeal box still beguile a legion of practitioners, both artistic and documentarian. With roots in the ancient discovery of the camera obscura, pinhole photography has enchanted artists from the 1880s through today. Opening April 27 (through January 10, 2016), Poetics of Light: Pinhole Photography, in the Herzstein Gallery of the New Mexico History Museum, explores a historical art form that exemplifies thoroughly contemporary ideals: Do-it-yourself handmade technology with a dash of steampunk style.
Nearly 225 photographs and 40 cameras show how a light-tight box pierced by a hole and holding a piece of old-school film can reveal alternate versions of reality. At heart, photography is a method of capturing the way that light plays upon objects, the seen and the unseen—a visual form of poetry that extends beyond a literal representation whenever pinhole cameras are involved.
Poetics of Light offers a premiere of original prints by photographers from around the world. Drawn from the holdings of the Pinhole Resource Collection, the body of work was amassed by co-curators Eric Renner and Nancy Spencer in San Lorenzo, in New Mexico’s Mimbres Valley. In 2012, seeking a permanent repository and impressed by the capabilities of the Photo Archives at the Palace of the Governors, the couple donated the collection—more than 6,000 photographs, 60 cameras and hundreds of books—to the New Mexico History Museum.
Coronado Historic Site | Mar 11, 2015
The exhibition Early Native American Easel Art in New Mexico just opened at the Coronado Historic Site and runs through February 2016. Featured are seventeen prints of original water color paintings lent by the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture’s Dorothy Dunn Collection.
Among the artists on view are Vidal Casiquito, Jr. and José Rey Toledo of Jemez, Gilbert Atencio of San Ildefonso, and Pablita Velarde of Santa Clara, as well as several pieces by Zia artist, Velino Shije Herrera, who in the early 1930s painted the murals in the reconstructed Kiva at the Coronado Site. Pueblo lifeways is the exhibition’s theme.
New Mexico History Museum | Mar 5, 2015
The Palace of the Governors Photo Archives has acquired a rare carte de visite depicting Ceran St. Vrain, Dick Wootton and José Maria Valdez. Photo Curator Daniel Kosharek obtained the ca. 1865 image from Cliff Mills, a photographer, collector and dealer who has sold his own and historical images on the Santa Fe Plaza for 20 years.
Carte de visites were an early phenomena of photography. Mounted on cardstock, they could be given to friends or guests. That ease helped create a Victorian craze—“cardomania.” This particular carte de visite represents the first original photograph that the Photo Archives has of St. Vrain, a legendary frontiersman, military leader and wheat magnate. The museum has one small original photograph of “Uncle Dick” Wootton, and none of Valdez.
New Mexico Museum of Art | Feb 26, 2015
The New Mexico Museum of Art has been selected as the host site for First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare, a national traveling exhibition of the Shakespeare First Folio, one of the world’s most treasured books. The Folger Shakespeare Library, in partnership with Cincinnati Museum Center and the American Library Association, is touring a First Folio of Shakespeare in 2016 to all 50 states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico. The New Mexico Museum of Art will be the only New Mexico venue.
Final touring dates for First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare will be announced in April 2015.
New Mexico History Museum | Feb 24, 2015
New Mexico’s iconic adobe buildings reveal the colors of the earth—pearly white, sandy tan, cinnamon red, chocolate brown and shades in-between. We all love our turquoise skies, but when we build a home, the color of adobe surrounds us. One of the earliest and greenest building materials, adobe stretches back through millennia and around the globe. Like pottery, it reflects the maker’s identity, incorporating handprints and personal style.
An exemplar of adobe construction is the 400-year-old Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe. Its Spanish Pueblo Revival style carries elements of European, Mexican, American and Native American influence. Both a National Historic Landmark and, as of this year, a National Treasure, the Palace, like all adobe buildings, needs constant maintenance. A $1.5 million campaign is underway to raise the renovation money.
Throughout the Summer of Color, the museum will heighten visitors’ understanding of adobe, the historical importance of this building medium, and how the Palace plays into that story.
New Mexico Museum of Art | Feb 19, 2015
On display Dec. 19, 2014 through April 19, 2015
Photographers used to spend much of their time in the dark, processing film and developing pictures. Many have come into the light by switching to digital image-making but the mystique of the darkroom lingers. This group exhibition is a tribute to the tools of the trade of wet-process, darkroom photography.
Join us for a gallery talk by Santa Fe artist Robert Stivers who will talk about his unique photograms made with his darkroom developing tray, Friday, February 6, 2015, at 5:30 p.m.
New Mexico History Museum | Feb 19, 2015
In war and in peacetime, in theaters of conflict and on the home front, U.S. women have participated in our nation’s defense. Until recent years, those contributions have failed to attract much notice. Even less understood: the contributions of African-American women, who had to fight just for the right to serve.
On Sunday, March 29, at 2 pm in the History Museum auditorium, see the New Mexico premiere of Sweet Georgia Brown: Impact, Courage, Sacrifice and Will, a documentary by Lawrence E. Walker of PureHistory Films. A celebration of National Women’s History Month, the event will include remarks by Walker; retired Army Brigadier Gen. Jack R. Fox, secretary of the state Department of Veterans’ Services; and Lt. Col. Pam Gaston, representing Women Veterans of New Mexico, a nonprofit organization providing support services.
The event is free with museum admission. Sundays are free to NM residents. Seating is limited, but you can make a reservation by calling (505) 476-5152.
New Mexico History Museum | Feb 17, 2015
March 6: "New Mexico Women’s Clubs: Civic Pioneers," a Free First Friday Evening talk by historian Pat Farr. March 11: "Black Pioneers on Route 66," a Brainpower & Brownbags lecture by National Park Service historian Frank Norris. March 15: 18th-century harpsichord music by Susan Patrick. March 29: Screening of Sweet Georgia Brown, a documentary about African-American women in World War II.
Museum of New Mexico | Feb 16, 2015
As Museum Hill’s Summer of Color prepares to launch, galleries throughout Santa Fe have joined the excitement. See who’s doing what and get ready to immerse yourself in the colors of the rainbow throughout the summer of 2015. Learn more about the Summer of Color by clicking here.
Museum of New Mexico | Feb 16, 2015
Six of Santa Fe’s leading cultural institutions located on the beautiful Museum Hill kick off summer 2015 with joint exhibitions and programming in what Mayor Javier Gonzales proclaimed today as the Summer of Color. They were joined by other museums and Santa Fe galleries. Together, the bounty of exhibits and events promises to turn Santa Fe a rainbow of colors for the summer of 2015. Download a copy of the proclamation by clicking here.
Museum of New Mexico | Feb 16, 2015
The nationally acclaimed Alzheimer’s Poetry Project (APP) and a growing consortium of Santa Fe-based arts and cultural institutions are joining forces to help people living with memory loss, along with their care partners, friends and the public. Each month, the Community-in-Residence program will open the doors at a different institution for an hour-long session of creativity, playfulness and learning. The program launches on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 9 to 10 am, at the George O’Keeffe Museum, and moves to the Museum of International Folk Art on Tuesday, March 24, at 10:30 am. Future events will be announced soon. A highlight of the event will be the creation of a new poem set to music inspired by the artwork of Georgia O’Keeffe. The series includes light refreshments and is free and open to the public with registration. For a reservation, please write gary@alzpoetry.com.
New Mexico History Museum | Jan 20, 2015
Bring the family Feb. 6, 5:30-7 pm, for a free Valentines craft event. Feb. 8, 2-4 pm, make a camera obscura (reservations required). On Feb. 15, 2-4 pm, pinhole photographer Donald Lawrence speaks in the auditorium and shows how to make camera obscuras in the courtyard. At noon on Feb. 18, John McAllister speaks on "Lozen, Apache Warrior Woman." There’s always something to do at the New Mexico History Museum.
Museum of International Folk Art | Jan 15, 2015
The exhibition, The Red That Colored the World opening at the Museum of International Folk Art, combines new research and original scholarship to explore the history and widespread use in art of cochineal, an insect-based dye source for the color red whose origins and use date to the pre-Columbian Americas.
The Red That Colored the World opens on May 17, 2015 and runs through September 13, 2015.
New Mexico Museum of Art | Jan 8, 2015
The New Mexico Museum of Art opens Colors of the Southwest, March 6 through September 20, 2015, to coincide with the "Summer of Color" taking place on Santa Fe’s Museum Hill. Colors of the Southwest will encompass an array of art created from the early 20th century to the present and will include paintings, photographs, prints, watercolors, and ceramics.
New Mexico Museum of Art | Jan 8, 2015
On display Dec. 19, 2014 through April 19, 2015
A survey of remarkable images by this master of photography whose work ranges from the southern Andes of Peru to the Galisteo basin. A longtime New Mexico resident, Ranney has extensively explored the cultural landscape of ancient peoples as well as contemporary human interventions such as artist Charles Ross’ immense Star Axis project near Las Vegas, New Mexico.
Join us for a gallery talk by Santa Fe artist Edward Ranney, who will talk about his work as an artist and his efforts to photograph ancient habitations along the coastal Americas on Friday, March 6, 2015, at 5:30 p.m.
Museum of International Folk Art | Jan 2, 2015
Pottery was crucial to agrarian life in the U.S. South, with useful forms such as pitchers, storage jars, jugs, and churns being most in demand for the day-to-day activities of a household and farm. Today, a century after that lifeway began to change, potters in the South continue to make vital wares that are distinctively Southern. The Museum of International Folk Art will celebrate this “living tradition” of American regional culture with the exhibition Pottery of the U.S. South: A Living Tradition, which opens on Friday, October 24, with a free public reception from 5:30 to 7:30pm hosted by the Women’s Board of the Museum of New Mexico. The two-man folk orchestra Round Mountain will perform Southern-inspired music, including original compositions, at the opening reception.
The exhibition presents traditional stoneware from North Carolina and north Georgia, current works characterized by earthy local clays, salt and ash glazes, and surprising effects of wood firing. The exhibition closes on November 15, 2015.
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture | Jan 1, 2015
Internationally collected and admired worldwide as a sculptor, painter, and teacher, Allan Houser (1914-1994) is back in the Santa Fe spotlight in a major way this summer on the 100th anniversary of his birth. Five monumental artworks by the famed Chiricahua Apache sculptor will be displayed in the exhibit Footprints: The Inspiration and Influence of Allan Houser at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (MIAC), accompanied by an assortment of life-size and monumental sculptures by notable artists who either studied with Houser at IAIA, worked with him at his studio, and/or were influenced by him. For high resolution media images please contact Steve Cantrell.
New Mexico History Museum | Dec 15, 2014
From a belated card-making workshop on Jan. 2 to a Jan. 14 talk about made-in-New-Mexico movies to a Jan. 25 discussion about renovating classic Harvey Houses, the History Museum has you covered at the start of 2015.
New Mexico History Museum | Dec 2, 2014
Go behind-the-scenes for the making of our newest exhibit, Setting the Standard: The Fred Harvey Company and its Legacy. Peek into the mystery of the sealed-shut trunk. Check out a very old map. It’s all in the latest issue 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=347) then tap on "download PDF" at the bottom of the page.
New Mexico History Museum | Dec 2, 2014
Join us for a fun day of activities and be among the first to see this Mezzanine-area addition to the museum’s main exhibit, Telling New Mexico: Stories from Then and Now. Curated by Meredith Davidson, Setting the Standard: The Fred Harvey Company and Its Legacy focuses on the rise of the Fred Harvey Company as a family business and events that transpired specifically in the Land of Enchantment, including the invention of the Harvey Girls in Raton. Among our opening events, the Winslow Harvey Girls host a trunk show of Harvey House china in our lobby. Also:
10 am, 11 am, noon and 4 pm, see The Harvey Girls: Opportunity Bound, a 57-minute documentary, in the museum auditorium.
2 pm, gather in the auditorium for a conversation with curator Meredith Davidson, documentary producer Katrina Parks, and Stephen Fried, author of the acclaimed biography Appetite for America. Seating is limited. Doors open at 1:30 pm.
3–4 pm, refreshments in the lobby
Free with admission; Sundays free to NM residents; children 16 and under free daily
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture | Nov 17, 2014
Indian Country: The Art of David Bradley opens at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture February 15, 2015 and runs through January 16 2016. On view will be 32 works of art spanning his career, including paintings, mixed media works, and bronze sculptures. In Bradley’s narratives of Indian Country, Native people take center stage in world art and history. Through his artwork he challenges stereotypes about Native American people, places, and events we think we understand, revealing the indigenous experiences at the core of what it means to be American.
New Mexico History Museum | Nov 14, 2014
Friday, Dec. 5, 6 pm, Free First Friday Gallery Talk: “Mapping New Mexico,” by Librarian Tomas Jaehn. Sunday, Dec. 7, opening of Setting the Standard: The Fred Harvey Company and Its Legacy, including a 2 pm conversation with curator Meredith Davidson, documentary producer Katrina Parks, and author Stephen Fried. Friday, Dec. 12, 5:30–8 pm, Christmas at the Palace. Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 13 and 14, 10 am–4 pm, Young Native Artists Holiday Show and Sale. Sunday, Dec. 14, 5:30–7 pm, Las Posadas. Wednesday, Dec. 17, noon, “Why Money is Better than Barter: Trade in 18th-Century Northern New Mexico,” a Brainpower & Brownbags Lecture by author and historian Linda Tigges. Thursday, Dec. 25, closed for Christmas.
New Mexico History Museum | Oct 21, 2014
From tattoos to Christmas cards to beer, we’ve got you covered. Sunday, Noveber. 2, see portions of the 2013 documentary Tattoo Nation and hear from Director Eric Schwartz in the History Museum auditorium.
Friday, November 7, come to the opening of Gustave Baumann and Friends: Artist Cards from Holidays Past.
Saturday, November 8, purchase art and craft supplies, handmade books and papers, ephemera, gifts and more at the Santa Fe Book Arts Group flea market.
Saturday and Sunday, November 15 and 16, make your own holiday cards.
Wednesday, Nov. 19, hear author John C. Stott talk about “New Mexico Beer—Now and Then."
El Camino Real Historic Trail Site | Oct 18, 2014
Celebrate the change of seasons in beautiful southern New Mexico with music, regional cuisine, and museum exhibits at El Camino Real Historic Trail Site
Beginning on Saturday, October 18, and again on Saturday, November 22, and on Saturday, December 13 will be a free concert series and festival of the Spanish guitar at El Camino Real Historic Trail Site from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on all three dates.
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture | Oct 14, 2014
The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture’s Laboratory of Anthropology (LOA) Library will hold its 21st book sale on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 15 and 16. Book sale times and admission fees are:
There are many books worthy of gracing any library, supplementing a collection or expanding one, such as the scarce, rare and first edition, finely printed and small literary press books on topics as diverse as the 1960s Beat Generation and Counter Culture movements, the Federal Writers’ Project/Works Progress Administration, Goreyana (Edward Gorey), as well as on New Mexico, Mexico, Spanish Colonial history and art, and on Central America.
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture | Oct 14, 2014
First exhibit of its kind featuring leading American Indian Women sculptors of 20th and 21st centuries
Courage and Compassion: Native Women Sculpting Women opens at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture Nov. 2, 2014 and runs through Oct. 19, 2015. The exhibition features figures of women sculpted by seven American Indian women artists. Most of the ten works on view will be in the museum’s outdoor Roland Sculpture Garden.
There is a long history of sculpting among the indigenous peoples of the Americas. The artists in Courage and Compassion, while contemporary in their approach are steeped in tradition. Using the same materials as their ancestors did thousands of years ago, the works presented draw on cultural influences of those who have gone before
