New Mexico History Museum | Feb 5, 2014
Drought has descended on the Southwest for the last several years, leaving most of New Mexico’s agricultural land in conditions that demand new ways of thinking. Ranches have traditionally been one of the state’s largest industries, and that rainless sky means tough choices for people who juggle land management and environmental change. Many of them are adapting successfully, though, by reevaluating land use in creative ways. Their efforts help keep the legacy of the cowboy alive.
As part of the ongoing exhibit, Cowboys Real and Imagined, join us for a panel discussion on “Ranching in the 22nd Century: How We Get from Here to There,” at 2 pm on Sunday, March 2, in the History Museum auditorium. Moderated by Courtney White, founder and creative director of the Quivira Coalition, panelists will address the issues facing ranchers in the current drought and the prospect of ranching in the future with a deeper understanding of environmental conditions.
New Mexico History Museum | Feb 4, 2014
Historical Downtown Walking Tours resume April 14 .... An invitation to join the ranks of tour guides
The Historical Downtown Walking Tours led by museum-trained guides have grown into a popular pastime among locals and tourists alike. This year’s tours will run from April 14 through Oct. 11. To boost the ranks of volunteer guides, the New Mexico History Museum and Los Compadres del Palacio, a support group of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation, are inaugurating a special recruitment and training opportunity, with a kickoff event on Tuesday, March 4, at 9:30 am.
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture | Jan 31, 2014
The photo show Native American Portraits: Points of Inquiry, which debuted at the New Mexico History Museum, moves to a gallery roughly double the size at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture on February 16, 2014, where the exhibition will be enlarged with about 10 more photos for a total of more than 75 historic and contemporary Native American Portraits.
New Mexico Museum of Art | Jan 30, 2014
Gustave Baumann is one of New Mexico’s most treasured artists, known widely for his woodblock prints of Southwestern landscapes and traditions.
The New Mexico Museum of Art has a comprehensive collection of Gustave Baumann’s work which includes prints, drawings, paintings, studies, furniture, and the eclectic menagerie of marionettes used to entertain generations of New Mexicans both young and old. Spotlight on Gustave Baumann opens February 1, 2014.
New Mexico Museum of Art | Jan 29, 2014
Artists as diverse as E. Irving Couse, Joseph Henry Sharp, T.C. Cannon, Agnes Martin, Maria Martinez and Georgia O’Keeffe share the museum’s Clarke Gallery for New Mexico Art Tells New Mexico History. This exhibition, culled from the New Mexico Museum of Art’s collection, tells the many stories which make up New Mexico through the eyes of some of this state’s most respected artists. The exhibition opens at the New Mexico Museum of Art on February 1, 2014.
El Palacio Magazine | Jan 29, 2014
El Palacio magazine celebrated its centennial in November 2013, joining a small but august group of publications in print still today; Scientific American (1845), Harper’s (1850), The Atlantic (1857), and National Geographic (1899). Setting El Palacio apart is its distinction of being the oldest museum magazine of its kind in the United States, first published by the Museum of New Mexico in November 1913.
The magazine’s name refers to the Museum of New Mexico’s first home, the Palace of the Governors, where it was established with the School of American Archaeology (later the School of American Research) alongside the already existing Historical Society of New Mexico.
Bosque Redondo Memorial at Fort Sumner | Jan 27, 2014
On view now at Bosque Redondo Memorial at Fort Sumner Historic Site is a collection of Diné saddle blankets. The exhibition, They Wove for Horses: Diné Saddle Blankets, originated at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. The exhibition will be on view through 2014.
New Mexico History Museum | Jan 27, 2014
Tom Leech, director of the Palace Press, and Arlyn Nathan, a book designer and typography instructor at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design, have won the 14th Carl Hertzog Award for Excellence in Book Design from the University of Texas at El Paso’s Friends of the Library. The award recognizes Jack Thorp’s Songs of the Cowboys, published in 2012.
Leech, along with J.B. Bryan, also won honorable mention for the design of Margaret Wood’s memoir, O’Keeffe Stories. In his announcement letter, Robert Stakes, director of the UTEP Library, said “it is the first time a single Press was selected as both the winner and as honorable mention in the same year.”
New Mexico History Museum | Jan 21, 2014
Dr. Frances Levine, who became director of the Palace of the Governors in 2002 and led construction of the New Mexico History Museum into a world-class institution, has been named president and CEO of the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis. She will remain at the New Mexico History Museum until March 15 and start her new job on April 15.
“Everything I have done with the help of our staff, donors and volunteers has prepared me for this next set of responsibilities and challenges,” Levine said. “It’s not a coincidence that I would be traveling to a museum that shares so much of our Mexican period and territorial period history. This new position will also introduce me to another perspective on the American story. I look forward to learning about the diverse cultures and historical experiences brought together here at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers and made St. Louis a dynamic American city."
El Palacio Magazine | Jan 17, 2014
El Palacio magazine celebrated its centennial in November 2013, joining a small but august group of publications in print still today; Scientific American (1845), Harper’s (1850), The Atlantic (1857), and National Geographic (1899). Setting El Palacio apart is its distinction of being the oldest museum magazine of its kind in the United States, first published by the Museum of New Mexico in November 1913.
New Mexico Museum of Art | Jan 15, 2014
Marking both her seventy-fifth birthday and three decades of living and working in New Mexico, Local Color: Judy Chicago in New Mexico 1984-2014 opens at the New Mexico Museum of Art June 6, 2014 and runs through October 12, 2014.
The exhibition will focus on both large-scale public projects and smaller-scale personal artworks and will be among the first to focus on recent works by Judy Chicago.
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
###
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.
