The New Mexico Museum of Art in downtown Santa Fe celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2018 with new exhibitions.
On display through Nov. 25 is Horizons: People & Place in New Mexican Art, which draws heavily on works from the museum’s permanent collection. Marsden Hartley, Georgia O’Keeffe, Maria Martinez and Cady Wells are among the featured artists.
New Mexico Museum of Art (Photo: Buford Davis, CLASS)
Shifting Light: Photographic Perspectives pairs images by Ansel Adams and Alfred Stieglitz, with modern and post-modern photographers, such as Anne Noggle and Thomas Barrow. That show runs through Oct. 7.
Opening May 26 is Frederick Hammersley: To Paint Without Thinking, featuring 60 works by the abstract artist brought from The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in Los Angeles.
100 years
New Mexico Museum of Art. (Photo: Buford Davis, CLASS)
The museum opened in November 1917, only six years after New Mexico achieved statehood. In 1968, the museum was deeded works by O’Keefe, Stieglitz, Paul Strand and others, following the death of renowned collector and artist Rebecca Salsbury James. Twelve years later, 16 paintings by California midtwentieth century artists were gifted to the museum by Gifford and Joann Phillips.
Other collectors donated their works to the museum in subsequent years, including the famous couple Dorothy and Herbert Vogel and part of their nationwide The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States donation in 2009.
The museum has anchored an arts environment in Santa Fe that has burgeoned in recent years, with expanding districts and new, innovative spaces.
Canyon Road
Just east of Old Town, winding, picturesque Canyon Road is lined with more than 50 galleries offering a wide range of art, jewelry and crafts. Many of the galleries are housed in adobe buildings and feature high-end works increasingly sought by international collectors.
Meow Wolf has proven a sensation with visitors since opening as an arts collective in 2006. (Courtesy: Meow Wolf)
The Railyard
The vibrant Railyard mixes contemporary galleries with live/work lofts and restaurants. The reimaged space opened in 2008, having been abandoned for decades. It is now one of the city’s liveliest locations, along with the neighboring Guadalupe District, drawing crowds with frequent exhibition openings, farmers markets and special events.
Meow Wolf
Meow Wolf, which was established in 2008 as an arts collective, is an interactive experience that incorporates about 200 artists in a range of disciples. It unveiled its first permanent installation — “House of Eternal Returns” — in 2016 to popular and critical acclaim. Meow Wolf plans to open locations in Denver and Las Vegas by 2020.
