Museum of Indian Arts & Culture — Attraction in Santa Fe

The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture (MIAC) on Museum Hill in Santa Fe is one of the four museums in the Museum of New Mexico system. The museum was founded in 1909 to collect and preserve Native American material arts. In 1947, it merged with the renowned Laboratory of Anthropology that studied indigenous Southwest culture. The current MIAC building opened in 1987. The centerpiece is a permanent exhibition titled "Here, Now and Always" that tells the stories of the Southwest native peoples through more than a thousand objects from the museum's collections. (This permanent exhibit, now closed, is being enhanced and improved, and will reopen in about June 2022.) The largest amount of the MIAC's space is devoted to changing exhibits, frequently focusing on the finest arts and crafts. --- The current not-to-be-missed exhibit is "Clearly Indigenous: Native Visions Reimagined in Glass." The show features latest works in glass by Pacific Northwest and Southwest artists, inspired by the glass working techniques of Dale Chihuly, and the brilliant craftsmanship and collaborative leadership of Tlingit glass artist Preston Singletary with other Native American, Alaskan, and Polynesian glass artists. The exhibition includes outstanding biographical videos of Native artists filmed by the Museum of Glass (Tacoma), as well as the Corning Museum of Glass and others. (Note: Unfortunately, the MIAC requests that no photos be taken of artworks in this exhibit.) --- The other current show through 2021 features an outstanding collection of Diné (Navajo) silver and turquoise jewelry collected by curator H.P....

This is a great exploration of Native culture through pottery and the connection from Earth to ancestors to contemporary artists. There are gorgeous statues and assorted pottery with detailed explanations of symbology to help guide one through seeing how tribes used design to tell stories about the uses for each item. One particular room does an excellent job of compiling works from each tribe so you can see the nuances between their use of line and shape.

If you buy a culture pass it is good for single entry into all 15 culture and historical sites around New Mexico. Individual entry is $12, but the pass is only $30. 4 of those sites are in Santa Fe and two of them are right here in the same complex. Take a weekend and enjoy them all at a discount and come back to New Mexico to explore some of the others. If you visit 3 it's more than paid for itself. You can do 4 in a weekend in Santa Fe. So...

There is currently a great exhibit with several videos and audio of Natives interpreting the stories of their pottery through very poetic descriptions of their personal connection to where they gathered their clay and how they feel the history of Earth through their shaping of the clay. You'll have to explore this and take your time reading through it. You won't be...

I enjoyed walking through this museum and reflecting on the thought-provoking history of native Americans through their art. Much of the upstairs is dedicated to the jewelry that was purchased from various trading posts and dedicated to the museum. The downstairs houses many breathtaking sculptures of various art mediums. The bronze sculptures are sublime, but the glass art is spectacular! No pictures are allowed inside the museum. I was a bit disappointed that a couple sections of the museum were closed for maintenance, but that means I'll just have to go back when they are open. As of this posting, tickets are $5 per person for NM residents and $9 per person for...