Tucson Desert Art Museum and Four Corners Gallery — Local services in Tucson

This museum is off the beaten path, and is different from many you will visit. It is about two years young and thus still adding to its displays, which include a large representation of Navajo and other Native American weaving dating from the mid to late 1800's. As a researcher and reporter for SeniorCitizenLocalWeb I visited the museum in June of 2015, and found that the personal there were friendly, and knowledgeable. The museum in addition to the Native America aspect also has a section on advertising during the World War Two period, some Andy Warhol items, and a few ad pieces that would 'shock' many today, but were accepted in the past. There is a small display of women's history that includes clothing, make-up items, and a wall with pictures and write-ups of 'first women', no not the president's wives, but women who made history as being the first to do this or that.. very unique and interesting..

Off to one corner of the museum is a sales floor where you can purchase artworks and other items.

The only objection was that no photography is allowed, which this author feels is a mistake; when people take pictures, they show the pictures to others, and thus promote the others to come and see for themselves first hand the beauty of the displays. By refusing to allow photos, the excuse is copyright protection, it limits the audience that may have seen the displays or have interest in visiting.

Location, Tucson, Arizona, Tucson Desert Art Museum, Gaslight Square Shopping Center, Tucson, AZ 85715 GPS 32.249931, -110.842018... There is a very large parking lot, and in the rear of the complex are some covered parking spaces. On Sundays there may be 'flee-market' tents set up, and if you are hungry after the museum visit, there is a decent and reasonably priced Mexican Restaurant in...

We were pleasantly surprised by the breadth of art shown here. We came expecting a Native American arts and crafts focus. Together with a wide variety of other exhibits, we found a very informative collection of beautiful large and small weavings from the Museum’s collection from the 1800s through early 20th century with interpretive text including changes in dyes available, importance of traders in developing themes, materials and techniques of the artists and crafters. A highlight of our visit was finding a collection of works by Safwat Saleem including in particular a series entitled “Concerned But Powerless.” This is an entertaining, sometimes upsetting, but always insightful commentary on consumer culture, social media and current political tropes illustrated by collages of period illustrations, each with an interpretive message. Worth navigating far from the entry desk to find this. The entire collection we found interesting, educational in its presentation and well worth seeking out for an intensive half-day visit. The on-line description doesn’t cover half of the discoveries to be found here. Fine collection in the gift shop and the adjacent for sale art...

If you want a museum that is the perfect blend of art, craft, culture, photography and history, this place is it. They excel at this combination of specialties, of viewpoints and perspectives, in ways one never thought one needed to be exposed to, yet then recognize that such exposure was long overdue. I was entertained, amazed, intrigued, captivated by both the beautiful and the horror of history, and the transformational potential of art. You will learn, you will ponder, you will chuckle……what a powerhouse of an experience, all contained in a fairly small museum that is perfectly laid out to allow your to flow from one gallery...