Museums, museums, museums. So many to choose from, so many to see. We went to six museums over our six days in Santa Fe. I decided I would list them all in one blog from my favorite to my least favorite. That is not to say that any of them were bad, just that these are how I enjoyed them.
New Mexico History Museum/Palace of the Governors. Located behind the Palace of the Governors, on Lincoln Avenue right off the Plaza, The New Mexico History Museum is a great place to understand Santa Fe and the relationships among the Native cultures, the Spanish heritage and the American ‘invasion.’ With three floors of exhibits and the additional space located in the Palace of the Governors, there is a lot to see here. Way more than I anticipated, which is why I ended up not seeing all of it, even though I had good intentions to return on another day to complete seeing the exhibits in the Palace of the Governors. I do love learning history!
The first floor packed in 500 years of history! It was a lot to take in, but really explained the importance of both the Native and Spanish and Catholic influences on New Mexico. When the United States took over the New Mexico territory, the relationship between all these groups changed dramatically.
One of my favorite exhibits was in the mezzanine, “Settling the Standard: The Fred Harvey Company and Its Legacy. Since Fred Harvey started in Kansas City, and I have seen the displays at our History Museum, I was delighted to see the story retold here. This exhibit was much more in depth than the exhibit I have seen at a Kansas City museum. It might have to be another blog!
The next two museums were at Museum Hill, just outside downtown: the Museum of Folk Art and the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture. We decided to go to the Museum of International Folk Art first, turning to the right as we entered the museum plaza. (I recommend getting a Culture Pass, which includes a number of museums for a $30 fee.)
The first exhibit we visited was “Multiple Visions: A common Bond.” Alexander and Susan Girard donated their extensive folk art collection to New Mexico, and it was added to the Folk Art Museum. When I entered this room, I was first excited and then overwhelmed. The art seemed endless; it covered walls, hung from the ceiling, filled hundreds of display cases. We walked around the entire room, looked in every case, and were mentally exhausted, visually overstimulated, but filled with the joy of the art.
Luckily the next two rooms were much calmer, so we could feel more ease as we left the building. I really enjoyed “la Cartoneria Mexicana,” which was several rooms of unusual creatures made of paper and paste. Between the first exhibit and this one, there is a short movie that explains how the exhibit displayed. I liked it. The creations made of paper and paste were magical.
The final room held the curators’ favorite pieces. It was a calming room! A short visit to the gift show then we walked the outside labyrinth to continue the calming process. You really do need to rest your brain after being at the Folk Art Museum.
We ate lunch at the lovely restaurant on the hill, and then went over to the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. Really an excellent place to learn about the indigenous peoples in the “Here, Now and Always” exhibit. The statues outside the building brought me joy, especially the one of the young hoop dancer, it reminded me of the young girl we had seen doing the hoop dance in the Plaza.
Inside there was all the information needed to understand the native peoples who lived in the New Mexico area. The pottery, the weavings, the baskets, the jewelry, and the information on how they lived before the Spanish and then the United States took control is important to know. Another great museum.
IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Art: Near to the St. Francis Cathedral, this museum showcases the work presented by the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA). It displays the most progressive art. I loved the interpretations of traditional objects and the jewelry. There were some pins that looked like bugs that were stunning. I loved a silver belt made by Denise Wallace and beaded cuffs made by Marcus Amerman.
However the room filled with plastic bags, I viewed, I walked through the room and I tried to understand it. I just did not get that exhibit. But then it was about the artist being frustrated about the inability to communicate, so perhaps I did understand it. However, like anything else, art is subjective and there were many other exhibits in the museum I did enjoy.
Georgia O’Keefe Museum: Just a few blocks from the Plaza, on Johnson Street, it is an easy walk. My instructions: Get your timed tickets in advance. This is a small museum, and they limit how many can be there at any one time!!! See the movie first! No one told us about the movie, so we did not see it until the end.
The museum goes in one direction, so you have to turn around and walk back through all the rooms when you finish, so you could do one side going and the other side going back. As for the art. If you enjoy Georgia O’Keefe’s work you will enjoy this museum. I actually liked the last room the most, where there was information about her life, “Making a Life” and her art supplies. I have to be honest, much of her later art did not appeal to me. But it is interesting to see.
New Mexico Museum of Art: Situated catty corner from the Plaza on Palace Avenue,the museum building is set up like a hacienda. You can walk around the exhibits in a circuit, or you can cut through the courtyard. I loved the murals that decorated the courtyard. I am not a big fan of some modern art, and so these exhibits were not my favorite. However, I like to see what younger artists are doing, so I enjoyed seeing the interpretations of pottery design.
Other blogs about New Mexico: https://zicharonot.com/2024/06/06/the-great-rio-grande-river-gorge-and-taos-pueblo/.
https://www.nmhistorymuseum.org/
https://www.indianartsandculture.org
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