Current Exhibitions
What’s New in New: Recent Acquisitions
February 17, 2013 through December 30, 2013
What’s New in New: Recent Acquisitions is the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture’s annual exhibition of new acquisitions celebrating the gallery’s namesake, Lloyd Kiva New. What’s New in New opens on Sunday, February 17, 2013 from 1 to 4 p.m. and runs through December 30, 2013. The Women’s Board of the Museum of New Mexico will serve refreshments in honor of Kiva New’s birthday anniversary. Curator Tony Chavarria’s focus with this show is on modern and contemporary Native art including paintings, monotypes, poetry, and sculpture created between 1968 and 2012.
They Wove for Horses: Diné Saddle Blankets
March 25, 2012 through August 18, 2013
They Wove for Horses: Diné Saddle Blankets opens at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture on March 25, 2012 (on long-term view). The exhibition highlights both the textile-weaving proficiency of Diné weavers who produced complex saddle blankets for all occasions and the design skills of Diné silversmiths who created dazzling headstalls of silver and turquoise.The saddle blankets on exhibit date from 1860 to 2002 and are arranged by weaving methods: tapestry weave; two-faced double weave; and twill weaves of diagonal, diamond, and herringbone patterns. By using a variety of warp and weft yarns—natural wool, cotton, angora mohair, unraveled bayeta, and Germantown—weavers added individuality to the everyday and fanciful tapestries they created for horses.Horse trappings on exhibit reveal the great pride that Diné horsemen took in their horses and how they adorned them for ceremonial and social events. The Diné first learned how to manufacture saddles and bridles from neighboring cultures and their proficiency quickly surpassed that of their mentors. That devotion resonates still, as the horse remains a viable living force in Diné life today.
Woven Identities
November 20, 2011 through February 24, 2014
Woven Identities features baskets woven by artists representing 60 cultural groups in six culture areas of Western North America: The Southwest, Great Basin, Plateau, California, the Northwest Coast, and the Arctic.All objects tell a story, if you know the right questions to ask. At the time the baskets in this exhibition were collected little to no information was recorded; the weaver’s names are largely unknown. Nonetheless, each basket has an identity, a woven identity. The identity of each basket—where it was made; when it was made; who made it; who it was made for; why it was made—by “reading” its individual characteristics.
The Buchsbaum Gallery of Southwestern Pottery
on long-term display
The Buchsbaum Gallery features each of the Pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona in a selection of pieces that represent the development of a community tradition. In addition, a changing area of the gallery, entitled Traditions Today highlights the evolving contemporary traditions of the ancient art of pottery making.
Here, Now and Always
on long-term display
Here, Now, and Always is a major exhibition based on eight years of collaboration among Native American elders, artists, scholars, teachers, writers and museum professionals. Voices of fifty Native Americans guide visitors through the Southwest's indigenous communities and their challenging landscapes. More than 1,300 artifacts from the Museum's collections are displayed accompanied by poetry, story, song and scholarly discussion.