Past Exhibitions

Native Couture II: Innovation and Style
August 30, 2009 through February 21, 2010
Native Couture II: Innovation and Style opens at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture on Sunday, August 30, 2009. This exhibition explores the history of Native fashion from hand-made clothing and accessories of the 1880s that influenced the development of a Santa Fe Style, to today’s contemporary Native couturiers. At its root, Indian art is the quintessential original American art. This centuries-long influence of Native American art requires the buyer, or wearer, and the American public in general to ponder the origins of a truly unique American style.

Native American Picture Books of Change
February 15, 2009 through January 2, 2010
Native American Picture Books of Change—is an exhibition of original works by Hopi, Navajo, Apache, and Pueblo artists who illustrated children's books in the 1920's through today. Based on the book of the same title by Rebecca Benes, the exhibition focuses on illustrations in Native American children’s books of the last century. Emerging Indian artists illustrated the stories for Indian students based on Native oral traditions and narratives about everyday Indian life.

Native Couture
December 16, 2007 through April 21, 2009
Santa Fe style represents a state of mind, it is not just jewelry and clothing but a feeling inside, a sense of place and that total belief in the Navajo saying, “Walk in beauty.”

Comic Art Indigène
May 11, 2008 through January 4, 2009
Comic Art Indigène looks at how storytelling has been used through comics and comic inspired art to express the contemporary Native American experience.

Spider Woman’s (NA ASHJE’II ’ASDZÁÁ) Gift
May 14, 2006 through September 2, 2008
Spider Woman’s (Na ashje’ii 'Asdzáá) Gift: Navajo Weaving Traditions, a long-term exhibition, features weavings from the 1850s through the 1890s—the Classic and Transitional periods.