THE GALLERY
The Buchsbaum Gallery of Southwestern Pottery exhibits nearly 300 vessels created by outstanding ceramic artists of the Pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona, from the inception of pottery-making in the Southwest up to the present. A study center for serious scholars, collectors, and visitors to the region, the gallery opened in 1997 through the generous support of Jane and Bill Buchsbaum of Santa Fe, New Mexico.The Gallery draws upon the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture's exceptional collection of over 6,000 ceramic masterpieces, including representative works from the prehistoric period, ca AD 400 - 1500, when the ancestral potters of the Southwest experimented with clays, slips, paints, and textures to create regional styles; classic examples from the historic period, ca AD 1500 - 1800, which saw the development of unique traditions at each Pueblo; and the modern period, from about 1880 to the present, when individual potters began to be recognized internationally for their work.
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.
