Museum of Indian Arts & Culture Announces Temporary Closure for New Exhibition Installations

February 25th, 2021

The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture (MIAC), located on beautiful Museum Hill in Santa Fe, will be temporarily closed to the public beginning Tuesday, March 1, 2021, and will reopen in May 2021, as a precaution for the public’s safety for the installation of several new exhibitions.

During the temporary closure, the public can still explore MIAC online through online exhibitions and virtual tours and stay connected with the museum by following MIAC on Facebook and YouTube.

When MIAC reopens, visitors will be welcomed to the opening of “A Place in Clay.” This exhibition will showcase the work of artist Kathleen Wall (Jemez Pueblo), the museum’s 2020-2021 Native Treasures Living Treasure. With techniques passed on from generation to generation, Wall’s art exemplifies the style and beauty of her family’s heritage through her creations.

“Clearly Indigenous: Native Visions Reimagined in Glass” will be the first exhibition of its kind in the country that presents the evolution of glass as a new art form for Indigenous artists. This two-pronged exhibition of more than 100 glass sculptures will focus on how Native artists have melded ancestral ways with new methods and materials in glass. The exhibit will feature work from 29 Native American artists and four Pacific Rim artists from New Zealand and Australia, as well as seminal glass artist Dale Chihuly.

MIAC will also reopen the Buchsbaum Pottery Gallery of the Southwest, along with a new traveling exhibition called “Why We Serve: Native Americans in the Armed Forces.” This exhibition will come directly to MIAC from the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. “Why We Serve” honors the generations of Native Americans who have served in the U.S Armed Forces – often in extraordinary numbers – since the American Revolution.

The popular “Here, Now and Always” (HNA) exhibition continues to be closed for construction through summer 2022. HNA was originally launched in 1997, and now, more than two decades later, will undergo a critical process to conserve objects on long-term display. HNA’s debut was hailed nationally, establishing new standards and practices now followed by museums with Native collections throughout the country.

The Colleen Cloney Duncan Gift Shop at MIAC remains closed for in-person shopping but will reopen along with the museum in May. Customers can find this and other Museum of New Mexico Foundation shops online at https://shopmuseum.org/

About the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture
The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture is a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, under the leadership of the Board of Regents for the Museum of New Mexico. Programs and exhibits are generously supported by the Museum of New Mexico Foundation and our donors. The mission of the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology is to serve as a center of stewardship, knowledge, and understanding of the artistic, cultural, and intellectual achievements of the diverse peoples of the Native Southwest.   

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