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ART News:
SANTA FE — Summer 2025 is full of cultural and artistic activity at the Wheelwright Museum with contemporary Indigenous art exhibits, programming, and Market events.
Summer begins with Visualizing K’é: New Works by Marwin Begaye, opening June 7 in the Schultz Gallery, and is followed by Once Within a Time: SITE Santa Fe 12th International, opening June 28 in the Klah Gallery. Gestural In Form opens Aug. 10 and showcases a selection of Virgil Ortiz’s work from the 1980s to the present day, with an important loan from the Mittler Family, which will celebrate Charlotte Mittler’s recent $2 million gift to the museum.
July 6, the museum will host a First Free Sunday event featuring free admission and outdoor silk-screened overprinting of t-shirts with master printmaker and artist Jacob Meders (Mechoopda-Maidu). In August, the Wheelwright Museum’s largest fundraiser, the Annual Benefit Sale, will once again be held from 3-6 p.m., Aug. 13, (ticketed early bird admission), and from 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Aug. 14 and 15. The museum’s Case Trading Post will host its fifth annual outdoor Artists’ Market from 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Friday, Aug. 15, and from 10 a.m.- 2 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 16. Admission to the Wheelwright Museum, the Benefit Sale, and the Market is free from Aug. 14 through 16.
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Visualizing K’é, opening June 7, presents fifteen drawings and prints by master printmaker and professor Marwin Begaye (Diné, b. 1970). Reconnecting with historic voice recordings from the Wheelwright Museum’s permanent collection, Begaye created a series of abstract works in 2024 and 2025, which visualize the Diné philosophy and practice of maintaining kinship (k’é). Begaye’s work draws on Diné aesthetics, reflecting on questions of identity, storytelling, and language to explore how ancestral knowledge can be encoded in different cultural forms over time. At 11 a.m., June 7, there will be an artist talk & exhibition tour with Marwin Begaye. The show will be accompanied by additional programming in the summer and fall 2025, including an artist talk, exhibition tour, and printmaking workshop by Begaye. This exhibit closes March 28, 2026.
The Once Within a Time, the 12th SITE SANTA FE International will open June 28 and the Wheelwright will host work by many artists. Curated by Cecilia Alemani, the 12th International will include more than 300 artworks made from 1926 to the present. More than half of the participating artists are presenting new commissions that engage directly or indirectly with the experiences and lore of the figures of interest.
In a first, this iteration of the International will extend beyond SITE SANTA FE to more than a dozen locations across the city, including the Wheelwright Museum. The Wheelwright location of the 12th International will feature the work of Raven Halfmoon (Caddo Nation), Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation/Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians), Cristina Flores Pescorán (Peru), Emmi Whitehorse (Diné), and a central installation by Nora Naranjo Morse (Santa Clara Pueblo).
Gestural In Form with works by Virgil Ortiz opens on August 10, marking the anniversary of the 1680 Pueblo Revolt. Gestural In Form will showcase the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian and Charlotte Mittler’s prominent collection of Virgil Ortiz’s sculptural works from the 1980s through the early 2000s. Over twenty-five dynamic works by Virgil Ortiz (Cochiti Pueblo, b. 1969) will be shown. In addition, a bountiful selection of Ortiz’s family’s work will be on display, such as his grandmother Laurencita Herrera, mother Serafina Ortiz, father Guadalupe Ortiz, and his sisters Janice Ortiz, Inez Ortiz, and Joyce Ortiz Lewis.
The Benefit Sale from Aug. 13 -15 is the museum’s largest fundraiser that supports future exhibitions, educational programming, and general operations. Pottery, jewelry and more are offered for purchase at the Benefit Sale. Treasures and surprises delight any shopper, Native art connoisseur, or casual collector. Tickets for the Benefit Sale Early Bird afternoon (Aug. 13) are available online for $35-$50. Admission on other days of the Benefit Sale is free.
The Artists’ Market Aug. 15 and 16 offers free admission and features the opportunity to purchase from established and emerging artists. “People visit, see outstanding art, and chat in the Trading Post. Everyone should come to check out what the artists have brought but remember to come early!” said Ken Williams (Northern Arapaho/Cattaraugus Seneca), Case Trading Post Shop Manager.
Confirmed participants include:
Janice Black Elk Jim (Rosebud Lakota)
Dylan Coriz (Santo Domingo)
Cippy Crazyhorse (Cochiti)
Waddie Crazyhorse (Cochiti)
Felicia Fragua (Jemez)
Jonah Hill (Hopi/Quechan)
Kevin Honyouti (Hopi)
Ronald Honyouti (Hopi)
Harold Littlebird (Laguna/Santo Domingo)
Daniel Jim (Navajo)
Yazzie Johnson (Navajo) & Gail Bird (Santo Domingo/Laguna)
Raynard Lalo (Hopi)
Shanna Lalo Patterson (Hopi)
Jackie Sevier (Northern Arapaho)
Deanna Tenorio (Santo Domingo/Pomo)
Robert Tenorio (Santo Domingo)
“This summer we get to share all that we have planned at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian with all those visiting Santa Fe. A gem nestled on Museum Hill, the Wheelwright, founded in collaboration and dedicated to Indigenous perspectives, honors the power of Native voices through art. June to August this year will be a time of excitement with new shows, artists workshops and of course the Benefit Sale and the Artists’ Market. With Santa Fe Indian Market all around us, and our own distinctive contributions, there is something for everyone to enjoy. Our Benefit Sale features vintage and contemporary artworks, generously donated, for sale. It is our most important fundraiser of the year. On Friday, we open our Artists’ Market. All the profits go to the artists themselves, but we benefit from the opportunity to show their dazzling work, and the joy and excitement of all who visit,” Henrietta Lidchi said, Executive Director of the Wheelwright Museum.
Gracias Madre will be on site Friday and Saturday during the Artists’ Market and Benefit Sale.
Echoes: Selections from the Wheelwright Museum’s Permanent Collection remains open in the Klah Gallery until June 8, 2025. Memo to the Mother: Bob Haozous’s Messages to Mother Earth is on view in several galleries until Jan. 10, 2026.
About the Wheelwright Museum
The Wheelwright Museum is New Mexico’s oldest independent non-profit museum. Founded in 1937 by Mary Wheelwright and Diné singer Hastiin Klah, open to the public since 1938, the Wheelwright presents exhibitions of contemporary and iconic Native American art. The Wheelwright is home to the Jim and Lauris Phillips Center for the Study of Southwestern Jewelry, which features a permanent display of over 700 works of jewelry from the Southwest. For more than eight decades the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian has honored Native voices through art.