MUSEUM OF INDIAN ARTS AND CULTURE

FY2020-2021 BREAKING GROUND, BUILDING COMMUNITY

The glass castle | In May 2021,

Clearly Indigenous: Native Visions Reimagined in Glass opened to wide acclaim and a stream of eager visitors. The groundbreaking exhibition features work from 29 Native American glass artists, some from as far as New Zealand and Australia. The striking collection of work “tells a larger story about Indigenous cultural knowledge and artistic genius,” says Della Warrior, the museum’s former executive director.

Left: Alano Edzerza (Tahltan Nation), Sea Monster Box. Photo courtesy Stonington Gallery, Seattle, WA.

34 virtual programs delivered 1,000 MIAC coloring books distributed 530 copies sold of Clearly Indigenous: Native Visions Reimagined in Glass book 42 honoraria for Native artists $500,000 JoAnn and Bob Balzer contemporary art gallery $250,000 Bill and Uschi Butler Friends of MIAC Exhibition Endowment Fund $1.5 million total private support

Winning the web | The annual Native Treasures auction went virtual for the second year in a row over Memorial Day weekend 2021, providing five days of exclusive art offerings by Native artists via an online market hosted by the Museum of New Mexico Foundation’s Museum Shops. One hundred percent of sales went directly to the artists, bolstering a population hit hard by the financial fallout of COVID-19.

Right: Kathleen Wall (Jemez Pueblo), the 2020-21 recipient of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture Living Treasure award. Photo courtesy of the artist. Below: Interior view of the Here, Now and Always renovation. Photo by Lauren Paige.

Education begins at home | The Tribal Libraries

Summer Reading Program beamed into New Mexico’s pueblos with a Zoom series focused on Native writers. At San Felipe Pueblo, four separate activity kits aimed at cultural preservation were distributed to children and their families. Renewal and renovation | Here, Now and Always, the museum’s permanent exhibition emphasizing Native American knowledge and worldviews, continued its renovation to improve the flow and use of the Amy Rose Bloch Wing. The changes update the content and renew the look of the original exhibition.

“Being from a family that is represented in museums is like being connected to the whole world. Visitors can see pieces from my greatgrandmother, my cousin, and it’s something that will live on. I can be part of that connection as well.”

—Felipita Ortiz, Manager, Colleen Cloney Duncan Museum Shop, Spring 2021