Museum right on the Plaza (the main drag in town, this is not including the Vladem contemporary…read moremuseum). Has a lot to offer, but not so large that it's intimidating or overwhelming. When I visited, they were featuring "roadside attractions," focusing on Route 66 and all the kitsch and neon found along the "mother road." They also had some abstract art called "Visions of America from New Mexico." Like many museums I've visited in the Southwest and west, they had a "selections from the 20th century collection," which focused on cowboys, Mexican and southwestern motifs, and livestock. Along similar lines, they had a room on Paul Burlin, "An American Modernist in the Southwest." I've included photos of some of his beautiful, colorful work. They had a great pottery exhibit. It wasn't just any type of pottery. A lot of it had modern design (like one pot had Osama bin Laden on the side and George Bush on the other, to capture the feeling of 9/11). They also had "visions of America from New Mexico," which is a contemporary/modernist exhibit. I can't remember my cost, but I feel like it was around 12 bucks or so and was good for this museum as well as the contemporary museum. Also nice and cool inside on a hot day!

It was an in and out of visit, having just done a heaven on earth two hours private tour at Georgia…read moreO'Keeffe museum. The adobe style of building is more interesting, which was completed in 1917, by architect Isaac Rapp. In front of the museum is New Mexico's walk of fame of the artists. Of course I found Georgia O'Keeffe - my most favorite artist!

IAIA Museum is a very nice curated museum honoring and sharing the history of various Native…read moreAmerican tribes and indigenous cultures from other parts of the country. I enjoyed my visit and the museum store. I did purchase cards from the museum store. I overall enjoyed my time.

My friend and I found the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts while exploring downtown Santa Fe…read moreand decided to stop in for a visit. Fortunately for us, the museum was running a free admission Friday! Because of this, the museum was very busy, especially with a large group of students roaming around. The museum has two floors with several galleries to explore. On the first floor, I was captivated by the murals and hanging panels portraying the seasons and migration of tribes and herds. A separate downstairs gallery featured modern art pieces, and there was one particularly sobering piece on sexual abuse perpetuated by the Catholic Church. These pieces were quite heavy as you could feel the grief expressed by the artists. Upstairs felt different, showcasing Native pride through their regalia, bolos, and handmade jewelry. The upstairs galleries felt more celebratory of Native culture, drawing attention to their accomplishments and craftsmanship. Overall, the museum offers an eye-opening experience, and I left with a greater appreciation for Native art, culture, and collective lived experience.

This was the first time visiting the museum. It was a larger space than I expected. I enjoyed the…read morethree spaces and the exhibits that were up. The staff was friendly and helpful and had a lot of information to provide on the exhibits. I would like to check it out again.

Art museums are always one of the best parts of a university. Always something special to discover…read more I hope people will continue to support it.

Folk art (now more often called outsider art) is one of my favorite genres. I love the edginess,…read morethe roughness. The lack of refinement. At first I was not excited because the first couple of exhibits were southwestern themed (it's a me thing, not a them thing, it's just not my style or particular area of interest). A lot of pottery and Mexican/southwestern blankets. They also had a couple of other rotating exhibits. But then I entered their main exhibit. It's a GIANT room with winding pathways full of folk figurines and scenes. Western scenes, English scenes, Indian, indigenous, Mexican, African. All types. Many presentations of whole worlds throughout this room. My primary complaint is what others have voiced: most of it is exhibited without any context. There is a bare bones basic museum guide you can get at the exhibit entrance, but it still doesn't really tell you much about each scene. I can't remember what I paid, but it was less than 20 dollars. It's also on museum hill, so you can catch a couple other museums while in the area. This spot is away from the main drag for sure. I had to take a Lyft. The staff was helpful and super kind. I had forgotten my credit card at a restaurant and had to leave and go get it. They didn't make me pay a second time for coming back in, and I really appreciated that. Probably my favorite and most impactful museum in Santa Fe. Probably spent a couple of hours here. Very worthwhile, even without the in depth explanations. Enough eye candy to make up for it.

I really enjoyed this museum! They had an impressive collection of folk art from around the world…read moreand throughout many decades. I have never been to a purely folk art museum before, so this was cool to see and definitely opened my eyes to more of what folk art is and exposed me to some new concepts. My one wish is that there would be more explanations about the art piece, such as who made it, meaning, where it was found, year, etc. Some pieces had this but it wasn't consistent throughout (and I am sure that info is hard to know so I get why). Located in Museum Hill near the botanical garden, this is a great place to visit and definitely felt like a unique draw to the area.

Gayle and I recently retuned to the Georgia O'Keefe Museum, of which she is one of Gayle's favorite…read moreartists. The only thing missing was a tour of her house up at Ghost Ranch, of which we'll resolve next year. We took the audio tour which helped explain things well, but bogged down a bit in the early middle. My interested picked up once she moved to New Mexico (from New York), and accelerated with the The "Tewa Nangeh/Tewa Country," Exhibit. This exhibition placed O'Keeffe's art in dialogue with the works of twelve contemporary Tewa artists to explore themes of sacred space, land ownership, and identity. I was particular enamored with "Tewa Tales of Suspense", an ongoing series of ceramic tiles and prints created by Santa Clara Pueblo artist Jason Garcia (Okuu Pín). He reimagines Native history and modern Pueblo life through the vibrant, action-packed visual style of classic Marvel comic book covers.

A very small, expensive museum that with a limited collection that disrespects its namesake. I…read morecannot recommend this museum. Many of O'Keefe's most well-known works were bought up by bigger museums (Met, Art Institute of Chicago, etc), and so this museum mainly has smaller pieces and studies. The curation is a bit thin, loosely chronological with some decent historical commentary, but not much placement within the broader artistic traditions within she worked. Several of her stronger pieces were stuck in weird crannies, like the side of a room showing a movie about her life, or in odd places where viewing them is blocked by installations in the center of the room. On the day we went, a show showcasing local artists' responses to her work dominated 1/3 of the exhibition space, with several of her works unceremoniously sprinkled among the local works. One of her most important late works, portraying a pelvic bone, was positioned along a passageway, while a work by a local artist riffing on the work was positioned front and center.

This place blew me away. Their collection was not that extensive - go to the Millicent Rogers Home…read morefor that. It's the house and studio that will amaze you. All hand carved wood for everything. Incredible layout; spacious and cozy at the same time.

Enjoy visiting museums and local landmarks when I travel but this was a bit disappointing. Nice…read morebit of history and small art collection yet charging California prices for entry fee. Staff at art facility friendly, at the Fechin House I had questions when I visited and reception person was busy with repair person when I checked in and still occupied when I left so disappointed. Plus the bugs in the sink were offputting alive and dead.

They're finally open again, yay!…read more I'm a firm believer that art should be accessible and it's awesome that places like 516 exist. Today I went with a friend to first Friday and this is the first time 516 has been open during the event for quite awhile. They had a great exhibit focused on Haitian and francophone Caribbean art. Again, it's free art open to the community so I'm just thankful that it exists. Even if a specific exhibit isn't your exact preference, it's always worth going back.

They are advertised as open. However I drove 20 minutes and paid parking for it to be closed. Very…read moredisappointed for the false advertisement

I've reviewed two other Meow Wolf venues: Convergence Station in Denver and the location in…read moreGrapevine, Texas. I made a special trip to Santa Fe from Denver just to get a gander at this one. This is the original. As I said in a separate review, Denver's convergence station is the largest at 90K square feet. But it felt more sprawling and convoluted than the smaller Texas and NM venues. I haven't seen the supermarket themed Vegas venue. This is smaller than Denver, but more coherent. Still a lot to touch and do and see. Weird things to connect. And again, if you've seen other Meow Wolfs, you'll understand all others better. In true Meow Wolf style, brilliant, bright, jubilant art that you can lay your hands all over. Stair cases to climb. Tunnels to crawl through. Someone else compared it to a colorful real life board game, and that tracks. It was busy, but not uncomfortably crowded. Like Denver, you can grab a drink at the bar and sip booze as you stroll. There are puzzles to solve here (I confess, I didn't have the fortitude or patience, but you can spend all day here solving riddles). You can go again and again and find new things every time. I am positive I am not even close to scratching the surface of any of the Meow Wolf experiences. If you want a bit more of an idea of how things work, Meow Wolf has an instagram!

This place was cool with the artist exhibits but we found the performers and performance to be a…read morebit spiritually dark. I think we would have enjoyed it more without it but they were a bit creepy. It definitely looks cooler only but it's a fun option for something to do in Santa Fe when it's hot. I don't think it was worth $90 because we only stayed an hour due to weird & dark vibes.