Santa Fe Visual Arts

Santa Fe is one of the world’s major art centers, a place where artists are equally at home working with the traditions of their ancestors and experimenting with contemporary techniques. Santa Fe offers a visual feast for art lovers of all sorts, whether you’re a serious collector or a fan who finds joy in just viewing the work.

With more than 250 galleries to explore and over a dozen museums, you’ll be astonished by the city’s array of art, including traditional and contemporary painting, photography, pottery, sculpture, textiles and more. Santa Fe’s Native American and Spanish Colonial roots are reflected in many of the galleries, but plenty of the world’s other cultures are represented, too. Get a chance to meet some of the artists at Santa Fe’s famous Friday evening gallery openings, which take place year-round but with more frequency during the summer months.

On Santa Fe’s Museum Hill you will find some of Santa Fe’s most treaured art collections. Santa Fe is also home to annual world-famous art markets. The prestigious Santa Fe Indian Market, held every August, is Santa Fe’s largest event, with more than 1,200 artists from 100 tribes.

The July Spanish Market celebrates traditional handcrafted works by 250 Hispanic artists. The Santa Fe International Folk Art Market brings more than 100 folk artists from 40 countries to the world’s largest market of its kind, also in July.

There’s no better place to appreciate Hispanic arts, rooted in New Mexico’s rich Spanish Colonial heritage but also flourishing as a contemporary scene. Native American arts are also deeply rooted in the region’s history. Artists from the pueblos and tribes of New Mexico produce highly prized works that reflect their ancestor’s traditions and also represent contemporary innovations.

Santa Fe is, without a doubt, one of the most artistic places on the planet. As you walk the city discovering one gallery after another along the legendary Canyon Road, around the Plaza and downtown, and in the developing historic Railyard area, you’ll agree: art lies at the heart of Santa Fe.

Read the AmericanStyle article naming Santa Fe as the top small city for the fourth consecutive year in the magazine’s Top Arts Destination for 2009.

For complete information about art galleries in Santa Fe visit the Santa Fe Gallery Association