IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts

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IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts The IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts is open to the public. We will be open from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm MDT on Mondays & Wednesday through Saturday.
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On Sunday, we are open from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm MDT. We are closed on Tuesdays. IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) is dedicated to increasing public understanding and appreciation of contemporary Native art, history and culture through presentation, collection and acquisition, preservation, and interpretation. MoCNA is recognized as the preeminent organizer of exhibitions devoted exclusively to the display of dynamic and diverse arts practices representative of Native North America.

Please join the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) on the IAIA campus in the CLE Commons on Thursday, Octob...
10/15/2026

Please join the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) on the IAIA campus in the CLE Commons on Thursday, October 29, from 12–1 pm for a virtual talk with Kaili Chun (Kānaka Maoli), who is currently an exhibiting artist in MoCNA’s “States of Erosion: Reshaping and Reclaiming”.

Kaili Chun is a contemporary multimedia artist and sculptor whose work addresses themes of Indigenous identity, cultural heritage, environmental change, and historical narrative. Her installations often incorporate natural materials alongside structural elements to create immersive experiences that engage deeply with land, community memory, and post-colonial landscapes. This talk is free and open to the public.

For more information, please contact Wayne Gaussoin (Picuris and Diné), Senior Museum Educator, at [email protected].

Learn more about the exhibition at https://iaia.edu/event/states-of-erosion-reshaping-and-reclaiming/

UPDATE: CANCELEDPlease join the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) on the IAIA campus in the CLE Commons on...
10/06/2026

UPDATE: CANCELED

Please join the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) on the IAIA campus in the CLE Commons on Friday, October 9, from 12–1 pm for a virtual talk with Kaili Chun (Kānaka Maoli), who is currently an exhibiting artist in MoCNA’s “States of Erosion: Reshaping and Reclaiming”.

Kaili Chun is a contemporary multimedia artist and sculptor whose work addresses themes of Indigenous identity, cultural heritage, environmental change, and historical narrative. Her installations often incorporate natural materials alongside structural elements to create immersive experiences that engage deeply with land, community memory, and post-colonial landscapes. This talk is free and open to the public.

For more information, please contact Wayne Gaussoin (Picuris and Diné), Senior Museum Educator, at [email protected].

Learn more about the exhibition at https://iaia.edu/event/states-of-erosion-reshaping-and-reclaiming/

Join the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) for a hands-on watercolor workshop exploring the theme of water...
09/21/2026

Join the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) for a hands-on watercolor workshop exploring the theme of water. Led by MoCNA Social Engagement Artist-in-Residence Lakin Epaloose (Zuni Pueblo), participants will create individual watercolor pieces inspired by the vital connections between Indigenous communities and their waterways.

The workshop will explore the historical and ongoing significance of the Colorado and Rio Grande rivers, while weaving together Puebloan art history, cultural mapping, and advocacy for water rights. Through artmaking and conversation, participants will reflect on the enduring cultural relationships between Indigenous communities and these essential waterways.

When: Friday, September 25, 12–1 pm

Where: IAIA Campus, LTC Lobby

Please RSVP by September 21 via the QR code or at https://airtable.com/apphzrJQkZ6qhlTHJ/pagK0enUYre2KtShg/form

For more information, please contact Wayne Gaussoin (Picuris and Diné), Senior Museum Educator, at [email protected].

In honor of the 104th SWAIA - Santa Fe Indian Market, this month’s featured collection highlight is “56th Indian Market”...
08/21/2026

In honor of the 104th SWAIA - Santa Fe Indian Market, this month’s featured collection highlight is “56th Indian Market” by R.C. Gorman (Navajo [Diné]) (1931–2005). Born in Chinle, Arizona, Gorman was raised on the Navajo Nation, where he grew up listening to Diné stories and traditions while tending sheep and drawing in the dirt and on rocks. After serving in the United States Navy, he studied literature and art at Northern Arizona University before continuing his artistic training in Mexico City and San Francisco. Influenced by Mexican social realist artists and the medium of stone lithography, Gorman developed a distinctive style characterized by bold colors and expressive depictions of Diné women, honoring the women who raised him. In 1968, he opened the Navajo Gallery in Taos, New Mexico, the first Indigenous-owned fine art gallery in the United States. Celebrated as the “Picasso of American Indian Art,” Gorman worked across lithography, painting, ceramics, serigraphy, woodcuts, and etchings.

Discover more works by R.C. Gorman and other artists in the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) collection by visiting our online collections at research.iaia.edu.

Image: R.C. Gorman (Navajo [Diné]), “56th Indian Market,” ed. 5/100, 1977, poster on paper, 21 x 26 in. IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts Collection: N-1041; Gift of Katherine Rust, 1991. © R.C. Gorman; Photograph by Jason S. Ordaz.

08/16/2026

As the US celebrates its 250th anniversary, join the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) for a conversation bringing together award-winning journalist Rebecca Nagle (Cherokee Nation), collaborators, and artists of the exhibition States of Erosion: Reshaping and Reclaiming, to discuss land, sovereignty, and the stories left out of the national narrative.

08/15/2026

The Saturday brunch panel brings together First Peoples Fund President Lori Pourier (Oglala Lakota), Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation Chairwoman Lynn Valbuena (Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation), scholar and author Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation), and filmmaker Sabrina Saleha (Diné) for a conversation about sovereignty, identity, commerce, and what it actually costs Indigenous artists and communities to continue creating inside systems that were never built for them. The panel is moderated by Dr. Robert Martin (Cherokee Nation), President Emeritus and former President of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA). Ticketed event, limited capacity.

About GIFF
The Get Indigenous Film Festival (GiFF) is a cultural platform within Santa Fe Indian Market dedicated to supporting Indigenous continuity, creativity, and collective resilience through film and contemporary cultural practice. GiFF 2026 is presented by SWAIA in partnership with the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA), Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (MIAC), and New Mexico History Museum. For more information, visit www.swaia.org/giff.

08/15/2026

Join the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) for a dynamic conversation featuring States of Erosion: Reshaping and Reclaiming co-curators Tania Willard (Secwépemc Nation) and MoCNA Chief Curator Manuela Well-Off-Man. Together, they will discuss the exhibition’s central themes and the ways contemporary Indigenous artists engage with processes of erosion—material, cultural, ecological, and political—as sites of both loss and transformatio

This week, the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) welcomed Native Hawaiian (Kānaka Maoli) artist Kaili Chun...
08/13/2026

This week, the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) welcomed Native Hawaiian (Kānaka Maoli) artist Kaili Chun’s sculpture “ʻĀina,” which was installed in our North Courtyard as part of “States of Erosion: Reshaping & Reclaiming,” opening this Friday, August 14.

The first work in Chun’s ongoing “He Waonuiākea” series, “ʻĀina” explores land as a living relative and reflects on resilience, continuity, and the transmission of knowledge across generations. The series will ultimately comprise four related sculptures that connect Indigenous homelands in Santa Fe, Hawaiʻi, Alaska, and Australia, honoring the enduring relationships that link communities across oceans, sky, and earth.

“ʻĀina” considers erosion as a force that reshapes rather than simply diminishes. Constructed from stacked layers of plywood edged with hand-hammered copper, the sculpture evokes ancestral bones, geological strata, tree rings, and the accumulation of memory over time. Chun describes plywood’s interconnected layers as “a quiet metaphor for community, resilience, and continuity,” while copper, a conductor that changes through exposure to air and touch, symbolizes the transmission of “ʻike” (knowledge) across generations.

MoCNA is honored to present “ʻĀina” as part of “States of Erosion: Reshaping & Reclaiming” and to share this significant work with our visitors.

Join us tomorrow, Friday, August 14, 2026, for a reception celebrating our latest exhibitions: “States of Erosion: Reshaping and Reclaiming,” “Dakota Mace: 2026–Shímásání Bila’ (My Grandmother’s Hand),” and “Building Worlds: Ken Fury and Gary Medina Cook.” The public opening will take place from 5–7 pm, with a special member-only preview from 4–5 pm. To become a member and attend the member-only preview, join online or by phone at (505) 428-5925.

Visit our website for more information at https://iaia.edu/event/2026-summer-exhibitions-opening-reception/

Photograph by the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA).

After years spent studying across the country and abroad, Mya Benally (Diné) is returning home—both geographically and c...
08/12/2026

After years spent studying across the country and abroad, Mya Benally (Diné) is returning home—both geographically and culturally—through her Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI)-sponsored summer internship with the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA).

Originally from Kirtland, New Mexico, Benally comes to MoCNA from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and a minor in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies in spring 2026. This summer’s internship with MoCNA offered Benally an opportunity to dive deeper into Indigenous art. She has spent the summer helping the team with art handling, condition reports, deinstalling “Paper Trails: Unfolding Indigenous Narratives,” and compiling a resource binder for “States of Erosion: Reshaping and Reclaiming.”

“There is a place for me in the art world,” she says, “and there are opportunities I didn’t know were available before.”

Read the full story on our website at https://iaia.edu/mocna-2026-summer-intern/

Photograph by Ariana Hatcher, Institute of American Indian Arts.

Place Your Winning Bid Today Register today for the 2026 IAIA Benefit & Auction live auction, taking place Wednesday, Au...
08/10/2026

Place Your Winning Bid Today

Register today for the 2026 IAIA Benefit & Auction live auction, taking place Wednesday, August 12, from 8–9 pm MDT. Every winning bid helps provide life-changing scholarship opportunities for students at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA).

You can also bid now in the silent auction, featuring jewelry, pottery, sculpture, paintings, fashion, and more by contemporary Indigenous artists. The silent auction is open through Wednesday, August 12.

Phone and absentee bid registrations must be received by Monday, August 10.
For details, visit www.iaia.edu/bid or contact IAIA Advancement Associate Brandon Morgan (Navajo) at [email protected] or (505) 424-5730.

“Student scholarships—I depended on them. They supported my journey through IAIA, and they were vital. Now, look at my peers and me. If we hadn’t had that support, in so many ways, we wouldn’t be on the journey we’re on today.” —Rose B. Simpson (Santa Clara Pueblo) ’07 and ’18

Image (left to right): Preston Singletary (Tlingit), “Passing Between Realms”, photograph by Russell Johnson; Golga Oscar (Yup’ik) ’21, Handbag, photographs by Jason S. Ordaz; Rose B. Simpson (Santa Clara Pueblo) ’07 and ’18 and Pat Pruitt (Laguna and Chiricahua Apache) ’25, “Insight”, photographs by Kitty Leaken; Kent Monkman (ocêko-sîpiy [Fisher River Cree]), Charcoal Study for “Knowledge Keepers (Boy Chopping Wood with Nun)”, photograph courtesy of Kent Monkman.

Video filmed and edited by Frosley Fowler (Diné) ’16.

Address

108 Cathedral Place
Santa Fe, NM
87501

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 12pm - 5pm

Telephone

(505) 988-6211

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