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BY TOM IRELAND It’s been over forty years since I and my wife at the time, newly married, bought four Mexican mules and, riding two and packing two, traveled west from Taos to find a home somewhere in that general direction. [wonderplugin_slider id="120"] (more…)
Categories: Essays and memoir
BY MORGAN FARLEY Orange and vermilion make autumn fire: red willows by the river. (more…)
Categories: Poetry
Finding Cochineal BY MARK MACKENZIE Enter the Museum of International Folk Art exhibition The Red That Colored the World and you see red everywhere: in paintings, clothes, saddle blankets, altar cloths, and furniture. But as you drink in these glorious hues—pigeon blood, ruby, coral—how do you know that you are seeing cochineal, the red dye extracted from the female cochineal bug?
Categories: New Mexican cultures, New Mexican history, Southwestern history
BY MARIANNA SHREVE SIMPSON On April 8, 1614, Castilian nobleman Don García de Silva y Figueroa set sail from Lisbon as the emissary of Philip III, ruler of the Habsburg Dynasty of Spain and Portugal, to ‘Abbas I, ruler of the Safavid Dynasty of Iran. (more…)
Categories: New Mexican cultures, New Mexican history, Southwestern history
The Creativity for Peace Quilt BY LAURA MARCUS GREEN On a warm July day in 2014, a group of young women gathered in the Museum of International Folk Art’s outdoor classroom. [wonderplugin_slider id="125"] (more…)
Categories: Visual art
Is a portrait a picture of the person in front of the camera or the person behind the camera? Talking about the many portraits made of her by the photographer Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O’Keeffe said, “He was always photographing himself.” As part of its Focus on Photography series, the New Mexico Museum of Art presents a survey of portraits by longtime Santa Fe resident Gay Block, showcasing work from across her career in which she uses the camera as a research tool for learning about being human.
Categories: Visual art
BY DANIEL KOSHAREK, MEREDITH DAVIDSON, AND THOMAS LEECH [M]ay my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I forget the difference between the parties to that bloody conflict. I may say if this war is to be forgotten, I ask in the name of all things sacred what shall men remember? – Frederick Douglass, address at the Graves
Categories: Uncategorized
BY THOMAS LEECH In a sheet of paper the immeasurable strength of a human being is concealed. – Kuo Hamada [wonderplugin_slider id="128"] (more…)
Categories: Visual art
It has stopped me in my tracks every time I have encountered Luis Jiménez’s ten-and-a half-foot sculpture Border Crossing at the New Mexico Museum of Art. His toes clawing the mud, the towering figure of a man forges forward as the weight of his wife and child bears down on his shoulders, and the caterwauling infant struggles in his mother’s determined grasp.
Categories: Visual art
Saving Every Last Bit For Santo Domino's Mosaic Jewelry BY CINDRA KLINE Turquoise is the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture’s contribution to Santa Fe’s Summer of Color. [wonderplugin_slider id="112"] (more…)
Categories: Visual art
![A mule stands outdoors carrying heavy packs on its sides, with leafless trees and a hilly landscape in the background. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/On-Not-Leaving-Home_2-400x225.jpg)
![Abstract watercolor painting featuring bold, flowing shapes in green, blue, pink, and yellow, evoking a landscape with a sun, river, and hills. Signed Dorothy Morang 1976. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Be-Vermilion_1-400x225.jpg)
![A wooden vessel with a flared rim, decorated with geometric patterns in red, black, and cream colors. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Seeing-Red_1-400x225.jpg)
![A rectangular textile featuring a repeating geometric and floral pattern in red and gold tones, arranged in vertical columns and horizontal rows. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Five-Barrels_1-400x225.jpg)
![A smiling person with curly hair holds up a blue and white artwork depicting a house with a snowy scene. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Designing-Change_4-360x225.jpg)
![Two elderly women in sun hats and sunglasses stand arm in arm on a beach with straw umbrellas visible in the background. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/To-Feel-Less-Alone_1-400x225.jpg)
![A young girl in a dark plaid dress sits for a formal portrait, holding a photo case, framed by an ornate gold oval frame and a decorative case. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Fading-Memories_2-400x225.jpg)
![Wartime military communication dated August 9, 1945, detailing aircraft plans and activities around Formosa and Singapore, marked SECRET and sent from CINCPAC PEARL. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Cables-from-Hiroshima_2-400x225.jpg)
![Wrought iron gate in an adobe wall opens to a courtyard, with a person in colorful clothing walking past in the background. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/True-Colors_2-400x225.jpg)
![A colorful beaded necklace with a bird-shaped pendant lies on a black surface next to a yellow vinyl record. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Turquoise-Tenacity8-400x225.jpg)