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BY CARMELLA PADILLA In the beginning was el cante—the song. The song was its own instrument. Its notes, rhythms, and timbres were carried by the currents of the Mediterranean and El Río Betis, today’s Guadalquivir, the routes followed by multiethnic groups of nomadic Gypsies to Andalucía in southern Spain. [wonderplugin_slider id="61"] (more…)
Categories: Featured, Staff favorites
BY DANIEL KOSHAREK There are people in the world we call collectors, and if not for them most of our museums and cultural institutions would be empty. It is through their foresight and largesse that we have the incredible richness of art lining the walls of our museums, and artifacts on the shelves of our archives and libraries. [wonderplugin_slider id="69"]
Categories: Framework, Visual art
BY PENELOPE HUNTER-STIBEL If you are as disoriented as I first was by the profusion of saints and crucifixes displayed in the Palace of the Governors, take a moment to stop at the wooden barrier and look into the world to which they belonged. [wonderplugin_slider id="68"] (more…)
Categories: Visual art
BY VALERIE K. VERZUH In contemporary art, Native American cultural power is located in the use of traditional forms, materials, and visual language, as well as in the traditional knowledge embedded in even the most modern of artistic expressions. Into the Future explores the ways in which indigenous artists have always employed and continue to employ visual imagery in the formation, perpetuation, and expression of their unique cultures.
Categories: Visual art
BY CANDACE WALSH I’ll begin my editorship with a shameful confession: after fourteen years in Santa Fe, I finally got around to reading Willa Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop while editing my first El Palacio. The timing was nonetheless perfect, as I was pleased to notice an uncanny amount of synergy between the book and this issue’s content. (more…)
Categories: Editor's Letter
A groundbreaking juvenile dinosaur discovery in northwestern New Mexico enlivens the record. BY DR. SPENCER G. LUCAS [wonderplugin_slider id="63"] (more…)
Categories: Featured
BY LARS KRUTAK IN ASIA, TATTOOING TRADITIONS ABIDE AS BOTH PRAYER AND PROTECTION [wonderplugin_slider id="62"] (more…)
Categories: Featured, Visual art
The Curious Backstory of the New Mexico Museum of Art's Genesis. . . and Edifice BY KHRISTAAN D. VILLELA Next year will mark the centenary of the debut of the Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe, now called the New Mexico Museum of Art. [wonderplugin_slider id="60"] (more…)
Categories: Featured, Visual art
Spanish Judaism, the Inquisition, and New World identities At an unprecedented exhibition, a hidden diaspora finally gets its due. BY RON D. HART Along with empire building and dreams of gold, the Inquisition’s ejection of thousands of Jews drove Spain’s conquest of New Mexico. [wonderplugin_slider id="59"] (more…)
Categories: Featured
A LOW, SLOW JOURNEY FROM PACHUCO TO PRICELESS BY DON J. USNER It all began for Johnny Martinez when he went with his family to work in the fields of Southern California in the late 1950s. [wonderplugin_slider id="58"] (more…)
Categories: Featured, Visual art
![Black-and-white photo of women performing onstage, some clapping, one with a guitar, while audience members sit at tables in the foreground, likely in a historic tavern or café setting. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Flamenco_1-400x225.jpg)
![A stone grave marker stands in front of a crumbling stone wall, with a cloudy sky and rural landscape in the background. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Collectors-Collections_1-400x225.jpg)
![A painted wooden altarpiece featuring nine religious figures in separate panels, each with distinct clothing and poses, set against a colorful, patterned background. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Painted-Power_1-400x225.jpg)
![A rectangular box labeled Land Bucks Unsalted Sweet Butter with an illustration of a woman kneeling and holding a package of butter; text indicates Recipes Inside. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Into-the-Future_4-400x225.jpg)
![A person in outdoor clothing excavates fossils embedded in rocky terrain near a hillside. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Forever-Young_3-400x225.jpg)
![A Buddhist monk with a shaved head displays intricate tattoos on the scalp and upper back, wearing an orange robe, standing before a red background. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Indelible-Grace_1-scaled-1-400x225.jpg)
![Historic photo of the New Mexico State Building featuring adobe-style architecture, flat roofs, and rounded corners, with a sidewalk, streetlamp, and a person walking nearby. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/The-Adobe-Ambassador_4-scaled-1-400x225.jpg)
![A handwritten historical document in Spanish with cursive script on aged paper, featuring various underlines, edits, and marginal notes. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/The-Exile-Factor_3-scaled-1-400x225.jpg)
![Tattooed man with a shaved head sits in the driver’s seat of a classic convertible car, holding the steering wheel and looking toward the camera. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Machine-Dreams_6-scaled-1-400x225.jpg)