Native American art is the original American art. This is not a new development, but it’s one that has had huge ramifications on the art world in recent years. Nowhere is it more obvious than at the museum level, where curators from coast to coast have been reconciling their museums’ permanent collections with the history of art in this country. We’re seeing it with artists of color, women and other minority groups who were underrepresented within major collections. We’re also seeing that with Native American artwork. Museums are listening to the call for more complete curation and inclusion. They are adding Native American art, sometimes huge collections all at once; they are hosting traveling exhibitions about Indigenous art, and sometimes presenting their own exhibitions; they are hiring Native American curators; and they are bringing in Native American voices to speak to the artwork that hangs on the walls. Some museums have been doing this for decades, and others are just starting. It is all welcome! As you browse through this museum guide, please consider going to museums that are highlighting Native art and artists. You won’t be disappointed.
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
600 Museum Way • Bentonville, AR 72712 • (479) 418-5700 • www.crystalbridges.org
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art takes its name from a nearby natural spring and the bridge construction incorporated in the building, designed by world-renowned architect Moshe Safdie. The mission of the museum is to welcome all in celebrating the American spirit in a setting that unites the power of art with the beauty of nature. Founded by philanthropist and arts patron Alice Walton, Crystal Bridges is a public non-profit charitable organization.
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Drum Jar (Débe hanne), ca. 1928, clay and paint, 17 x 22”, by Maria Katitse or Saivutesta (Zuni Pueblo, ca. 1871-1957). Courtesy of the School for Advanced Research. Indian Arts Fund purchase for the permanent collection, 1929. Photograpy by Addison Doty.
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Cornhusk Bag, ca. 1900, natural and dyed cornhusk, hemp and commercial yarn, 18 x 14½”, by artist once known (Plateau). Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO. Gift of Peter and Barbara Gattermeir, 2016.77.33. Image courtesy Nelson-Atkins Media Services. Photo: Gabe Hopkins.
Challenging your perceptions of the American West, Crystal Bridges opens the new exhibition, Knowing the West—the first major traveling exhibition to embrace the American West as more inclusive, complex and reflective of the diverse peoples who contributed to art and life there.
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Cradleboard, 1875-1900, rawhide, buckskin, leather, cotton, glass beads, wood, yellow metal details, 46 x 13 x 9½”, Artist once known (Kiowa). The Crane Collection at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
“Americans know the West in many ways, from Hollywood images to personal experience, with every perspective thread in a tapestry of voices,” says museum representatives. Knowing the West goes beyond the stereotypical scenes, showcasing essential and often overlooked stories of the West through art, including those of Native American artists, women and many more.
Tickets to Knowing the West are $12 for adults. Tribal citizens, museum members, SNAP participants, veterans and youth 18 and under are free. Tickets can be purchased on the museum’s website.
Major Upcoming Exhibitions
Knowing the West Through January 27, 2025
Admission & Membership FREE General Admission (with entry fees for select exhibitions) Membership starting at $65
Heard Museum
2301 N. Central Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85004 • (602) 252-8840 contact@heard.org • www.heard.org
Experience the Heard Museum, a cultural icon in downtown Phoenix, and a vibrant world where Indigenous art tells powerful stories. Since 1929, the Heard has been a place where visitors connect with the creativity of Indigenous artists. As one of the world’s leading museums dedicated to American Indian art, the museum offers an experience beyond the ordinary, drawing more than 145,000 visitors annually.
Heard Museum and amphitheater. Courtesy Heard Museum.
Exhibitions, like Substance of Stars and Away from Home: American Indian Boarding School Stories, highlight the resilience and contributions of Native communities while sparking meaningful conversations. The museum proudly stewards a permanent collection of more than 46,000 works of Indigenous creation, complemented by 434,000 materials in the musem’s renowned library and archives.
“At the Heard, commitment to authenticity is at the heart of everything do,” says museum representatives. Collaborating closely with Native scholars, artists and communities, we ensure that the stories we share are told with respect and accuracy. Beyond the exhibitions, our engaging public programs, educational initiatives and annual cultural festivals invite you to dive deeper into the fascinating world of Indigenous cultures.”
View inside Sky-Dome in Substance of Stars exhibition. Courtesy Heard Museum.
Whether you’re exploring the galleries, attending a cultural event or participating in an educational program, the Heard Museum promises an unforgettable experience that connects you to the heart and soul of American Indian art and culture.
Major Upcoming Exhibitions
Substance of Stars
Ongoing
Meryl McMaster: Bloodline
October 4, 2024-January 12, 2025
Space Makers: Indigenous Expression and a New American Art
Opens November 8, 2024
Admission & Membership
$22.50 General Admission (select discounts)
Membership starting at $60
High Desert Museum
59800 US-97, Bend, Oregon 97702 • (541) 382-4754
info@highdesertmuseum.org • www.highdesertmuseum.org
The High Desert Museum, nestled in the picturesque landscape of Bend, Oregon, is dedicated to celebrating the unique heritage and natural wonders of the High Desert. Known for its immersive and thought-provoking exhibitions and wildlife encounters, the museum invites visitors to explore the rich tapestry of species and cultures that define the region.
Interior view of the High Desert Museum. Photo by Chris Murray.
Currently on exhibit is Sensing Sasquatch, offering a unique look at Sasquatch from an Indigenous lens. Highlighting the longstanding stories and depictions of this non-human other by Native peoples of the Plateau, the exhibit features work by five Indigenous artists: Phillip Cash Cash (Nez Perce/Cayuse), HollyAnna CougarTracks DeCoteau Littlebull (Yakama/Nez Perce/Cayuse/Cree), Charlene “Tillie” Moody (Warm Springs), Frank Buffalo Hyde (Nez Perce/Onondaga) and Rocky LaRock (Salish).
Looking ahead, the museum is excited to open the exhibition Rick Bartow: Animal Kinship, featuring artwork from one of the Northwest’s best-known and most celebrated Indigenous artists, Rick Bartow (1946-2016, Mad River Band of the Wiyot Tribe). This exhibition is a yearlong series of collaboration with the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation exploring the complex relationships between humans, animals and the world we share.
High Desert Museum, For Roger, 2009, by Rick Bartow (1946-2016, Mad River Band of the Wiyot Tribe)
Additionally, the museum is set to showcase Frank Matsura: Portraits from the Borderland, highlighting the work of Frank Sakae Matsura (1873-1913). His images capture the Syilx (Okanogan) people with a nuanced and respectful lens, reflecting their adaptability and resilience in a rapidly changing era.
Major Upcoming Exhibitions
Sensing Sasquatch
Through January 12, 2025
Rick Bartow: Animal Kinship, from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and his Family Foundation
September 20, 2024–February 9, 2025
Frank Matsura: Portraits from the Borderland
February 1, 2025–September 7, 2025
Admission & Membership
$17 General Admission (select discounts)
Membership starting at $70
Museum of Indian Arts & Culture
710 Camino Lejo, Santa Fe, NM 87505 • (505) 476-1269 • www.indianartsandculture.org
The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture is a premier repository of Native American art and material culture, telling the stories of the people of the Southwest through art from pre-history through the contemporary. The museum serves a diverse, multicultural audience through changing exhibitions, public lectures, field trips, artist residencies and other educational programs.
Aerial view of the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Photo courtesy of NM True.
A figurine by artist Vangie Suina (Cochiti Pueblo), bequest of Sarah Crane. Photo by Tira Howard.
The museum’s overarching mission is to provide cross-cultural education to the many visitors to Santa Fe who take part in its programs and to New Mexican residents throughout the state. It is especially important that MIAC serve Native American communities in the state, and throughout the Southwest, whose contemporary and ancestral cultures are represented in the museum’s collections.
A pair of beaded high-tops by artist Terri Greeves (Kiowa). Photo by Tira Howard.
Major Upcoming Exhibitions
Makowa: The Worlds Above Us
Check museum website for updated dates.
2025 Native Treasure Exhibition
May 2025–April 2026
Admission & Membership
$12 General Admission (select discounts)
Membership starting at $75
Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West
3830 N. Marshall Way, Scottsdale, AZ 85251 • (480) 686-9539 • www.westernspirit.org
Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West is a premier cultural institution in Old Town Scottsdale dedicated to showcasing art and history spanning 19 states in the American West, Western Canada and Mexico. Within months of opening in January 2015, the museum qualified as a Smithsonian affiliate.
Exterior view of the Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West based in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The Western Spirit building consists of a two-story layout, showcasing collections that feature a diverse array of Western art and artifacts, ranging from classic and contemporary paintings to sculptures, pottery, photography and historical objects.
Canvas of Clay exhibition. Photo by Loren Anderson Photography.
The museum’s exhibitions and programs aim to educate and inspire visitors by exploring the West’s rich and multifaceted heritage. Notable exhibitions include Dazzling Array, which features the Richard A. Gates collection of necklaces, cuffs and more made by artists such as Larry Golsh, Charles Loloma and Jesse Monongya, to name just a few. Canvas of Clay features more than 65 of the finest examples of Hopi pottery from the Allan and Judith Cooke collection. Among the historic and contemporary masterworks are 18 ceramics by Nampeyo of Hano, the most famous of the Hopi potters, as well as works by 22 additional master potters including Nampeyo’s daughters and other descendants.
Western Spirit, Pala Mission Concho Belt, gold, silver and turquoise, by Larry Golsh (Pala Band of Mission/Cherokee).
Major Exhibitions
Dazzling Array: The Richard A. Gates Collection of Native American Jewelry
Ongoing
Canvas of Clay: Hopi Pottery Masterworks from The Allan and Judith Cooke Collection
Ongoing
Admission & Membership
$28 General Admission (select discounts)
FREE members and children (5 and under)
Membership starting at $45
Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian
704 Camino Lejo, Santa Fe, NM 87505 • (505) 982-4636 • www.wheelwright.org
The Wheelwright Museum—named for Mary Cabot Wheelwright (1878–1958), one of the two founders—is recognized as a historic landmark and has been open to the public since 1937. The building of modernist design takes the form of a Navajo hooghan, which reflects the importance of Navajo esteemed singer Hastiin Klah (1867-1937) to the founding of the museum. The historic building is the work of architect and furniture designer William Penhallow Henderson (1877-1943).
Aerial view of the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian.
On the museum’s landscaped grounds, you will find works by sculptors Melanie Yazzie (Navajo) and Allan Houser (1914-1994, Chiracahua Apache), and the plaza offers beautiful views. Visitors enter the historic museum building through the door facing east.
Inside the museum are permanent and temporary exhibitions of both contemporary and historic Native American art. The Wheelwright’s collection includes around 11,000 items, including jewelry, metalwork, carving, basketry, folk art and textiles of the Navajo, Rio Grande Pueblo and other Native peoples of New Mexico.
Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Untitled, blown glass, by Tony Jojola (Isleta Pueblo, 1958-2022). From the collection of the Wheelwright Museum. Part of the exhibition, Masterclass: The Collaborative Spirit of Tony Jojola. Photo by Addison Doty.
The Jim and Lauris Phillips Center for the Study of Southwestern Jewelry, a permanent museum display, is devoted to the art history and contemporary interpretation of the Navajo and pueblo jewelry traditions of the Southwest. It features more than 700 artworks drawn from the Wheelwright collection. The large and small temporary exhibition spaces have a changing program of exhibits including thematic shows, featuring historic and contemporary work, and one-person shows of established and emerging contemporary Native artists.
Major Exhibitions
PATHFINDER: 40 Years of Marcus Amerman
Through January 11, 2025
Carved Stories by Mavasta Honyouti
October 13, 2024-April 12, 2025
Pablita’s Wardrobe: Fashion & Family
Through April 12, 2025
Admission & Membership
$10 General Admission
Membership starting at $50
The Zuni Fetish Museum
1925 Old Town Road NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104 (505) 243-0414 • www.greydogtrading.com
The Zuni Fetish Museum, located inside Grey Dog Trading, is the first museum dedicated to a single Native American art form—Zuni fetish carving. It was founded to explain, preserve and promote the art of Zuni fetishes, a category that is widely copied and faked. All pueblo people carve and use fetishes, but the Zuni became famous for selling them in the middle of the last century when the carvings of Leekya Deyuse became collectible. 
Exterior image of the Zuni Fetish Museum, located inside Grey Dog Trading.
The museum’s new exhibit features the carvings of Deyuse’s great-nephew, award-winning artist Ricky Laahty. “His carvings are expertly crafted with infinite respect for the stone, often embellished only with his inlaid shell eyes,” says museum director Yvonne Stokes. “No bells, no whistles, no elaborate decoration. His animals—mostly frogs—exhibit whimsical lifelike personalities without an overload of detail. This is the kind of carving that made Leekya Deyuse’s work the holy grail among fetish collectors.”
The work of Zuni artist Ricky Laahty.
The museum’s permanent exhibits explain the history, materials and styles of fetish carving, and showcase work from many known carvers both contemporary and historic. The Zuni Fetish Museum is currently available by appointment only.
Major Upcoming Exhibitions
The Carvings of Ricky Laahty
November 2024
Admission & Membership
Please contact directly for more information.
Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture
2316 W. First Avenue, Spokane, WA 99201 (509) 456-3931 • www.northwestmuseum.org
The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, Washington, provides exposure to art, history and culture from the Inland Northwest and beyond. They preserve collections of more than one million artifacts and archival materials, including a comprehensive collection of art, historical objects and textiles from this region, a significant research archive, and the largest known collection of Plateau Indian art and material culture. They also present a diverse mix of regionally focused and national traveling exhibitions.
Exterior view of the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, Washington. Dean Davis Photography.
Currently on view is Joe Feddersen: Earth, Water, Sky, showcasing the breadth of the artist’s 40-year career. From miniatures to wall-sized installations, the exhibition features more than 100 works. Guests will also find the exhibition 1924: Sovereignty, Leadership, and the Indian Citizenship Act, that examines the act that granted citizenship to American Indians born in the United States; and Woman, Artist, Catalyst: Art from the Permanent Collection, where the focus is on local, national and international woman-identifying artists.
Major Upcoming Exhibitions
Joe Feddersen: Earth, Water, Sky
Through January 5, 2025
Woman, Artist, Catalyst: Art from the Permanent Collection
Through March 9, 2025
1924: Sovereignty, Leadership, and the Indian Citizenship Act
Through March 16, 2025
Admission & Membership
$12 General Admission (select discounts)
Membership starting at $50
McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture
1327 Circle Park Drive, Knoxville, TN 37996 (865) 974-2144 • museum@utk.edu • mcclungmuseum.utk.edu
Located in Knoxville, Tennessee, the McClung Museum provides free admission, and functions as a center for research, education and community involvement. The museum houses important collections in archaeology, malacology, paleoethnobotany and arts and culture. Its exhibitions cover Tennessee’s geological, historical and artistic heritage, while also featuring diverse cultures from around the world.
Exterior view of the McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture.Homelands: Connecting to Mounds through Native Art will debut in January 2025 at the McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture. This exhibition, co-curated by representatives from four Native nations with ancestral ties to Knox County—Cherokee Nation, Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Muscogee (Creek) Nation—invites visitors to explore Native American viewpoints on placemaking, cultural continuity and Indigenous lifeways, and centers around the profound significance of mounds, including the mound on the University of Tennessee, Knoxville campus.
The exhibition will feature works by 17 Native American artists and includes vibrant paintings, pottery, prints and textiles by notable artists such as Johnnie Diacon (Mvskoke), John Henry Gloyne (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians/Osage/Pawnee), Jane Osti (Cherokee Nation) and Dana Tiger (Muscogee).
Major Upcoming Exhibitions
Homelands: Connecting to Mounds through Native Art
January 2025–December 2027
Admission & Membership
FREE Admission
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