Sometimes the best way to experience your hometown is to explore it like a visitor. Santa Fe’s four major summer festivals—Indian Market, International Folk Art Market, Traditional Spanish Market, and the Santa Fe International Literary Festival—offer varying insights into the centuries of history and culture that shape the city and its surrounding region. This article focuses on the city’s deep and ancient Native American heritage, guiding readers to some of the stories, landmarks, and traditions that make Santa Fe truly unique.
“Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their tribes, their families, their histories, too. Talk to them, listen to them. They are alive poems.” —Joy Harjo
Indian Market
Santa Fe’s Indian Market celebrates over 100 years of showcasing Native American artwork, with more than 1,000 artists from around the United States and Canada selected to show and sell their work directly to collectors and visitors on and around the Santa Fe Plaza. Look for Art Indigenous, featuring contemporary art from galleries exhibiting indigenous artists from the United States and Canada, held at El Museo Cultural in the Railyard.
Native American Santa Fe
Santa Fe sits on Oghá P’o’oge Owingeh (White Shell Water Place), the traditional lands of the Tewa-speaking peoples. Surrounding the city are the communities of the Pueblo, Apache, and Diné (Navajo) peoples, who maintain strong ties to the area. Descendants of the ancient Tewa still live in Santa Fe and the nearby Pueblos of Nambé, Ohkay Owingeh, Pojoaque, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, and Tesuque. Other northern New Mexico Pueblos, speaking different languages, include Acoma, Cochiti, Isleta, Jemez, Laguna, Picuris, Sandia, San Felipe, Santa Ana, Santo Domingo, Taos, Zia, and Zuni. People have lived in this region for at least 1,500 years.
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture
The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (MIAC) and the Laboratory of Anthropology tell the stories of Southwest peoples, from prehistory to contemporary art. Here, Now and Always is a permanent exhibition and a model for Indigenous communities sharing their own stories. In July, in conjunction with the School for Advanced Research and the Vilcek Foundation of New York, MIAC will present Grounded in Clay: Voices from Pueblo Country, a Native American community-curated show highlighting Pueblo pottery. indianartsandculture.org
IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Art (MOCNA)
The IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Art (MOCNA) features work by contemporary Native artists across multiple media. Its colorful columns, across from St. Francis Cathedral, have become a downtown landmark. MOCNA is part of the Institute of American Indian Arts, founded in 1962, which educates artists, writers, filmmakers, and leaders.
Wheelwright Museum of the America Indian
The Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, founded in 1937, focuses on living and traditional Native artists. Its permanent exhibition showcases Navajo (Diné) and Pueblo jewelry. The Case Trading Post replicates a Navajo trading post, complete with a squeaky wooden floor, and sells contemporary and vintage jewelry, ceramics, and textiles.
Hotel Santa Fe
Hotel Santa Fe, owned by Picuris Pueblo, is the only Native American–owned hotel in downtown Santa Fe. The property highlights Pueblo art, architecture, music, and culture. Its spa and restaurant, Amaya, feature Native-inspired cuisine.
Portal of the Palace of the Governors
Handmade Native American arts are displayed daily 9:30 to 5:00 under the portal of the Palace of the Governors. Participants must demonstrate technical mastery, reviewed by a committee of peers and the New Mexico History Museum. Visitors can purchase jewelry, pottery, carvings, and other works directly from the artists.
Shiprock Santa Fe Gallery
Shiprock Santa Fe gallery, located above the Plaza, showcases Native American art. Fifth-generation art dealer Jed Foutz, raised in a Diné family of art traders, exhibits vintage and contemporary Navajo rugs, jewelry, Pueblo pottery, folk art, and fine art.
Andrea Fisher Fine Pottery
Andrea Fisher Fine Pottery displays traditional and contemporary Southwestern Native American pottery. Works are organized by Pueblo or tribe, highlighting differences and similarities. Knowledgeable staff provide museum-level expertise and feature pottery by Maria Martinez.
Road Trip
Bandelier National Monument and the Pueblos of northern New Mexico
Bandelier National Monument and Northern Pueblos
Hike through canyons and mesas to see petroglyphs, cliff dwellings, and ancient walls. The Pueblo Loop Trail winds through archaeological sites, and adventurous visitors can climb ladders into alcoves. The park protects ancestral lands of at least 23 tribal nations, many of which still thrive nearby.
Tours of the Puye Cliff Dwellings, guided by Santa Clara Pueblo members, offer a more intimate experience than Bandelier. Since it is Pueblo-owned, Puye may close periodically, so reservations are recommended.
Northern New Mexico Pueblo communities welcome visitors to feast days, dances, craft fairs, and other cultural events. These celebrations highlight the living traditions of their communities.
Reading List
Before Santa Fe: Archaeology of the City Different, Jason S. Shapiro
Santa Fe: History of an Ancient City, edited by David Grant Noble
Pueblos of New Mexico, Ana Pacheco
Story by Mara Harris
Photography courtesy of Gabriella Marks
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