Pueblo leaders lobby for Chaco protections, Shepard Fairey unveils New Mexico murals, and more top Southwest art news for August 2026.
News:
Pueblo Leaders Press for Permanent Chaco Protections in Washington, D.C.:
Pueblo leaders and New Mexico’s congressional delegation traveled to Washington, D.C., to oppose Trump administration plans to weaken a ten-mile drilling and mining buffer around Chaco Culture National Historical Park. The effort follows more than 100,000 public comments opposing the rollback.
Shepard Fairey Unveils Murals in Albuquerque and Santa Fe:
Shepard Fairey expanded his footprint in New Mexico with new murals at Albuquerque’s Rail Yards and the Santa Fe Art Institute. The projects coincide with his first solo exhibition in the state, on view at Turner Carroll Gallery through August 10.
Denver-Based Artist Danielle SeeWalker Paints Solidarity Murals in the West Bank:
Artist Danielle SeeWalker (Húŋkpapȟa Lakȟóta) painted murals with Palestinian artists and children at Aida Refugee Camp in the West Bank. The project followed the Denver-based artist’s settlement with the town of Vail, Colorado, which canceled her 2024 residency over her painting G Is for Genocide.
Also:
- A group of U.S. senators urged the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation to reject proposed rules that could allow historic preservation projects to proceed without consultation with tribes and states.
- In Colorado, mudslides sent up to four feet of water and debris into Telluride’s Michael D. Palm Theatre and flooded a nearby school on July 17; no injuries were reported.
- Mary Ann Weems, founder of Albuquerque’s Weems Gallery and Framing, died just months before the gallery’s 45th anniversary this fall.
- Taos’s Harwood Museum of Art will open a Santa Fe satellite location following a donor-funded acquisition, with Peyton Wright Gallery remaining in the historic building during a two-year transition.
- Santa Fe Art Institute launched a $200,000, two-year pilot residency co-designed with artists with spinal cord injuries.
- Tucumcari, New Mexico, sculpture park and glamping site Art City is under new ownership, months after founder Matthew Monahan said he planned to sell the property and refocus his efforts elsewhere in town.
- Santa Fe microcinema No Name Cinema closed after five years and hundreds of screenings and other events. “With rent increasing, it feels like the right time,” its leaders wrote on Instagram.
- Celebrated El Paso artist and writer Benjamin Alire Sáenz, whose work explored borderlands life and queer identity, died at age 71.
- The Salt Lake Art Museum opened as Utah’s first museum devoted entirely to the state’s artists and Salt Lake City’s first new art museum in more than forty years.
Grants and Awards:
Warhol Foundation Awards Grants to Eight Southwest Arts Organizations:
The Andy Warhol Foundation awarded more than $5 million to arts organizations across the nation, including eight in the Southwest. The regional recipients are Harwood Museum of Art, 516 Arts, ICA Santa Fe, artist Heidi K. Brandow (for a project at IAIA MoCNA), Redline Contemporary Art Center, Contemporary at Blue Star, DORF, and the Nasher Sculpture Center.
Also:
- The Arizona legislature renewed a $2 million state investment in arts and culture for fiscal year 2027.
- Colorado’s Anderson Ranch Arts Center raised a record $1.6 million for artist scholarships and programming at its 60th anniversary gala, where Marilyn Minter received the International Artist Award.
- Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art received $1.5 million in state tax-credit funding for its planned North Boulder museum and creative campus, bringing the capital campaign to $13.6 million of its $25 million goal.
- Denver approved $1.35 million for the Community Arts Stabilization Trust to transform a vacant downtown storefront into a permanent arts hub with affordable studios, a gallery, and more.
- Denver Art Museum launched a biennial environmental photography award offering $40,000 and $25,000 prizes, with selected works entering its permanent collection.
- New Mexico Arts named its 2026 Governor’s Arts Awards recipients, including Albuquerque Museum leader Andrew Connors and visual artists Adrian Aguirre, Bill Barrett, Eli Levin, and Sam Scott.
- The Santa Fe Arts and Culture Department announced eight recipients of its 2026 Mayor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts, including artists Rose B. Simpson and Erica Lord, mobile art space Axle Contemporary, and philanthropist Catherine Oppenheimer.
- The Rubin Center for the Visual Arts named Andres Payán Estrada its new director and chief curator, making him the first El Paso–Juárez native to lead the institution.
- Dallas’s Nasher Sculpture Center will publicly confer its $100,000 Nasher Prize for the first time this fall, honoring Kosovar artist Petrit Halilaj alongside a monumental new installation.
- Salt Lake City tapped artist Jiyoun Lee-Lodge to repaint its beloved twenty-three-foot whale sculpture with a new mural inspired by Great Salt Lake.
Leadership Changes and Appointments:
Fort Worth Curator María Elena Ortiz Tapped for 2026 Armory Show:
Frieze announced the first details of the 2026 Armory Show, naming Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth curator María Elena Ortiz as one of two curators leading its Caribbean-focused sections. Southwest participants also include K Contemporary and Albuquerque’s Tamarind Institute.
CCA Santa Fe Names New Artistic and Cinema Directors Amid Reset:
Center for Contemporary Arts Santa Fe named Jaime Herrell its artistic director and Matthew Cannella its cinema director as the organization rebuilds after a near-closure in 2023 and a contentious unionization drive in 2025. “It’s a total rewrite,” Herrell told Santa Fe Reporter. “We are very much interested in delegating and empowering the staff that has all been here.”
Also:
- Scottsdale Arts appointed Christina Brungardt director of the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, following leadership roles at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art and Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.
- Denver’s RedLine Contemporary Art Center named longtime staff member Robin Gallite executive director after she served a year in the interim role.
- Museum of Art Fort Collins appointed Lynn Boland its new executive director, bringing the former Gregory Allicar Museum director aboard as the museum plans major renovations and an expansion.
- Southern Utah University named Rebecca Bloom executive director of the Southern Utah Museum of Art after she served a year as interim director.
- The Utah Division of Arts & Museums tapped Kirsten Darrington as its new director, bringing back the former assistant director following other statewide leadership roles.
