An Artist Who Wrangles Cattle, Pours Iron, and Pulls Prints
Artist Jack Craft operates a cattle ranch in the Texas Panhandle while producing minimalist sculptures and experimental prints.
April 17, 2025
Natalie Hegert
Amid Long-Term Closure, Flood-Stricken Roswell Museum Extends into the Community
While the Roswell Museum’s doors remain closed following the disastrous flood last year, support comes from the local community and statewide arts organizations.
April 08, 2025
From the EditorVol. 11 The Hyperlocal
From the Editors: Southwest Contemporary Vol. 11 — The Hyperlocal
Discover how Southwest Contemporary: The Hyperlocal explores art that connects immediate environments to global concerns—from borderland communities to regional myths and climate concerns.
March 07, 2025
ArtistsTexasVol. 11 The Hyperlocal
The Hyperlocal: Cindee Klement
Houston-based artist Cindee Klement depicts otherwise invisible systems and their interconnections to encourage local ecological recovery in the Energy Capital of the World.
March 07, 2025
ArtistsNew MexicoVol. 11 The Hyperlocal
The Hyperlocal: Jess Lanham
Since the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fires, Jess Lanham has been creating work about the stark changes in her hometown of Las Vegas, New Mexico, using fragments and wildfire ash.
March 07, 2025
In a Slash-and-Burn Era for Federal Funding, Here’s How Texas Arts Advocates Angle for State Support
Over 200 arts leaders descend on Austin's Capitol to dispense Texas charm—and return-on-investment pitches—for state funding at Texas Arts Advocacy Day.
February 20, 2025
“The Doors Were Breaking, Things Were Moving”: Inside the Roswell Museum After Disastrous 500-Year Flood
Museum insiders offer firsthand accounts of the flash flood that breached Roswell Museum in October—and an update on the uphill battle for remediation.
December 19, 2024
Study Up: Here is Southwest Contemporary’s Fall 2024 Art Guide
Don’t miss these essential art exhibitions across the Southwest for fall 2024, featuring major surveys, immersive installations, and artistic dialogues.
October 02, 2024
Turning up the Heat: Inside the Controversy Sparked by Drag, Censorship, and Public Funding in a West Texas City
When the Lubbock City Council defunded a popular art event for promoting the “LGBT Agenda,” confirming fears of repressive drag bans in Texas, the art community got fired up.
September 20, 2024
FeatureSouthwestVol. 10 Radical Futures
Radical Architecture, Radical Imagination: How Will We Live in a Hotter, More Arid Future?
Science fiction authors have provided many visions of dystopian futures in the Southwest. Can architects help avert such disastrous outcomes?
September 06, 2024
Field Report2024 New Mexico Field GuideNew MexicoTravel
Field Report: Roswell, New Mexico
"Come for the aliens, stay for the art!" sums up the compelling reasons to visit Roswell, New Mexico—a mecca for UFO culture and contemporary art.
May 24, 2024
SITE Santa Fe Young CuratorsNew Mexico
SITE Santa Fe’s Young Curators Work with Southwest Contemporary to Offer Their Critical Perspectives on Art
Southwest Contemporary teamed up with SITE Santa Fe to produce a series of articles written by high school students taking part in their 2023-24 Young Curators program.
March 27, 2024
Belonging: Contemporary Native Ceramics from the Southern Plains Speaks to Both Ancestors and Future Generations
Belonging: Contemporary Native Ceramics from the Southern Plains brings together works by seven artists that range from ceramic vessels to monumental sculptures to installations that radiate outward in space.
March 19, 2024
ArtistsTexasVol. 9 Living Histories
Andrew Ina: Living Histories
Andrew Ina's multi-media artwork delves into diasporic memory and displacement, using his family's photographs documenting their lives in Lebanon and the United States.
March 01, 2024
ArtistsArizonaVol. 9 Living Histories
Chip Thomas: Living Histories
Medical doctor, photographer, and public artist Chip Thomas has taken a historical turn in his work, building on deep, place-based research and activating architecture with archival discoveries.
March 01, 2024
The Tucson Art Scene Impresses with its People Power
Tucson, Arizona is home to an incredible community of creative people. Southwest Contemporary visited in November 2023 to discover the local art scene.
February 16, 2024
Will You Break Your Silence and Scream? Nicholas Galanin Wants to Know
In Interference Patterns at SITE Santa Fe, Nicholas Galanin (Lingít/Unangax̂) stokes rage and reckoning with the dark history and continuing legacies of settler-colonialism.
December 21, 2023
Southwest Contemporary Gift Guide 2023
Seeking tips on artist-made gifts? Are you trying to find Southwest-inspired stocking stuffers? Want to shop locally and support area artists and artisans? Read the Southwest Contemporary Gift Guide 2023!
December 05, 2023
Picks for Pumpkin Spice Season: Southwest Contemporary’s Fall 2023 Art Guide
Check out these Southwest art exhibitions for fall 2023, featuring the churning creativity of community, the crisis of climate change, and cowboys.
October 13, 2023
Groundswell at the Nasher Expands the Conversation Around Land Art to Include a Multiplicity of Perspectives
Groundswell: Women of Land Art features twelve artists—some names familiar, some fresh—all working concurrently yet in the shadow of their male Land Art counterparts.
September 18, 2023
FeatureSouthwestVol. 8 Medium + Support
Intervention and Interconnection: How Should Artists Work With(in) the Environment?
Eco art is attracting a new generation of artists, but when working with the land, there’s a way to do it right and a way to do it wrong.
September 01, 2023
PhotographyArizonaVol. 8 Medium + Support
Claire A. Warden: Finding Photography’s Edge
Phoenix-based artist Claire A. Warden experiments with camera-less processes to push against the boundaries of photography and identity.
September 01, 2023
The Outsized Presence of Luis Jiménez in the Southwest
Luis Jiménez’s monumental sculptures are found all over the country. Why is the artist not more well known?
March 28, 2023
Studio VisitTexasVol. 7 Finding Water in the West
The Mesquite Mile: Erin Charpentier, Kim Karlsrud, Travis Neel, and Daniel Phillips
For this social practice collective in Lubbock, Texas, the mesquite tree has become a charismatic icon for water conservation and urban afforestation.
March 03, 2023
Local Texas Gift Guide 2022
From handcrafted boots to an indispensable indigenous cookbook, here are giftable gems for that special Texan in your life.
December 12, 2022
Cannupa Hanska Luger: Reunion Reckons With Annihilation While Dreaming of the Future
Cannupa Hanska Luger melds past and future in an Amarillo Museum of Art exhibition that pays tribute to millions of massacred Plains bison.
November 28, 2022
Warm Up With Southwest Contemporary’s Winter 2022-23 Art Guide
From legendary folk artists in Texas to Black cowboys in New Mexico, these 2022-23 exhibitions are sure to get you thinking and exploring this winter.
November 11, 2022
Roswell AIR Quality Report: Visits with Artists-in-Residence at RAiR
The Southwest Contemporary team visits Roswell to do studio visits with the residents of the renowned and generous Roswell Artist-in-Residence Program.
October 21, 2022
ArtistsUtahVol. 6 Rooted: Poetics of Place
Gilmore Scott
Diné artist Gilmore Scott’s dynamic and vivid geometric paintings of Bears Ears and monsoon thunderstorms are tied to his land and culture.
August 26, 2022
Illustrations from a Murder Capital: Alice Leora Briggs Portrays Ciudad Juárez’s Recent Dark History
Abecedario de Juárez by artist Alice Leora Briggs and photojournalist Julián Cardona is partly an illustrated glossary of narcolenguaje and partly a collection of stories from the streets.
August 19, 2022
