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Inside Southwest ContemporarySouthwest
Our Year in Review—And the Top 10 Southwest Contemporary Stories of 2025
Southwest Contemporary reflects on 2025: 181 articles, 125+ artists featured, and 330,000 readers reached. As AI threatens journalism and the arts, discover why reader support matters more than ever.
December 23, 2025
At Home in the High Desert: 2026 Exhibitions at Hecho a Mano
The Santa Fe gallery’s 2026 lineup celebrates art at the intersection of imagination, innovation and tradition.
December 23, 2025
Why Write About Art at the End of the World?
At the unofficial wake of a legendary art magazine, a SWC editor weighs the real-world purpose of arts journalism.
December 18, 2025
Kimball Art Center Invites Park City to “Return to Wonder” this Winter
Returning to Wonder opens January 16, 2026, at Kimball Art Center featuring Pipilotti Rist, Josiah McElheny, Katie Paterson, and more. Experience world-class contemporary art at Park City's premier cultural destination.
December 16, 2025
Editor’s Picks: Southwest Contemporary‘s Winter 2025-26 Art Guide
The Southwest art world doesn't hibernate. SWC editorial director Jordan Eddy selects thirty-five exhibitions—and three hot trends—for the cold season.
December 16, 2025
Books + LiteraryInside Southwest Contemporary
Our Favorite Books (and One Apocalyptic Podcast) of 2025
Desperate times call for exceptional reads. Pick up an ode to "bad" writing, a novel set in the West Bank, and more 2025 book picks by the Southwest Contemporary team.
December 15, 2025
Cabin Fever? Apply to These CDMX Residencies and Escape Your Studio
If you're feeling cooped up, Mexico City delivers intense cultural saturation. Discover residencies that drop artists and curators straight into the action.
December 11, 2025
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Editor’s Picks: Southwest Contemporary‘s Winter 2025-26 Art Guide
The Southwest art world doesn't hibernate. SWC editorial director Jordan Eddy selects thirty-five exhibitions—and three hot trends—for the cold season.
December 16, 2025
Books + LiteraryInside Southwest Contemporary
Our Favorite Books (and One Apocalyptic Podcast) of 2025
Desperate times call for exceptional reads. Pick up an ode to "bad" writing, a novel set in the West Bank, and more 2025 book picks by the Southwest Contemporary team.
December 15, 2025
Cabin Fever? Apply to These CDMX Residencies and Escape Your Studio
If you're feeling cooped up, Mexico City delivers intense cultural saturation. Discover residencies that drop artists and curators straight into the action.
December 11, 2025
Will the Long-Awaited Las Vegas Museum of Art Serve Locals or Tourists? Here’s a Clue
A forthcoming Las Vegas museum may be linked to LACMA, but its preemptive show Family Album threads the needle between national and local dialogues.
December 09, 2025
Southwest Art Museum Shatters Its Permanent Display for a Grassroots Rebuild
In Colorado Springs, an art center's landmark reinstallation of its collection reconsiders the Southwest—breaking the old shape of regionalism in art history.
December 04, 2025
Southwest Art News: December 2025
Utah-born artist Alma Allen tapped for Venice Biennale, Colorado artist Danielle SeeWalker headed to the West Bank, and more top Southwest art news headlines for December 2025.
December 02, 2025
Southwest Museum Shop Gift Guide: Don’t Just Shop Local—Support Artists
Your 2025 holiday guide to affordable gifts by local artists at Southwest museum stores, in person and online. Shop Black Friday, Museum Store Sunday, and beyond.
November 25, 2025
From our Sponsors
At Home in the High Desert: 2026 Exhibitions at Hecho a Mano
The Santa Fe gallery’s 2026 lineup celebrates art at the intersection of imagination, innovation and tradition.
December 23, 2025
Kimball Art Center Invites Park City to “Return to Wonder” this Winter
Returning to Wonder opens January 16, 2026, at Kimball Art Center featuring Pipilotti Rist, Josiah McElheny, Katie Paterson, and more. Experience world-class contemporary art at Park City's premier cultural destination.
December 16, 2025
In Truths Be Told, 15 Artists Prove Tradition is the Future of Resistance
Fifteen contemporary artists reimagine traditional art forms to address social justice, colonialism, and climate change at Museum of International Folk Art.
December 09, 2025
Artists
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Tongue Firmly in Cheek, Safwat Saleem’s Unrequited Love Institute Counters the “Otherness” at the Heart of Xenophobia
Safwat Saleem uses satire to share his experiences as an immigrant father living with cultural assimilation and loss in the 2024 Arizona Artist Awards exhibition at Phoenix Art Museum.
November 06, 2025
Places Planted in the Mind: Jorge Ruiz Brings Together Cross-Border Towns, in Miniature
Jorge Ruiz intertwines Tucson and Nogales in his exhibition at Arizona's Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures. His "imperfect" process is grueling.
October 28, 2025
Remain in Light: James Perkins Buries Paintings to Reveal the Sublime
In his first museum exhibition, Burying Painting, James Perkins shows evanescent process- and land-based artworks "harvested" from the Atlantic Ocean and the Sonoran Desert.
October 07, 2025
An Artist Who Paints the Landscape of the Brain
After five brain surgeries, Dallas-based Alicia Parham paints neurologically informed, otherworldly compositions in resilience.
September 25, 2025
FeatureNew MexicoVol. 12 Obsession
Material Monogamy: Three Creators Find Their Prima Materia
Three New Mexico–based artists—c marquez, Susan York, and Judy Tuwaletstiwa—reflect on their relationship with the material that has defined their practice.
September 05, 2025
The Medium is their Message: Compulsion and Identity in Zion
Artists Stephanie Leitch, Angela Ellsworth, and Nancy Rivera use materially obsessive processes to reflect on the mythos of Utah.
September 05, 2025
Studio VisitArizonaVol. 12 Obsession
Gloria Martinez-Granados: Borderless Creative
Working in her Phoenix studio, artist Gloria Martinez-Granados creates works countering the nation’s anti-immigrant obsession.
September 05, 2025
Exhibitions
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Editor’s Picks: Southwest Contemporary‘s Winter 2025-26 Art Guide
The Southwest art world doesn't hibernate. SWC editorial director Jordan Eddy selects thirty-five exhibitions—and three hot trends—for the cold season.
December 16, 2025
In Truths Be Told, 15 Artists Prove Tradition is the Future of Resistance
Fifteen contemporary artists reimagine traditional art forms to address social justice, colonialism, and climate change at Museum of International Folk Art.
December 09, 2025
Southwest Art Museum Shatters Its Permanent Display for a Grassroots Rebuild
In Colorado Springs, an art center's landmark reinstallation of its collection reconsiders the Southwest—breaking the old shape of regionalism in art history.
December 04, 2025
On the Edge Explores “California Cool” Through the Collection of Joan and Jack Quinn
Discover works by Basquiat, Warhol, Mapplethorpe, and Hockney that defined California's anti-conformist creative spirit, on view at the Tucson Museum of Art December 13, 2025–May 10, 2026.
December 02, 2025
Abstraction, Accumulation, and Activism: Three Artists Confront the Dangers of Extraction
In Shifting Topographies, three artists’ varied approaches find common ground in exposing the deadly threat of extractive industries.
November 26, 2025
Bless Me, Cecilia: What Happens When a Star Curator Arrives in Santa Fe?
Cecilia Alemani rolled out an exhibition like no other in Santa Fe—its visionary weirdness will hit everyone a bit different.
November 20, 2025
Tongue Firmly in Cheek, Safwat Saleem’s Unrequited Love Institute Counters the “Otherness” at the Heart of Xenophobia
Safwat Saleem uses satire to share his experiences as an immigrant father living with cultural assimilation and loss in the 2024 Arizona Artist Awards exhibition at Phoenix Art Museum.
November 06, 2025
In Print
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FeatureNevadaVol. 12 Obsession
Empires of Dirt: Michael Heizer’s City
Michael Heizer’s City prompts considerations of obsession, scale, and legacy through the lens of land, labor, and the weight of inherited ambition.
September 05, 2025
FeatureNew MexicoVol. 12 Obsession
Queen Agnes
Abstract painter Agnes Martin sought isolation in New Mexico to stoke her obsessive practice. She found vibrant community.
September 05, 2025
FeatureNew MexicoVol. 12 Obsession
Material Monogamy: Three Creators Find Their Prima Materia
Three New Mexico–based artists—c marquez, Susan York, and Judy Tuwaletstiwa—reflect on their relationship with the material that has defined their practice.
September 05, 2025
The Medium is their Message: Compulsion and Identity in Zion
Artists Stephanie Leitch, Angela Ellsworth, and Nancy Rivera use materially obsessive processes to reflect on the mythos of Utah.
September 05, 2025
Studio VisitArizonaVol. 12 Obsession
Gloria Martinez-Granados: Borderless Creative
Working in her Phoenix studio, artist Gloria Martinez-Granados creates works countering the nation’s anti-immigrant obsession.
September 05, 2025
Studio VisitTexasVol. 12 Obsession
Eli Ruhala: Post Obsession
After years of building maze-like monuments to queer love, Texas-based painter Eli Ruhala is at a crossroads his practice.
September 05, 2025
From the EditorVol. 12 Obsession
From the Editor: Southwest Contemporary Vol. 12 — OBSESSION
Southwest Contemporary: OBSESSION foregrounds artistic fixations, revealing the loops, patterns, and intensities that define the Southwest’s cultural landscape.
September 08, 2025
The Hyperlocal
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FeatureSouthwestThe Hyperlocal
Exiled Artist Named “War and Peace” Never Gave Up Faraway Fight for Democracy
Two fires marked Burmese artist Sitt Nyein Aye’s life. After his tragic death in Colorado, a tribute to his "Little Myanmar" of the Southwest.
August 21, 2025
The Birth, Death, and Resurrection of a Ghost Town Artist Residency
After years of harassment, Home of the Brave artist residency founder Eileen Muza sold the ghost town property. The new owner will restart the program in Cisco, Utah, this fall.
July 29, 2025
Studio VisitTexasThe Hyperlocal
Dallas AIR Quality Report: The Cedars Union Offers “Life-Changing” Support for Artists
By prioritizing locality and the rich diversity of its community, the Cedars Union has become a cornerstone for Dallas artists and creatives.
July 15, 2025
An Architecture of Care: Passive House Designer Andrew Michler Embraces a Hyperlocal Approach
Andrew Michler redefines sustainable design through hyperlocal, compassionate architecture shaped by climate, culture, and the evolving lives of its occupants.
June 05, 2025
Studio VisitColoradoThe Hyperlocal
An Artist Who Paints the West as Strange as It Is
Colorado artist Grace Kennison paints her way into the reality of the West, a place layered thick with fictional narratives, mythical characters, suppressed histories, and surreal storylines.
June 02, 2025
“What’s Your Side Hustle?”: Hard-Earned Lessons on Artistic Survival from a Southwest Highway Town
The artists of Helper, Utah, have spent the last three decades honing strategies to strengthen their rural community—and make the regional market work for them.
May 13, 2025
Meet the “Sad Little Houses” of Dallas, and the Artists on the Front Lines of the Housing Crisis
Three artists confront the Texas housing crisis with street-level projects using piñatas, murals, gentrification walking tours, and more.
May 06, 2025
