FBI returns stolen paintings to Taos museum, Tulsa institution repatriates Native remains and artifacts, and more top Southwest art news headlines for June 2025.
News
FBI Returns Taos Society of Artists Paintings to Harwood Museum, Stolen 40 Years Ago:
Two paintings by Victor Higgins and Joseph Henry Sharp, stolen in 1985, were recovered and returned to UNM’s Harwood Museum of Art thanks to an extensive FBI investigation sparked by an investigative reporter’s tip in 2023. The museum will unveil the long-lost works to the public on June 6 as part of The Return of Taos Treasures exhibition.
Tulsa’s Gilcrease Museum Returns Native Remains and Artifacts to Oklahoma Tribes:
The Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa is repatriating nearly 100 Native remains and thousands of tribal artifacts to tribes in Oklahoma and across the nation as part of its ongoing compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
New Report Gives Clearer Picture of Federal Cuts’ Expected Toll on New Mexico Arts and Culture Nonprofits:
A new report backed by the Thornburg Foundation, Santa Fe Community Foundation, and Anchorum Health Foundation surveyed nonprofits across multiple sectors about the anticipated impact of recent federal funding cuts. Of the twenty-one arts organizations that responded 67% said they receive federal funding, and 76% said they expect their organization and the communities they serve to be impacted by recent executive orders. The report notes that “arts organizations appear to rely less on federal funding and thus expected less impact than other organizations with relatively high response rates” such as the education, environmental, and youth and family sectors.
Also:
- Following a debut that reportedly drew over 14,000 attendees, Scottsdale Art Week will return to WestWorld of Scottsdale from March 19-22, 2026, with an expanded roster of galleries and programs.
- After four decades as a cornerstone of Arizona’s art scene, Bentley Gallery—founded by Bentley Calverley in 1984—will close its doors this September, marking the end of an era in Phoenix’s Roosevelt Row gallery district.
- In fall 2025, the University of Arizona and Art Pharmacy will launch a partnership to support student mental health through personalized, no-cost arts and culture experiences, a first-of-its-kind initiative in the Southwest.
- Denver sound artist Jim Green—known for infusing public spaces with wit and wonder through works like Soundwalk in Denver’s business district and the beloved train recordings at Denver International Airport—died at age 75.
- El Paso’s long-awaited Mexican American Cultural Center officially opened on March 22 with a daylong celebration showcasing borderlands culture.
- The new Friends Fair, launched by Austin gallery collective FOG, brought together local and national exhibitors in a hotel-room art fair in mid-May. The event garnered international press.
- PDNB Gallery relocated from Dallas to downtown Denton, Texas, returning to its founders’ hometown ahead of its 30th anniversary this fall.
- Nevada’s percent-for-arts bill, AB 129, took a key step forward in the legislature this April, potentially boosting arts funding tenfold.
- As humanities councils across the nation grapple with the sudden loss of NEH funding, the Mellon Foundation is throwing lifelines—including a $200,000 emergency grant and $50,000 matching challenge to the New Mexico Humanities Council, part of the same initiative that boosted Nevada Humanities.
- Taos gallery The Valley will open a new 380-square-foot gallery space on Canyon Road in Santa Fe this June, expanding its program with regional and national artists in collaboration with neighbor Smoke the Moon.
- Citing an unsustainable funding model amid shifting political tides, Tonya Turner Carroll and Michael Turner closed their Santa Fe gallery Container and sold the space to Galleria Gaia’s Ben Hauptman. They will continue to run their Canyon Road space, Turner Carroll Gallery, which they established in 1991.
- The UNM Art Museum initiated a yearlong programming pause on May 19 to focus on collections care, digitization, and public access through its new Collections Year initiative. The program transforms the museum’s galleries into active workspaces, and aims to introduce an online museum database for the first time.
- Artists James Shen and Jennifer Tran of Long Beach, California, will create Common Roots, the first permanent public art installation in Salt Lake City’s historic Pioneer Park, celebrating the neighborhood’s diverse cultural and immigrant histories through vibrant archways.
- Salt Lake City–based artist Matt Monsoon unveiled What We Build Together, a sculpture honoring the Fairpark neighborhood’s everyday heroes.
Grants and Awards
Latinos in Heritage Conservation Awards $600,000 to Latinx Preservation Projects:
Texas-based nonprofit Latinos in Heritage Conservation awarded $600,000 in inaugural Nuestra Herencia grants to fourteen Latinx-led preservation projects—including New Mexico’s Native Bound Unbound archive and the Chicano/a/x Murals of Colorado Project—supporting initiatives across the U.S. and Puerto Rico in a time of steep cuts to cultural funding.
Dallas Museum of Art Awards $48,000 to 19 Artists Across the Southwest:
The Dallas Museum of Art granted $48,000 to nineteen emerging and mid-career artists through its 2025 Awards to Artists program, supporting creative development and travel for creative practitioners in Texas and spanning the Southwest.
Two Southwest Artists Awarded $60,000 Taproot Fellowships for Cultural Preservation:
Alejandro López, a muralist and cultural preservationist from Santa Cruz, New Mexico, and Annetta Koruh, a Hopi basket weaver from Bacavi, Arizona, each received a $60,000 Taproot Fellowship from the Alliance for California Traditional Arts.
Also:
- Robert King, a self-taught Choctaw ceramic artist and gallerist who lives in Galisteo, New Mexico, is the next Native Arts Artist-in-Residence at the Denver Art Museum, starting in September 2025. The museum is also making plans to honor the late Jenny Irene, who was scheduled for a residency this summer before her passing in April.
- New Mexico–based artists Kevin Aspaas (Diné) and Teri Greeves (Kiowa) and California ceramicist Jolie Ngo are among the five recipients of the 2025 Maxwell/Hanrahan Awards in Craft, which honors visionary artists working at the intersection of tradition and innovation.
- Santa Fe–based artist and architect Abby Richardson was selected from over 500 applicants to be featured in the latest issue of Portugal-based Suboart Magazine, which spotlights international emerging artists.
- Texas online art magazine Glasstire announced the inaugural winners of its new Texas Art Writing Awards, honoring Ruben C. Cordova for his critical essays on Glasstire and Robert Craig Bunch for his book The Art of Dreams, Visions, Other Worlds: Interviews with Texas Artists.
Leadership Changes and Appointments
National Hispanic Cultural Center Appoints New Curator with Southwest Contemporary Link:
Hazel batrezchavez, an artist, curator, and founding member of fronteristxs Collective, joined the National Hispanic Cultural Center as visual arts curator; they also serve on Southwest Contemporary‘s Community Editorial Advisory Board.
Kathleen Forde Named Director and Curator of Media Arts at Thoma Foundation:
The Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation appointed Kathleen Forde, formerly a consultant for the organization, as its director and curator of media arts, where she will lead exhibitions, acquisitions, and collections strategy across its Santa Fe and Dallas spaces.
Roswell Artist-in-Residence Foundation Welcomes New Executive Director:
With a decade of experience at the Ucross Foundation, where she developed fellowships for Native American artists, Tracey Yates Kikut joins the Roswell Artist-in-Residence Foundation as executive director. Kikut lives in Santa Fe and also runs a small gallery called No Man’s Land.
Also:
- Creative Flagstaff named Julie Comnick their executive director following her successful interim term marked by major fundraising success.
- Phoenix Art Museum tapped C. Ryan Joyce as its new Chief Development Officer. He brings over fifteen years of fundraising leadership to the role, primarily in the education sector.
- The Albuquerque Film + Music Experience appointed artist-filmmaker Jonathan Nagel as board president ahead of the late-September event.
