Will New Mural Guidelines in Phoenix Support Local Artists or Restrict Them?
As Phoenix overhauls its mural directives, local artists are weighing how more structure could professionalize—or narrow—the field.
April 14, 2026
News
Seven Days In, the New Mexico Museum of Art’s New Director Sets the Stakes
Marisa Sage’s art-is-for-everybody mandate might sound utopian, but at the helm of New Mexico’s most historically freighted museum, it's a massive administrative challenge.
April 09, 2026
“I Was Told I Couldn’t Do That”: Jody Folwell’s Endless Pueblo Pottery Revolution
In the 1980s, Pueblo artist Jody Folwell jolted Santa Fe Indian Market with political ceramics. Amid her retrospective, she's already pushing toward the next sharp statement.
April 07, 2026
Southwest Art News: April 2026
New Mexico Governor vetoes arts-related funding, Colorado lawmakers propose artist-first business bill, and more top Southwest art news for April 2026.
April 01, 2026
The Office of Collecting and Design Leaves Las Vegas to Become a Roving Museum
Founder of the Office of Collecting and Design Jessica Oreck talks about the museum’s move into a trailer, her collecting origins, and how she meets her community on the road.
March 31, 2026
Inside Southwest ContemporarySouthwestThe Road
Ghost Roads: How AI Almost Infiltrated the Editorial Process at Southwest Contemporary
Our call for pitches for “The Road” was regurgitated back to us by AI writers around the world. We almost fell for one of them.
March 17, 2026
“I’ll Be in Debt”: What it Takes for Artists to Show at International Biennials
Accepting an invitation to a major biennial is one thing, closing gaps in institutional support is another. Three Southwest artists sound off.
March 10, 2026
For Her First Major Museum Solo Show, Cara Romero Does It in Her Own Time
Over six years, artist Cara Romero and curator Jami C. Powell resisted the art world’s rush to capitalize on Native art. Their show just arrived in Phoenix.
March 05, 2026
Southwest Art News: March 2026
Texas university cancels ICE-critical exhibition, History Colorado expands its Borderlands initiative with Ken Salazar, and more top Southwest art news for March 2026.
March 03, 2026
Letter to the Editors: Paula Castillo on Moving Beyond “Hybridity” to Frame Mestizaje
In response to Joshua Ware's critical reflection on her Denver public artworks, Paula Castillo warns against flattening lived inheritance into a “surface mixture.”
March 02, 2026
How Phoenix Art Museum’s First “Local Art” Curator Built a Regional Launchpad
Christian Ramírez's scope is technically local at Phoenix Art Museum, but the assistant curator channels years of Southwest connections from Tucson to El Paso.
February 12, 2026
SITE Santa Fe Taps London-Based Curator Ekow Eshun for 2027 International
The just-announced curator of SITE Santa Fe's next biennial reveals his multi-venue ambitions for a show punctuated by immersive "moments of encounter."
February 03, 2026
Southwest Art News: February 2026
IAIA avoids being federally "zeroed out," historic Native lawmaker and artist Ben Nighthorse Campbell dies, and more top Southwest art news for February 2026.
February 03, 2026
An Artist Who Put His Stamp on the Southwest—and Vice Versa
After Ed Mell’s passing, his Phoenix studio tells the story of a low-key artist whose Southwest images reached the nation on a postage stamp and beyond.
January 29, 2026
Unpacking the Uneasy Cultural Hybridity of Paula Castillo’s Denver Monoliths
In Paula Castillo's three new public artworks across downtown Denver, cultural fusion is an optimistic and ideologically risky proposition.
January 15, 2026
Sprung from Suburbia, Summer Raine Young Seeks Inherent Queerness of a Desert City
In cyanotypes and soft sculptures, genderfluid artist maps queer elements of Phoenix—from dilapidated signs to their own body.
January 08, 2026
Southwest Art News: January 2026
Roswell Museum's one-year update after major flood, three international biennials tap Southwest creatives, and more top Southwest art news for January 2026.
January 06, 2026
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
Formulas or Feelings: Artists Tackle The Tough Question of How To Price Their Art
From pure intuition to a pricing calculator, artists and gallerists across the Southwest reveal how they actually put numbers on their work.
November 18, 2025
Plot Thickens in Colorado Censorship Row as Artist—and Her Subjects—Speak Out
A Denver museum’s alleged act of censorship is stirring national debate, as stakeholders clash over who gets to tell the story—and who gets heard.
November 11, 2025
Southwest Art News: November 2025
Southwest artists contribute to insurgent Met show, Meow Wolf workers stage walkout in Dallas, and more top Southwest art news headlines for November 2025.
November 04, 2025
Manic ExxonMobil Impersonators Pitch a Rising Protest Aesthetic: Razor-Sharp Silliness
The Yes Men used slick branding to spoof ExxonMobil in New Mexico. Inside the cloak and dagger intervention by a wave of "laugh-tivists" with a serious cause.
October 30, 2025
Ghostly Images of Plants, Landscapes—and a Baseball Stadium—Reveal a Desert in Flux
Through LiDAR scans, UK-based studio ScanLAB Projects captured the Sonoran Desert in haunting detail, revealing a landscape on the brink.
October 09, 2025
Southwest Art News: October 2025
Artists pressure Judy Chicago to cancel exhibition in Tel Aviv, Gallup Arts rejects grant funding in protest of escalating censorship, and more top Southwest art news headlines for October 2025.
October 02, 2025
