Tags
American Indian, Art, Education, Institute of American Indian Arts, Native American, Photography, Photos, Santa Fe, Southwest
So, I just got back to Vegas after spending a few days in Santa Fe. I was there to visit the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) along with some folks from my own institution and about 5 other tribal colleges. IAIA is a 4-year tribal college, and they have an awful lot going for them. The trip also included a visit to Taos Pueblo, several excursions into downtown, and a trip out to some interesting rock formations. For the present, I thought I would just put up a gallery of the lovely IAIA campus.
Students were gone for the summer, and a number of displays had been pulled down, but the campus still has an amazing variety of art projects. They also have a digital dome, the worlds only fully articulating dome. It hangs from four chains which can be raised or lowered to change the angle of the display. …and yes, students get to use it.
Seriously, there are few institutions in this world about which I can’t think of anything critical to say. In fact, right now I think the list may have one entry.
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- The Institute for American Indian Arts
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- Dance Circle, They hold various outdoor functions here (including a Powwow in May)
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- The IAIA Dance Circle from above.
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- IAIA Sculpture 1, Bison
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- IAIA Sculpture 2.
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- IAIA Windchimes
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- IAIA, Sculpture 4
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- IAIA, Sculpture 5
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- IAIA, Sculpture 6
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- I don’t know the story behind this one. Something tells me it’s a good one.
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- IAIA, Exterior Mural 1
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- IAIA, Exterior Mural 2
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- IAIA. The couches in the student Learning center beckon students to places where the can get help. …it’s a devious kindness that lies in wait here.
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- IAIA, Interior Mural 1
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- IAIA, Sundry art 1
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- IAIA, Sundry Art 2
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- IAIA, Sundry Art 3
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- IAIA, Interior Sculpture 1
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- IAIA, Display 1
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- IAIA, Interior Sculpture 2 (This appears to be a play on an old cliche, the image of a dying Indian)
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- IAIA, Decoration in an Office Window
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- IAIA, Interior Mural 2
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- IAIA, Interior Sculpture 2 (It’s a Headdress)
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- IAIA, Interior Mural 3
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- IAIA, Ethnobotany Display
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- IAIA, Museum Collections 1 (Storage)
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- IAIA, Museum Collections 2 (Storage)
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- IAIA, Museum Collections 3 (Storage)
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- IAIA, Museum Collections 4 (Storage)
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- IAIA, Museum Collections 5 (Storage)
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- IAIA, Museum Collections 6 (Storage)
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- IAIA, Museum Display 1
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- IAIA, Museum Display 2
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- IAIA, Digital Dome
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- IAIA, We all have our battles
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- IAIA, Metalsmithing Teacher’s Office
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- IAIA, Sundry Art 4
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- IAIA, Sundry Art 5
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- IAIA Display 2
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- Corner Murals
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- IAIA, Interior Mural 4
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- IAIA, Exterior Sculpture 8
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- IAIA, Sidewalk Art
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- IAIA, Sidewalk Art 2
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- IAIA, Landscaping
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- IAIA, Just Cool!
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- IAIA, Conference Room and Student Art 1
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- IAIA, Conference Room and Student Art 2
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- IAIA, Conference Room and Student Art 3
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- Conference Room and Student Art 4
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- Lobby
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- IAIA, The Garden. They use some of this in the cafeteria, which is by the way the most awesome food I have had in a college cafeteria.
northierthanthou 
I live in Taos, New Mexico, hope you enjoyed your time here,
Dag Nabbit! Coulda bought you lunch. 😦
But yes I did.
No worries, we’d just have gotten into a heated debate over “religion”… (just joking, I respect your beliefs), glad you enjoyed yourself here, give me a shout before you plan your next trip this way
I will certainly let you know next time I am headed out your way.
Tweets at Twenty paces.
🙂
Hum…. gosto disto. E gosto da cultura índia. Muito!
http://eraumavezumanespera.blogspot.pt/2011/02/poema-ecologico.html
🙂
I’m glad you enjoyed the pics. Thank you for checking out my blog.
This is indeed a very beautiful location. Thanks for sharing the photos.
You’re very kind. Thanks for checking out my blog.
This is indeed a very beautiful & well kept institute. Thanks for sharing the photos with us.
Absolutely!
And thank you for visiting my little corner of the net.
Loved all the artwork, but yes, there was just something cool about that little rubbish train, ha ha! I was like, “okay its a couple kids toys . . . Oh, wait!!” My only question was, did it actually roll?? ‘Cuz you know I would’ve tried to play with it!
Oh Damn! I didn’t think about that. …Gonna have to ask.
Some rather nice captures……….
Thank you.
Ahhh, Santa Fe. It is a special place…the art there is amazing!
It is indeed.
Happy that you enjoyed the magic of IAIA. “But”…please research your comment on the “…the old cliche’…the dying Indian.” (…the end of the trail…) You saw ‘dying’? Why?
Ah, it’s been a long time. Let me see if I can find what was thinking about…
Okay, I took this to be a visual allusion to “The End of the Trail” (thank you for giving me the title) by James Earl Frazier. If that isn’t the intended reference, then I am simply wrong and I apologize. As to Frazier’s work, I think the narrative of death and dying is all over it. Here for instance: “both exhausted after years of a losing battle to hold back White settlers and their army. They have truly reached the end of their trail.”
http://www.artbronze.com/endofthetrailbyjamesearlefraser.aspx
Or here: “To some Native Americans, however, it is viewed as a reminder of defeat and subjugation a century ago.”
http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org/research/cms/About/GalleryGuides/EndoftheTrail/tabid/104/Default.aspx
Or here (no snippet this time).
http://www.rockwellmuseum.org/The-Legacy-of-the-Vanishing-Race.html
Dying may well have been too strong a word; it’s the one my old history mentor used to use in reference to the old Frazer piece. And I do think that’s what the end of the trail reference seems to mean. This isn’t someone who is tired at the end of a long journey, or at least I don’t think that was the point of Frazer’s reference. The end in question strikes me as ominous.
“Vanishing” may be a more precise choice of words, but I do think something along these lines would be the intent of the original piece. Just to be clear, I’m not claiming the image there is a cliche, or that the intent was to suggest that Native Americans are a dying or a vanishing people. I thought it was an interesting commentary on a piece which has itself been frequently taken to be just that.
Does this make sense? Could you please explain?
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Impressive talent…enjoyed it very much!
They certainly have a lot of it there. I am more and more impressed with that school every time I come visit.
Have enjoyed your photos of IAIA and Santa Fe! They stirred many memories for me! Thanks for visiting my blog. I’ll definitely be back to visit yours!
Superb! Konečně něco zajímavého o stesti seznamka.
Like the Bison and that’s a nice vault they have there.
Hi Dan, I would like to ask if Youth Media Project could use one of your photos of the IAIA campus to accompany a radio piece that one of our interns did, which included interviews with students from IAIA. We would post your credit to the photo, of course. Please let me know, thanks!
hi Luke, by all means. I’m happy to think my post may be helpful to you. Hope all is well down your way.
Hi: You have a gorgeous site. We’ll be visiting Chaco Canyon in a few months.
Can you recommend historical novels about the ruins? Tips for visiting the site?
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