New Mexico Museum of Art

I feel that an art museum’s design and architecture should match the art it holds inside.

The Guggenheim Bilbao is an extraordinary building designed by Frank Gehry, but I felt the art inside does not hold a candle to architecture. Not so with the New Mexico Museum of Art.

The earthen rounded edges and the use of wood throughout makes this building a must sketch icon of Santa Fe.

I did two sketches of the paragon of southwestern style, one of which is the featured sketch.

The courtyard of the museum. This is quintessential New Mexico. To the right are the ubiquitous ristras or sun-dried red chile peppers.
A sketch of R. C. Gorman’s sculpture “Seated Navajo Woman” (1978).
You can’t be in Santa Fe without seeing a Georgia O’Keeffe. This is Perdernal with Red Hills (1936).
Diego Romero’s amazing bowl, Siege of Santa Fe (2009). I had seen a profile of Romero on the PBS show Craft in America. It was nice to shake hands with his work.

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