El Palacio: The art, history, and culture of the Southwest
15/01/2025
How old are the footprints at White Sands? In recent years, new research has suggested that they could be as old as 23,000 years old—a significant departure from other research that has determined how long humans have been in North America. In this episode of Encounter Culture, Dr. John Taylor-Montoya, director of the Office of Anthropological Studies, and Dr. David Rachal, a geoarchaelogist, share their perspective on why the footprints might not be as old as we think they are and what other research needs to be done to better determine their age. Listen on any podcast listening app (be sure to follow!) or at podcast.nmculture.org.
08/01/2025
El Palacio winter issue contributors shared their work during a panel reading on Sunday and engaged the audience in deep conversation about the role of art and creativity in difficult times, deep listening, and the importance of community. Nikki Nojima Louis read from her essay about her personal experience with Japanese American internment during WWII; Elizabeth Perrill read from her article about the Zulu telephone wire art that came out of Apartheid South Africa (she is also a guest curator for the Weaving Meanings exhibition of this art at Museum of International Folk Art); and Joelle E. Mendoza read from her double profile of Raven Chacon and Candice Hopkins and their score “Dispatch” which asks us to consider how we listen in times of emergency. Check all of these articles out and more information our winter issue! And if you missed the reading and would like to attend the next, our spring issue reading will take place at Collected Works Bookstore at 4:30 pm on Sunday, March 9. More information to come.
03/01/2025
In the winter issue of El Palacio, Nikki Nojima Louis writes about her relationship with her father which was shaped by the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII, including in Lordsburg, NM, and Santa Fe. Nikki will be one of three contributors reading from their work on Sunday, January 5, at 2 pm . The other two contributors are , whose article dives into the history of Zulu telephone wire art in South Africa, and , whose article discusses the musical score “Dispatch” by Raven Chacon and Candice Hopkins that serves as a model for community activism and protest. The readings will be followed by a Q&A.
23/12/2024
El Palacio Reading and Q & A
Sunday, January 5 at 2:00 pm
Museum of International Folk Art Auditorium (710 Camino Lejo, Santa Fe)
Please join us for a reading panel and Q&A with three contributors to the winter issue. Featured readings include:
Dr. Elizabeth Perrill’s article about the telephone wire weaving and art that emerged from Apartheid South Africa and continues to thrive today.
Nikki Nojima Louis’s essay about the way her life and family relationships were shaped by the her internment with her mother in Idaho, and her father’s internment in New Mexico, in the Japanese American internment camps that were created during World War II.
Joelle Mendoza’s article about a musical score, "Dispatch," by Raven Chacon and Candice Hopkins that serves as a template for activism and resistance.
Following the readings, editor of El Palacio, Emily Withnall, will facilitate a Q&A. Light refreshments will be served.
02/12/2024
The winter issue is printing today and will be heading to mailboxes soon! The issue features an article about the Zulu telephone wire weaving on view at Museum of International Folk Art; a profile of a New Mexico rancher using adaptive technology who will also be featured in an exhibition about adaptive technology in agriculture at New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum; an essay by a Japanese American woman whose father was interned in Santa Fe during WWII; a double profile of Raven Chacon (Diné) and Candice Hopkins (Carcross/Tagish First Nation) and their score “Dispatch;” a profile of former New York Ballet Company dancer, Jock Soto (Diné); and an article about science fiction writer Darcie Little Badger and the Sci Fi & Sci Fact exhibition at New Mexico Museum of Space History.
If you aren’t yet subscribed, it’s not too late! Subscribe at elpalacio.org/subscribe/.
Also, save the date for a winter issue panel reading that will be held on Sunday, January 5. More information about the reading will be available soon.
26/11/2024
“Eight hundred years ago, something profoundly interesting happened in the American Southwest. Over the course of about one hundred years, the Puebloan world consciously transformed itself from a stratified hierarchical society to a system with no apparent markers of class or status. In our current state of political and climate chaos and anxiety, the experiences of Ancestral Puebloan people teach us that deep societal change is possible.”
Though writer Jim O’Donnell reminds us to remain cautious of making assumptions about the past based on our current perspectives and biases, he argues that paying attention to the evidence we can find can expand our understanding of human agency. Have you read O’Donnell’s article about Ancestral Puebloan migration from the Four Corners region to the Rio Grande Valley?
22/11/2024
Deborah Jackson Taffa was among five nonfiction finalists for the 2024 National Book Awards this week for her memoir, Whiskey Tender. An excerpt of her book appears in the fall issue of El Palacio. We are honored to have her work in our pages!
19/11/2024
The story of Los Alamos National Laboratories is most often told through the eyes of the scientists who created it, but what of the people who once lived on the Pajarito Plateau? In the fall issue, Myrriah Gómez writes about the nuevomexicano families displaced and harmed by LANL, as told through Yvonne Montoya’s “Stories from Home” dance performance. This embodied telling of personal and family history is accompanied by gorgeous photography of the dancers and speaks to the enduring power of querencia.
13/11/2024
What is art and who gets to decide when and where it appears? Please listen in to this conversation that addresses these questions and more! Whether you are a part of the global network of street artists or didn't know there was a global network of street artists, this episode has something for everyone. Find Encounter Culture on any podcast listening app, or in the link in the comments.
30/10/2024
What versions of the story of La Llorona are you most familiar with? Which are your favorites? As the nights grow longer, listen in to UNM chair of Chicana and Chicano Studies, Irene Vásquez, as she shares some of her favorite versions of the centuries old folk tale, and her insights about what keeps a story alive. Listen on any podcast app or find the link in the comments!
The University of New Mexico - UNM
24/10/2024
Delighted to learn that Scott Pasfield was awarded an American Photography prize for this photo of New Mexico poet Laureate, Lauren Camp, which appeared in the spring 2023 issue of El Palacio. A link to the Q&A in that issue between former editor Charlotte Jusinski and Lauren Camp, appears in the comments. Current editor Emily Withnall also spoke with her on the Encounter Culture podcast earlier this year. That link is in our stories and in the comments. Congratulations to Scott for a stunning photo!
16/10/2024
Thrilled to share this first episode of Season 7 of Encounter Culture. Santa Fe poet laureate Tommy Archuleta shares the wisdom, vulnerability, and honesty in this conversation that is an essential part of his poetry. For anyone seeking a balm or salve right now, please listen and take in his remedios.
Santa Fe Arts and Culture Department
Tommy Archuleta
11/10/2024
Congratulations to the recipients of the 2024 Governor’s Arts Awards! Check out the web-only feature article about the recipients on the El Palacio homepage (also linked in the comments). And stay tuned for a profile feature of Jock Soto in the winter issue.
This year’s Awards are made possible in part by major contributions from the Gale Family Foundation, Catherine Oppenheimer, the Dale and Leslie Chihuly Foundation, Thornburg Investment Management, the New Mexico Music Commission, Lensic 360, and the members of the New Mexico Arts Commission.
03/10/2024
When you think of New Mexican food, what comes to mind first? In this essay for the fall issue, contributor Mi’Jan Celie Tho-Biaz writes about the rich culinary arts and histories that bring us together in New Mexico. Please read and if you’re in the area, visit the New Mexico History Museum to check out their new exhibition, “Forks in the Road: A Diner’s Guide to New Mexico,” to learn more about the state’s culinary histories.
26/09/2024
Two sovereign nations in New Mexico have recently bought land back from the state through the New Mexico State Land Office's land exchange program. DezBaa' writes about this exchange in the fall issue, weaving in her own heritage and reflections on what it means to belong to the land. Have you read it yet? We’d love to know what you think!
SANTA ANA PUEBLO
Navajo Nation Museum
13/09/2024
Tune in to a brief season preview of the upcoming episodes on Encounter Culture. From poetry, to La Llorona, to the oryx at White Sands, we have an exciting new season in store. The first full episode drops October 10, 2024. You can find Encounter Culture on any podcast listening app. Be sure to follow the podcast so you don’t miss an episode!
New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs
04/09/2024
The fall issue is here and thanks to the artists, photographers, and graphic design team, the art is as gorgeous as the writing. Have you started reading? Let me know what you think in the comments—or by emailing [email protected]. And if you’re nearby, join us for our fall issue reading in Santa Fe, this Sunday, Sept. 8, at 2 pm at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture.
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The Governor’s Arts Awards were established in 1974 to celebrate the extraordinary role artists and their work have played in New Mexico. A diverse and noteworthy list of painters, weavers, sculptors, dancers, musicians, storytellers, poets, actors, playwrights, and potters have been honored.
“Art is intimately woven into the fabric of our great state,” Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said. “Artists uplift us, inspire us and tell the stories that define us.
The ceremonies hosted by New Mexico Arts and Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham will be held on Friday, September 20, at 5:30 p.m. in the St. Francis Auditorium at the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, NM.
The ceremony is preceded by a public reception beginning at 4:30 p.m. in the museum courtyard. A hosted open house exhibiting the honorees’ work will take place in the Governor’s Gallery at the State Capitol from noon to 4 p.m. The awards ceremony and open house are free and open to the public.
The recipients of the 2019 Governor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts are Roxanne Swentzell, Marc Neikrug, Lee Gruber, Victor Di Suvero, Nick Otero, and New Mexico PBS/KNME ¡COLORES!.
Read more online at http://www.elpalacio.org/2019/08/the-2019-governors-arts-awards/.
The Country’s Oldest Museum Magazine Goes Digital at www.elpalacio.org! Our new platform will provide readers with broader access and web-friendly, easily shareable content. El Palacio will continue publishing the print edition concurrently, maintaining its reach as it expands.
“El Palacio is already well-known for making the Southwest’s history come alive for its readers,” says Publisher Shelley Thompson. “With this contemporary, redesigned website, we now have countless opportunities to demonstrate how robustly it connects to the present and future.”
El Palacio—the name endures. Where it once acknowledged the magazine’s first home, the magazine itself has become a royal residence, a “house eminently splendid,”1 for the narrative that is New Mexico.
El Palacio Cover, Summer 2011, Vol. 116/No. 2
El Palacio Cover, Winter 2011, Vol. 116/No. 4
El Palacio Cover, Spring 2008, Vol. 113/No. 1
Courtesy of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs
Cady Wells is arguably the most interesting Southwestern modernist that few people have ever heard of. Curator Christian Waguespack ushers us into the artist's world in this article about the New Mexico Museum of Art exhibition "Cady Wells: Ruminations."http://elpalacio.org/articles/summer17/cadywells.pdf
A peek inside the summer 2017 issue of El Palacio Magazine. You can find it all at elpalacio.org.
Quick hits from of our spring 2017 issue...dive in at elpalacio.org
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Art, History & Culture of the Southwest
El Palacio is the oldest museum magazine of its kind, first published in 1913 by the Museum of New Mexico. This state museum system was created by an act of the territorial legislature in 1909, three years before New Mexico became a state (January 6, 1912). It was established in the Palace of the Governors with the School of American Archaeology (later the School of American Research) alongside the already existing Historical Society of New Mexico. El Palacio (“the palace”) magazine was first published in November 1913—its name refers to the Museum of New Mexico’s first home.
The Museum of New Mexico was eventually reorganized under the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA), which was established in April 2003 after Governor Bill Richardson signed legislation elevating the Office of Cultural Affairs to Cabinet-level status.
In the words of one writer, El Palacio “has appeared over the years in numerous manifestations, from its beginning as a thin pamphlet in the teens to a journal that grew from the ‘50s through the ‘80s to a glossy magazine with color art and (gasp!) advertising in the 1990s. These different personalities often reflected the various stewards of the publication”¹
Under DCA’s stewardship, the magazine continues to cover the art, culture, and history of the Southwest as reflected in the exhibits, public programs, and scholarship of the department’s four Santa Fe museums—Palace of the Governors/New Mexico History Museum, Museum of International Folk Art, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology, and New Mexico Museum of Art; its six State Monuments—Coronado, Jemez, Fort Selden, Lincoln, Fort Sumner, and El Camino Real International Heritage Center; and the Office of Archaeological Studies, which collects and shares information about prehistoric and historic sites across the state.
El Palacio—the name endures. Where it once acknowledged the magazine’s first home, the magazine itself has become a royal residence, a “house eminently splendid,”² for the narrative that is New Mexico.
