Pablita Velarde, 1918-2006, is seen her with one of her works. Photo from National Park Service via Wikipedia
The Pablita Velarde Museum of Indian Women in the Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, closed its doors today. The museum is named after the late Pablita Velarde, the famed painter from Santa Clara Pueblo. It was the only facility in the U.S. devoted solely to Native women artists. Margarete Bagshaw, who was Velarde’s granddaughter and an an artist in her own right, opened the museum in 2011. She died last month and her widower said her passing was one of the reasons why the family decided to close. “We very quickly realized in the last couple of years that this (museum) was bigger than we could handle,” Dan McGuinness told The Albuquerque Journal. McGuinness said talks are underway with an institution outside of New Mexico to acquire the museum's collection. Get the Story:
Museum featuring Native women’s artwork is shutting its doors in Santa Fe (The Albuquerque Journal 4/15)
Museum of Indian Women to close this week (The Santa Fe New Mexican 4/15)
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