Galleries Galore - SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO

Santa Fe is home to nearly 300 art galleries and museums (SANTA FE GALLERIES/MUSEUMS LISTINGS).  While they are plentiful in and around the Plaza, the highest concentration is up Canyon Road, just east of downtown...ask a local - they'll get you headed the right way, up to the narrow little neighborhood street, lined with beautiful art.

Bronzes are plentiful...life size AND larger than life - a great place to feed your senses and, perhaps, have a chat with Samuel Clemens.

Canyon Road is a major destination for international collectors, tourists and locals. The Canyon Road galleries showcase a wide array of contemporary, Southwestern, indigenous American, and experimental art, in addition to Russian, Taos Masters, and Native American pieces.

Canyon Road had its beginnings as a residential neighborhood. Houses built in accordance with the local Hispanic and Native American methods were constructed with adobe walls and courtyards, often as compounds for extended family - today they house the galleries that line the street.

Pet a horned lizard...take him home to your yard, if you've a mind to.  Everything pictured here is cast in bronze (mainly because the galleries tend to get a little persnickety upon you bringing a camera in to take photos of paintings!), but paintings and photos abound on Canyon Road - it's an incredible feast to the eyes and soul - there's something to suit just about every collector's taste.

Artists were drawn to Canyon Road's beauty and began to create a subculture of artist-run studios and galleries. For those that may not be familiar with SW plants, the photo on the bottom left is a Century Plant...that HUGE stalk of blooms comes from the center of a large Yucca type cactus - it blooms once (in a hundred years, so I've been told), and then the plant withers and dies.  The incredible purple flowers are Clematis.

While known for the beautiful art galleries, Santa Fe also houses many incredible museums, both downtown, and up on Museum Hill - again, ask a local for directions, or follow the signs throughout town.

At the top of Museum Hill, you'll find The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, and The Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, sitting side by side – stunning exhibits of Native American arts and history - not to be missed.

A detailed, life size bronze sculpture of a wagon train...this was only the front portion...

Yei figures above a door leading to the Arts and Culture Museum...

And a LARGER than life-sized (HUGE, I tell you!) bronze Apache dancer.  While I giggled at the signage behind this sculpture seeming to say "IT'S ALIVE!", I believe the actual quote was "Arts Alive"...and it certainly is, in Santa Fe!  Next stop, Albuquerque...