Museum of Indian Arts & Culture
Location710 Camino Lejo, Santa Fe, NM 87505, United States, Santa Fe, NM, USA
Type(s) of establishment
Type Permanent exhibit
Collection Ceramics, basketry, jewelry, paintings, textiles, fashion
''Here, Now, and Always'' first opened in 1997. It covers the history of indigenous cultures of the Southwest, with a focus on New Mexico.
About the Museum
In January 2020, the museum closed the exhibition to the public for an extensive renovation project, which reopened in June 2022.
Situated within MIAC’s 8,400-square-foot Amy Rose Bloch Wing, the exhibition features more than 600 objects from the museum’s extraordinary collection of ceramics, basketry, jewelry, paintings, textiles, fashion, and more.
All these items—and the stories within them—reflect the knowledge, narrative, and cultural practices of the Indigenous peoples in the Southwest.
All these items—and the stories within them—reflect the knowledge, narrative, and cultural practices of the Indigenous peoples in the Southwest.
Challenge
New Mexico has a mild, arid, or semi-arid, continental climate, characterized by relatively large annual temperature and humidity fluctuations as well as a variable air quality index (AQI).
In addition, the conservation team had some concerns about the intrusion of fine sand and dust particles that could seep into the museum and damage the collections.
Our Solutions
To counter the damaging effect that such atmospheric conditions can have on organic artifacts, the acquisition of new airtight display cases would provide safe microclimate environments to protect the sensitive collections.
To this end, all display cases were designed with strict material tolerances to meet a specific air exchange rate. Each different case type has been tested for air leakage during the fabrication.
Material samples for each component that would be in contact with the art envelope were sent to the museum’s curatorial and conservation team for approval, along with an Oddy test report for each of these materials.
