MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS

Exhibitions

Open January 9th - June 2025

The Twisted Road

Opening Reception: January 9th from 5-7pm. To RSVP and to purchase tickets, call (520)202-3888. More information on Events Page.

The Twisted Road: Finding Home in America at the Tucson Desert Art Museum examines over 200 years of U.S. immigration history through the lens of art and historical narratives. As national conversations about immigration and border policies intensify under the new administration, the exhibition invites visitors to reflect on the complexities of migration, cultural identity, and U.S. immigration history.

A highlight of the exhibition is the inclusion of contemporary works by Arizona-based immigrant artists, each bringing personal stories to life:

Anh-Thuy Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American artist, explores themes of cultural identity and migration through photography, video, and performance art, offering poignant insights into her own transformative journey.
Safwat Saleem, originally from Pakistan, uses humor and satire in his multidisciplinary work to challenge cultural narratives and advocate for joy and preservation in immigrant experiences.
Perla Segovia, born in Peru, uses glass and textile techniques to address social themes involving women and immigration, drawing on her diverse global experiences.

This Exhibition made possible through the generous donations of our sponsors; AZ Humanities, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Long Realty Cares Foundation.

Photo credit: Anjora Noronha, 2011, via Wikimedia Commons

Now Open

Colors to Dye For: The Mysterious World of Navajo Dye-making

Indigo Blue, Cochineal Red, Rabbit Brush Yellow, ...these dyes hold the mysteries of Navajo color design of textiles. For centuries, dyes held a valued spot both for the Navajo and in the world economy, coveted by the wealthy to create hierarchy and status.

From gathering the finest of wool, to infusing design through the use of special dye formulas and patterns passed down generationally, the Navajo weaver’s process in creating majestic textiles is a special, unique story. “Colors to Dye For” examines the history of dye- making, both in adding color to Navajo textiles and in the Old World’s race to create new colors for the “most fashionable.” The making of color, for centuries, has been a journey of deep intrigue, wealth and power. Come join us as we explore the mysteries of indigo, cochineal red, and other vegetal dyes, as well as these powerful dyes’ worldwide impact on fashion and the global economy!

Now Showing

CIRCA 1930: Memories of the General Store, Feed Sacks, Quilting and More

“Repair, reuse, make-do and don't throw anything away" was the motto for the Great Depression. The heart of the community in those years was often the general store which brought everyone together for laughter, sustenance and mail. This exhibition displays a model General Store with period antiques from this fascinating era when sustainability was the essence of life. Other highlights include 1930s quilts, feed sack dolls and clothing and other essential products from this era. Be prepared to be amazed at the prices!

Photo Credit: Russell Lee, 1938, Wikimedia Commons

Ongoing & Permanent Exhibitions

Toward Los Angeles, California. Dorothea Lange, 1937.

The Dirty Thirties: New Deal Photography Frames the Migrants' Stories

The Dirty Thirties explores the journeys of rural migrants fleeing the Dust Bowl, drought, and economic difficulties during the 1930s. In desperate search for jobs and new opportunities, thousands of former farm owners and ex-tenant farmers left their homes in the Southern Plains states and set off to the cotton fields of Arizona and the “Promised Land” of California, where supposedly work could be found. This exhibit explores why the migrants left, their journey westward, their experiences living and working in Arizona, and what life could be like for those who traveled onto California. Told primarily through the compelling documentary photography taken under the auspices of the New Deal programs of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, some images from this exhibit will likely stay with you throughout your lifetime.

Ongoing

The Dawn of American Landscape

Masterpieces by the preeminent Nineteenth century landscape painters. Works by Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Moran, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and other master artists. This collection captures the transcendental spirit of these artists' search and expression of the sublime.

Permanent

Hopi Artistry

Immerse yourself in the beautiful arts of the Hopi people.

Permanent

Weavings of The Dance:
Early Yei Textiles

This collection of amazing weavings tells the story of Navajo healing ceremonies.

Permanent

Cartography of the Americas

Learn about North American history through an impressive collection of vintage maps from the great mapmakers of the new world.

Permanent

Harvey Girls gather at Harvey House in Winslow, 1910. Arizona Capital Museum.

All the Single Ladies: Women Pioneers of the American West

All the Single Ladies: Women Pioneers of the American West tells select stories from these trailblazing women’s lives. Meet unmarried 19th century women homesteaders, Harvey girls, boarding house owners, teachers, madams, prostitutes, and entertainers. Learn how these women brought a richness and vivacity to the fabric of life in an emerging American West.

Ongoing

HBO's Westworld filmed in Moab

Desert Hollywood: Celebrity Landscapes in Cinema

Desert Hollywood explores the “celebrity careers” of prominent Southwestern landscapes in film and television. More than mere backdrops, these landscapes including Monument Valley, the Imperial Sand Dunes, Lake Powell, the Moab area and the Sonoran Desert surrounding Tucson have become familiar, even iconic, through their supporting roles in film. Featuring video clips, stills, and behind-the-scenes photography.

Ongoing

The Weavings of the Diné

A premier collection of pre-1940’s Navajo textiles, including Chief’s blankets, Eye Dazzlers, Saddle blankets, Germantown weavings, Yei weavings and child's blankets.

Permanent

Arizona Women Uncovered

Who would have guessed! Arizona Women Uncovered offers a unique insight into the lives of early pioneer women through the evolution of their undergarments. Arizona Women Uncovered was curated in collaboration with Claudine Villardito of Black Cat Vintage.

Permanent

Teachings of the Spider Woman

Textiles tell stories, and this exhibit helps us to find them in each amazing, uniquely crafted work.

Permanent

Past Exhibitions

2023 - 2024 Exhibitions

Gold Fever: Glory and Greed in the Western Expansion Years

His Silent Partners by Louis Dalrymple, 1897. Courtesy of the Library of Congress

January 6, 2024- July 29, 2024

This telling exhibition delves into the relentless pursuit of gold, shining a light on the lawlessness and corruption that ran rampant in the untamed West. Through mining artifacts, photography, illustrations, and compelling tales of people from diverse backgrounds, "Gold Fever" reveals the magnetic allure of gold and its pivotal role in shaping the challenging dynamics and character of the burgeoning American frontier.

His Silent Partners by Louis Dalrymple, 1897. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

2022 - 2023 Exhibitions

¡Pleibol! In the Barrios and the Big Leagues / En los barrios y las grandes ligas

January 2023 - April 9, 2023

Developed in collaboration with the National Museum of American History, ¡Pleibol! examines how generations of Latinos/as have helped make the game what it is today. From youth and community teams to the Major League, the exhibition reveals how baseball brings people together regardless of race, class, or gender. These inspirational baseball stories reﬂect larger themes in American history that connect us all, on and off the diamond. For nearly a century, baseball has been a crucial social and cultural force in Latino communities across the United States. And, for just as long, Latino/a players have had a huge impact on the game.

Organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service in collaboration with the National Museum of American History.

This exhibition received generous support from the Cordoba Corporation and Linda Alvarado, and federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center. Additional local support provided by AZ Humanities, ADARA Wealth Management, and media sponsor Tucson Lifestyle Magazine

Citizen/Enemy: Japanese American Incarceration Camps

January 2023 - March 26, 2023

"Citizen/Enemy" confronts an uncomfortable period in American history, when the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor led to the relocation of 120,000 Japanese Americans to incarceration camps. The exhibition features historic documents, installations, and large-scale images from noted photographers Dorothea Lange and Russell Lee, offering a guide for reflection on this tragic political action and its repercussions for Japanese Americans.

2021 - 2022 Exhibitions

Sacred Dancers: Ceremonial Navajo Weaving

December 2021 - June 25, 2022

In the early 1900s, many Anglo tourists were fascinated by Native American religion. Encouraged by traders capitalizing on this trend, Navajo weavers developed a new genre: ceremonial weaving.

Traditionally, depicting the Yeis, or the Navajo Holy People, in permanent form was considered downright dangerous. Oftentimes, weavers faced intense pressure from their communities to not depict holy beings in their textiles. Reconciling their reverence for their own religion with market demands, weavers wove creative rugs that were most often artistic interpretations of the sacred, rather than accurate replicas of religious imagery.

Featuring Yei, Yeibichai, and sandpainting textiles, Sacred Dancers tells the history of weavers, including medicine man Hosteen Klah, who boldly portrayed ceremonial imagery in their weavings.

From the Collection of Steve and Gail Getzwiller, Nizhoni Ranch Gallery

2019 - 2020 Exhibitions

Buffalo Soldiers: The 10th Cavalry Regiment Told Through the Art of David Laughlin

February 5, 2020 - December 27, 2020

Buffalo Soldiers: The 10th Cavalry Regiment Told Through the Art of David Laughlin paints a picture of daily life for African American soldiers serving in the post-Civil War American West. Through his paintings, drawings, and block prints, artist David Laughlin depicts the 10th Cavalry Regiment’s daily activities while stationed in AZ from 1885 - 1896. With the US Government pushing for western expansion, the Buffalo Soldiers’ tasks ranged from building outposts and laying telegraph lines to protecting settlers, stagecoaches and railroad crews and fighting Native Americans, outlaws and rustlers. Their days were full and difficult, however their military service offered them a chance to obtain better rights as citizens in the recently liberated United States.

For this exhibition we are partnering with GSAAC ; a local Buffalo Soldiers Educational group that is working to erect a Buffalo Soldiers Memorial Plaza here in Tucson. Help support GSAAC's memorial project mission by donating.

Art is the Seed: Contemporary Native American Female Art

January 10, 2020 - May 31, 2020

Art is the Seed explores how traditional Native American crafts are the cultural “seeds” inspiring many contemporary Native American artists’ works. This exhibition features artworks by exciting contemporary female artists paired with historic and traditional crafts that have inspired their works. Informed by the history and stories behind the traditional crafts, visitors will come away with a greater appreciation and understanding of contemporary Native American art.

The exhibition will feature contemporary art by Cara Romero, Marla Alison, Sarah Sense, Natani Notah and Darby Raymond-Overstreet, in addition to historic artifacts generously loaned by Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery.

Exhibition made possible by a grant from AZ Humanities

The REDress Project

January 10, 2020 - December 27, 2020

According to the Urban Indian Health Institute (UIHI), Arizona had the third highest number of cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in the United States. Tucson accounted for the majority of these cases.

Raising awareness for this crisis, The REDress Project by Métis artist Jaime Black is an art installation of empty red dresses that evokes a presence through the marking of absence. Black draws attention to the gendered and racialized nature of violent crimes against Native women. Since 2011, The REDress Project has become an international symbol of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) movement throughout Canada and now in the United States.

Exhibition made possible by a grant from AZ Humanities.

Effie! Plein Air Pioneer

January 11 - April 28, 2019

In the midst of the rough and tumble activities of the Arizona Territory mining camp at Pearce lived a young woman who would emerge as Arizona’s first nationally known female plein air impressionist landscape painter. For over 55 years, Effie Anderson Smith, also known as Mrs. A. Y. Smith, made her home in Cochise County and painted its desert and mountain vistas. The paintings she created between 1895 and 1950 depicting Cochise Stronghold, the Chiricahua Mountains, Cave Creek Canyon, and the Grand Canyon would eventually be seen in exhibits from Phoenix to Philadelphia, and were sought after by politicians and European nobility.

This 150th birthday retrospective of 46 paintings wass the largest exhibit of Effie Anderson Smith paintings ever assembled in one place. It was also the first time in over 75 years (since 1942) that E.A. Smith's paintings have been exhibited in Tucson, the city which hosted her earliest major exhibits in the 1920s.

2017 - 2018 Exhibitions

Colors to Dye For: The Mysterious World of Dye-Making

January 12 - June 30, 2018

Colors to Dye For explores the mysterious industry of dye-making. The beautiful southwestern palette created in early Navajo textiles was produced through a variety of materials found in nature. This exhibition takes a close look at the history of indigo and red. Why was indigo referred to as a “color of the devil,” and how did a beetle from the Sonoran desert change the history of red? Come see the fascinating transformation of how wool is made into yarn and yarn is turned into beautiful textiles.

Under A Vast Sky: American Women Artists

October 13 - December 3, 2017

American Women Artists (AWA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the inspiration, celebration, and encouragement of women in the visual fine arts. The Tucson Desert Art mUseum is proud to host the AWA national juried art show and sale.

The exhibition features close to 150 painting and sculpture works by outstanding women artists from the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The Wayfinder's Dilemma: Landscape Photographs by Camden Hardy

May 3 - October 1, 2017

A faculty member at Southwest University of Visual Arts, Hardy explores the ways in which human beings interact with, and understand, their surroundings. On his work, Mr. Hardy states; "My artistic practice is driven by questions about the dissonance that occurs when we encounter information that contradicts our expectations, as well as our own agency in the construction of individual realities."

The Wayfinder's Perspective: Landscape Paintings from the Permanent Collection

The Dazzled Eye: Navajo Textiles from the Getzwiller Collection

Vaquero & Charro: An Enduring Legacy Photographs by Cody Edison and Artifacts from the Arizona Historical Society

December 8 - June 30, 2018

Vaquero and Charro: An Enduring Legacy, Photographs by Cody Edison and Artifacts from the Arizona Historical Society will explore the impact that Spanish traditions have had on Western horsemanship. Many customs, words, and traditions associated with the American West originated with the Vaqueros and Charros of Mexico. This legacy is presented through contemporary photographs of the Charros and Vaqueros of Southern California by Cody Edison and by historic artifacts dating to the mid 19th Century culled from the Arizona Historical Society. This exhibition is supported by a grant from the Arizona Humanities.

Joseph Labate: The Sawmill Fire

September 5 - January 9, 2018

The Sawmill Fire, originating ten miles southeast of Green Valley, AZ started on April 23, 2017. It was a human-caused fire that consumed 470,000 acres of tall grass, cacti and succulents, riparian woodland, mesquite and oak brush, oak woodland, pinyon and juniper. The fire was eventually contained in May, an effort that involved 800 personnel and cost 4.25 million dollars.

I began photographing the landscape of the Sawmill Fire in early July. In that landscape both the destruction of the fire and the recovery from the fire’s damage are visible. The earliest photographs clearly show the extensive damage caused by the fire with just a hint of a recovery beginning. Just a few weeks later, fed by the heavy monsoon rains, green vegetation is abundant, traces of the fire disappearing, recovery (with scar) rapidly progressing.

This continuing photographic project is not intended to tell or illustrate the story of the Sawmill Fire. Rather, it is about a landscape, a landscape for reflection. It is landscape as metaphor.

Joseph Labate
Tucson, AZ

Joseph Labate is a Professor of Art in the School of Art at the University of Arizona and was the Chair of Photography from 1996 until 2014. Labate’s artwork and his teaching focus on the use of digital technology as applied to the medium of photography. Labate has a B.S. in engineering from Clarkson University, a B.F.A. in photography from Massachusetts College of Art and an M.F.A. in photography from the University of Arizona.

Labate is a recipient of a Visual Arts Fellowship from the Arizona Commission on the Arts, an Artist’s Grant from the Contemporary Forum of the Phoenix Art Museum and an Artist’s Grant from Polaroid of Tokyo, Japan. He has exhibited and taught photography nationally and internationally. His work is in many private and public collections.

2016 - 2017 Exhibitions

Paul Kitagaki - Gambatte! Legacy of an Enduring Spirit: Triumphing over Adversity. Japanese American WWII Incarceration Reflections, Then and Now

November 5, 2016 - April 30, 2017

GAMBATTE! Legacy of an Enduring Spirit is the first body of work devoted to capturing the past and the present of Executive Order 9066 through photographs and oral histories. Through the juxtaposition of historic images and contemporary portraits of the same individuals or their descendants, Paul Kitagaki takes us on a visual exploration of the Japanese concept of Gambatte, or triumph over adversity.

Behind Barbed Wire: Japanese American Incarceration in Arizona

Art of Circumstance: Art and Artifacts Created by Japanese Americans Incarcerated During WWII

SNAP 2! Visualize History Through the Art of Vintage Ads!

May 4 - October 30, 2016

The art of print media is a direct “snapshot” of the practices of society. The good, the bad and the ugly. Walk down memory lane through vintage American ads spanning fifty years. New highlights include a historical look at the migration of early health-seekers to Tucson and contemporary art reactions to "Aunt Jemima" ads. Warning! Some images may depict graphic stereotypes that history would like to forget!

Wayne Norton: Desert Relations

March 11, 2016 - June 30, 2016

The subjects of these still life photographs, which Wayne Norton calls Desert Relations, are objects that he has gathered in the deserts of the American Southwest. As an avid desert hiker and explorer for over the past 30 years, he has come across many discarded man-made relics and natural items that he finds interesting and attractive in a unique, rustic manner.

2015 - 2016 Exhibitions

The Dirty Thirties: New Deal Photography Frames the Migrants’ Stories

December 5, 2015 - April 30, 2016

"The Dirty Thirties" explores the journeys of rural migrants fleeing the Dust Bowl, drought, and economic difficulties during the 1930s. In desperate search for jobs and new opportunities, thousands of former farm owners and ex-tenant farmers left their homes in the Southern Plains states and set off to the cotton fields of Arizona and the “Promised Land” of California, where supposedly work could be found. This exhibit explores why the migrants left, their journey westward, their experiences living and working in Arizona, and what life could be like for those who traveled onto California. Told primarily through the compelling documentary photography taken under the auspices of the New Deal programs of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, some images from this exhibit will likely stay with you throughout your lifetime.

Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program, 1942- 1964

December 5, 2015 - February 14, 2016

“Bittersweet Harvest”, a bilingual (English/Spanish) exhibition from the Smithsonian, explores the little-known story of the Bracero program; the largest guest worker program in U.S history. Between 1942 and 1964, millions of Mexican men came to the United States on short-term labor contracts. Both bitter and sweet, the Bracero experience tells a story of exploitation but also of opportunity. This exhibition is organized into three main sections that explore the Braceros’ motivations and expectations for the journey north, the work they did and the effects the Bracero program had on family and communities in Mexico and the United States. “Bittersweet Harvest” features the work of famed photojournalist Leonard Nadel as well as oral histories collected by the Bracero Oral History Project. This exhibition is organized by the National Museum of American History and organized for travel by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. Funding is made possible through the Smithsonian’s Latino Center, which celebrates Latino culture, spirit and achievement in America by facilitating the development of exhibitions, research, collections and education programs. Please visit, www.sites.si.edu, for more information about the Smithsonian Institutions Traveling Exhibitions.

The exhibit also included art generously loaned from CALACA artist members. The CALACA Cultural Center's mission is to preserve and promote Latino and Indigenous cultural arts. CALACA artists included Gabriela Muñoz, Martin Moreno, Jose Benavides, Norma Garcia-Torres, Joe Ray, Tavo Barrios, Roberto Martinez, and Marco Albarrán.

GEOLogic: Michael Holcomb

November 1, 2015 - March 22, 2016

Michael Holcomb describes himself as a “formalist”, to the extent that his art is primarily concerned with form as an abstract expression of the unspeakable forces at work in the universe. His images interpret the canyons, mesas, caves, cliffs, the effects of weathering and erosion: the vast spaces and horizons, skies filled with light and color and extraordinary cloud formations that symbolize the magnificent and rich visual work to the Desert Southwest.

His work is created using three-dimensional vertex modeling software and original algorithms, edited for characteristics of color, transparency and texture. In 2010, Michael retired as Dean for Technology in the Arts and Director of the Treistman Center for New Media in the College of Fine Arts at the University of Arizona. His work has been exhibited and published internationally and is included in both public and private collections.

Charles D. Winters - Crossing Between Worlds: Life, Land and Culture of Canyon de Chelly

November 1, 2015 - March 22, 2016

Charles D. Winters is a photographer and cinematographer specializing in anthropology, nature and the environment. His exhibit of engaging photographs tells the story of Navajo life in the magnificent landscape of the Four Corners region. His work explores the rich heritage of the Diné and the confluence of tradition and modernity.

Charles D. Winters is the retired head of the photography department at State University of New York, Oneonta. His work has been widely exhibited both in the US and internationally.

Women Artists of the West 45th Annual National Exhibition: WAOWing the Grand Canyon State

November 3, 2015 - November 28, 2015

Women Artists of the West is a unique and respected group of professional women artists from all over the United States and Canada. Its Annual National Exhibition is a competitive, juried show - only a fraction of the artwork submitted will be accepted for inclusion. Wyoming-based plein-air palette knife artist Carol Swinney is this year's juror. The Tucson Desert Art Museum is honored to have been chosen as the site of the 2015 WAOW show. It included paintings and sculpture in a variety of media, with landscape, still life, animal, and figurative subjects.

For more information about Women Artists of the West please visit waow.org

Empire 100 Art Show, Empire Ranch Foundation

SNAP! Visualize History Through the Art of Vintage Ads!

MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS

Exhibitions

Open January 9th - June 2025

The Twisted Road

Now Open

Colors to Dye For: The Mysterious World of Navajo Dye-making

Now Showing

CIRCA 1930: Memories of the General Store, Feed Sacks, Quilting and More

Ongoing & Permanent Exhibitions

Toward Los Angeles, California. Dorothea Lange, 1937.

The Dirty Thirties: New Deal Photography Frames the Migrants' Stories

The Dawn of American Landscape

Hopi Artistry

Weavings of The Dance: ​Early Yei Textiles

Cartography of the Americas

Harvey Girls gather at Harvey House in Winslow, 1910. Arizona Capital Museum.

All the Single Ladies: Women Pioneers of the American West

HBO's Westworld filmed in Moab

Desert Hollywood: Celebrity Landscapes in Cinema

The Weavings of the Diné

Arizona Women Uncovered

Teachings of the Spider Woman

Past Exhibitions

2023 - 2024 Exhibitions

2022 - 2023 Exhibitions

2021 - 2022 Exhibitions

2019 - 2020 Exhibitions

2017 - 2018 Exhibitions

2016 - 2017 Exhibitions

2015 - 2016 Exhibitions

Weavings of The Dance:
Early Yei Textiles