The Harwood Museum of Art in Taos was founded in 1923 by the Harwood Foundation, and it is the second oldest art museum in New Mexico. In 1935 the University of New Mexico purchased the museum. Its permanent collection now holds more than 1,700 works of art and 17,000 photographic images, with categories that include Hispanic works, the Taos Society of Artists, the Taos Moderns and contemporary art. We looked for towns that pair a museum with a deep bench of galleries and a juried show.
Here is how we picked the towns. First, a gallery or district association, the visitor bureau, or the town must publish a count of at least 20 art galleries; counts that combine galleries with artist studios or art spaces are accepted. Second, the town must have an art museum. Third, it must host an annual juried art market, show or festival. Four towns passed all three tests, and we list them north to south.
Taos
Taos hosts more than 70 art galleries, according to the Taos visitor site. The Taos Fall Arts Festival returned in 2026 after a pause and ran September 18 to October 4. The festival said it would have more than 250 contemporary artists exhibiting across multiple venues in downtown Taos. Artists in the festival's open call were selected by an independent jury rather than by the board. Arte de Descartes, a juried show of art made from discards, held its 26th annual edition from August 29 to September 7, 2026, at Stables Gallery, 133 Paseo del Pueblo Norte. Its prospectus calls it a show of art that is 90 percent recycled. Jurors for the 26th annual show were Lynda Jasper-Vogel, Joel Morse Lage and Scott Randolph. Awards include jurors' first, second and third place plus a People's Choice award.
Santa Fe
The Santa Fe Gallery Association says a half-mile walk up and down historic Canyon Road gives free access to more than 80 galleries. The road runs parallel to the Acequia Madre, an irrigation ditch dating back to 1680, and artists including Los Cinco Pintores were drawn to it in the 1920s. The New Mexico Museum of Art sits one block off the Santa Fe Plaza in a building designed by Isaac Rapp and completed in 1917. Its collection includes more than 20,000 paintings, photographs, sculptures, prints, drawings and mixed-media works. Notable artists in the collection include Ansel Adams, Gustave Baumann, Georgia O'Keeffe and Fritz Scholder. Santa Fe Indian Market began in 1922 as the Southwest Indian Art Fair and Industrial Arts and Crafts Exposition. Each August, nearly 1,000 Native artists from more than 200 Tribal Nations take part, and its Best of Show program honors work in juried categories from pottery and jewelry to textiles, painting and sculpture. The 104th market was August 15 and 16, 2026, and the 105th is set for August 21 and 22, 2027. Summer adds Santa Fe Art Week, which the gallery association billed as 12 days of festivals, fairs, openings, demonstrations, art talks and performances from July 1 to 12, 2026.
Albuquerque
Albuquerque is home to more than 100 art galleries and studios, according to the city's visitor bureau. Galleries are spread from historic Old Town to Nob Hill to Uptown, and the monthly ARTScrawl event is a way to see several. Old Town, founded in 1706, is home to more than 150 independent restaurants and boutiques. The Albuquerque Museum opened as the Museum of Albuquerque in 1967, operating out of the vacated Old Albuquerque Municipal Airport Building. Today it is in Old Town, in a building designed by local architect Antoine Predock that opened in 1979, and it keeps an outdoor sculpture garden on the grounds. ArtsThrive, an exhibition and benefit run by the Albuquerque Museum Foundation, is the only juried exhibition at the Albuquerque Museum. Artists selected for the 33rd annual show had their work displayed in one of the Albuquerque Museum's galleries from March 17 to April 14, 2024.
Las Cruces
The city's official visitor site counts nearly 30 galleries in Las Cruces. The city operates the Las Cruces Museum of Art, which offers free admission, with parking at 500 N. Water Street on the north end of Main Street downtown. Its current exhibit, Dancing with Life: Mexican Masks, runs July 17 to October 17, 2026. Downtown Las Cruces also has an Arts and Cultural District, and the downtown partnership's Artists in Residence program was designed to showcase artists already creating in the district rather than bring in outside artists. The Renaissance ArtsFaire at Young Park features the largest juried art show in Southern New Mexico, with more than 150 artists, vendors and food booths. Artists sell original, handcrafted jewelry, pottery, photographs, leather goods, paintings, sculpture and textiles. The 54th annual faire was November 8 and 9, 2025.
Check each museum's hours and each show's dates before you go. Where You LIVE.