Native American students demonstrated their outstanding talents through different forms of art work, each detailing what they envision for their community’s future, at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center during its 45th annual student art exhibit, which ended on Sunday, Feb. 1.
The event featured art work from Native American students in New Mexico between Kindergarten and 12th grade. The first Native American Student Art Show took place just shortly after the IPCC opened its doors in 1976.
This year’s theme was “Planning Our Future Homes,” where students were given prompts to help guide their artwork. The prompts were meant to evoke an idea of what each student hoped to see their community look like within the future.
The 2026 exhibit was a bit different than other years because the IPCC had to limit their selection of artwork due to the available space in the Artist’s Circle Gallery, Michelle Lanteri, head curator of the IPCC, said.
Lanteri said the exhibit allows the chance to work with different Pueblos, with this year’s exhibit featuring an educational center of the Santo Domingo Pueblo.
“You’re always trying to look for that moment of creative tension where all of the artworks can be seen really well by visitors, and there’s enough to keep a visitor’s interest, so we did that by accepting 74 artworks this year,” Lanteri said.
Students were asked to design traditional family homes for their pets, tribal housing, or create a building that their community would need and what they would personally like added to the IPCC building.
The students’ artwork was created using mediums including silk screen prints, or paintings and drawings made using acrylic, crayon or watercolors. In addition were handcrafted sculptures made with other kinds of mixed media such as clay, popsicle sticks, fabric, cardboard, wood and straw. Students used these materials to create 3D models of teepees, houses and communities.
Some artists used clay and Crayola Model Magic to create mugs and pottery like small patterned bowls and forms of mixed media to create sheets of paper with dried flowers, dyes and recycled paper.
Canyon Sabaque, a fifth grade student and member of the Diné tribe, knitted a soft-pink and white yarn blanket which they named “Grandma’s Blanket.”
Ribbons were awarded to selected student art pieces.
An 11th grader, Aspen Cifuentes from the Seminole tribe earned first place for their acrylic artwork titled “Home Among the Trees.” The painting depicts a detailed, beige, two-story home located in front of mountains.
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Mescalero Apache member and 10th grader, Sanoe Whitewater, received the “Best of Show” award for their ceramic model of tribal housing titled “House of Stripes and Dots.”
All of the student artwork pieces are available for purchase and 100% of the proceeds will go to the original student artist, according to IPCC.
Lanteri said a lot of inspiration for the NASAS exhibit is taken from the Santa Fe Indian Market, and the IPCC intends to prepare student artists for entering larger art markets.
“Every student is going to have a different take,” Lanteri said. “So as jurors, what that allows us to do is look at a lot of similar works and really focus on the standout works of that class, and really recognize those artists who took a creative approach that really impressed us and showed innovation and a technical understanding of materials and media.”
Lexis Lovato is a beat reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on X @lovatolexis
