Here, Now and Always: Finding common ground in Pueblo Country

By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News

Roughly 1,400 miles separate the Tulalip Reservation from the heart of Pueblo Country in New Mexico. The landscapes are dramatically different. The evergreen forests and saltwater shores of the Pacific Northwest give way to high desert mesas, sandstone cliffs, and endless blue skies.

Yet, inside the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, the similarities between Native peoples become impossible to ignore.

Located on Museum Hill in Santa Fe, the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture serves as one of the nation’s premier sources of Indigenous art, history, and material culture. Through exhibitions, educational programming, and community engagement, the museum interprets both the historical and contemporary lives of Native peoples throughout the Southwest. Its collections tell stories that span generations, from ancestral traditions to modern expressions of identity.

Walking through the museum’s galleries feels less like visiting a distant culture and more like visiting relatives whose stories have taken different paths across time and geography.

The centerpiece exhibition, Here, Now and Always, showcases more than 600 objects from the museum’s extensive collection. Ceramics, jewelry, textiles, paintings, fashion, basketry, and ceremonial items are presented through the voices and perspectives of Indigenous peoples of the Southwest. Rather than viewing Native history as something confined to the past, the exhibition centers living cultures and ongoing traditions.

Like Coast Salish communities, Pueblo nations continue to balance the responsibilities of preserving ancestral teachings while embracing today’s realities. Artists featured throughout the museum demonstrate that Indigenous culture is not frozen in time. It evolves, adapts, and grows while remaining rooted in community, language, family, and place.

One gallery showcases the renowned pottery traditions of Pueblo communities. Clay vessels adorned with intricate designs reveal generations of knowledge passed from one artist to the next. While the medium differs from the cedar carving traditions of the Northwest Coast, the underlying values are familiar. Native art carries teachings, records histories, and strengthens cultural identity.

Another exhibition, Makowa: The Worlds Above Us, explores Indigenous relationships with the sky. Through stories, observation, and traditional knowledge, Pueblo peoples demonstrate how the stars provide guidance, meaning, and connection to the universe. The exhibit highlights a truth recognized by Indigenous nations across Native America: our ancestors looked to the limitless skies and vast oceans not only for practical knowledge, but also for spiritual understanding.

Perhaps most striking is the museum’s commitment to showcasing contemporary Indigenous artists. Throughout the galleries, visitors encounter works that address environmental stewardship, cultural survival, sovereignty, identity, and the responsibilities Native people carry into the future. These themes are not unique to the Southwest. They are conversations taking place in tribal communities from New Mexico to Washington State and far beyond.

For our Tulalip News audience, the selection of words accompanying this article offers a reminder that Indigenous peoples have always been innovators. The artists represented here honor their ancestors while speaking directly to present-day realities. Their work reflects adaptation and creativity in much the same way Tulalip artists continue to express Coast Salish identity through carving, weaving, painting, music, and storytelling.

As viewers browse the accompanying images in this feature, each piece of artwork reveals the personal and cultural journeys behind their creation. Through the artists’ own statements and interpretations, they offer glimpses into Pueblo life while simultaneously reflecting universal Indigenous experiences.

The distance between Tulalip and Santa Fe may measure 1,400 miles by road, but Native people have always understood that connection is measured differently. It is found in the teachings shared between generations, in the stories carried through art, in the responsibility to honor ancestors, and in the commitment to leave something meaningful for those yet to come.

Inside the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, those connections are everywhere. Different nations. Different homelands. Different artistic traditions. Yet the same enduring truth emerges from gallery to gallery.  Our tribal cultures are not relics of the past. They are living, thriving, and creating today. Here, now, and always.