12th SITE SANTA FE International Opens June 27 | Neighborhood Focus
12th SITE SANTA FE International
Once Within a Time
Extending beyond SITE SANTA FE’s galleries to partner institutions and unconventional venues across the city, Once Within a Time draws inspiration from a cast of characters with ties to Santa Fe and New Mexico. Curated by Cecilia Alemani.
June 27, 2025 — January 12, 2026
90+ participants 300+ artworks 14 venues across Santa Fe
The exhibition revolves around a vibrant collection of over twenty characters—or figures of interest—with close ties to the Southwest. This diverse cast encompasses local heroes, mythical beings, unassuming residents, reclusive artists, distinctive writers, and charismatic healers. The biographies of these people—incarnated in a collection of artifacts, documents, images, and objects—function as catalysts for over seventy local, national, and international artists. Many of the featured artists have created new work that responds, directly or indirectly, to the experiences and lore of these figures. The commissions are shown here alongside contemporary works from around the world, offering insights into the region’s rich history and its artistic and literary heritage.
The International extends beyond SITE SANTA FE to more than a dozen locations across the city. These partner venues comprise cultural institutions such as museums and landmarks, as well as spaces in a public park, a former foundry, an empty storefront, the lounge of a cannabis shop, a toy store, and more. These varied locations set the tone for novel dialogues between figures, artists, and places, prompting visitors to explore different corners of Santa Fe.
New Mexico History Museum
Palace of the Governors Enter at 113 Lincoln Avenue, Santa Fe, NM
Open Daily: 10 AM – 5 PM *Open until 7 PM on the first Friday of each month
Admission
Opening Weekend June 28 – 29: FREE General Admission: $12 New Mexico Residents: $7
Check website for additional discounted rates and free days
ABOUT PALACE OF THE GOVERNORS
For the 12th SITE SANTA FE International, artists Daisy Quezada Ureña and Charisse Pearlina Weston will activate two different galleries of the Palace of the Governors with newly commissioned sculptural, photographic, and installation work. Hosted in a National Historic Landmark, these two artists’ works are placed in dialogue with themes of migration, border, and identity.
PARTICIPANTS EXHIBITING AT PALACE OF THE GOVERNORS
Check website for additional discounted rates and free days
ABOUT ST. FRANCIS AUDITORIUM
As a center for Santa Fe’s performing arts and cultural activities for nearly a century, the St. Francis Auditorium at the New Mexico Museum of Art hosts a new installation by Maja Ruznic as part of the 12th SITE SANTA FE International. Ruznic is creating new large-scale paintings that intervene in the Auditorium’s murals, where the life of St. Francis of Assisi (the patron saint of Santa Fe) is currently depicted in six parts.
Led by fifth-generation art dealer Jed Foutz, the downtown gallery Shiprock Santa Fe specializes in vintage and antique Indigenous art—primarily Diné and that of other tribes of the Southwest—from the nineteenth century to the present. Photography, painting, and sculpture by living artists are shown alongside jewelry, ceramics, and basketry from past generations. Located on the second story of a nineteenth-century building on Santa Fe’s central Plaza, Shiprock is a multi-room exhibition space for intimate displays of art that spans eras and geographies.
The Green Room is a discreet, intimate lounge within the Best Daze cannabis dispensary on Palace Ave in downtown Santa Fe. Best Daze is a family owned and operated, run by the father-son team of Len and Eli Goodman. Best Daze began as a cannabis farm in 2015 and has been named the Best of Santa Fe for several years running. Together, the Goodmans have opened several Best Daze storefronts to serve multiple communities in the Santa Fe area.
PARTICIPANTS EXHIBITING AT BEST DAZE
Omari Douglin
Claude James
Santa Fe Village
Unit 13
227 Don Gaspar Avenue, Santa Fe, NM
Summer Hours
Thursday – Monday: 10 AM – 5 PM
Admission
Free
ABOUT SANTA FE VILLAGE
Longtime residents and visitors alike will recognize the distinctive facade of Santa Fe Village. This over 100-year-old adobe shopping center recalls the region’s historic trading posts. In the twentieth century, many remaining trading posts were converted into shopping centers and, conversely, modern shopping centers were designed to evoke those remote businesses, romanticized in popular images of the Southwest. Santa Fe Village’s storied Unit 13 housed the shop of silversmith RM Campbell (known as Ol’ Bear) for twenty-seven years. The interior features exposed bricks, wooden floors, and the iconic New Mexican vigas (or log beams).
PARTICIPANTS EXHIBITING AT SANTA FE VILLAGE
Ladies Auxiliary of Local 890
Amol K. Patil
Doodlet’s
120 Don Gaspar Avenue at Water Street, Santa Fe, NM
Art installation in storefront window on Water Street is visible at all hours
Admission
Free
ABOUT DOODLET’S
Doodlet’s is a beloved toy store in the heart of downtown Santa Fe—a local institution that has delighted children of all ages for seventy years. Founded in 1955 by Theo Raven (Theodora Ruthling) and her mother, Helene Maurer Ruthling, who had the nickname Doodles. Theo’s diminutive nickname, Doodlet—bestowed by local artist Will Shuster—seemed an apt and memorable choice for the shop. There, one can find nostalgic toys, tiny animals, candy, books, and cards, alongside keepsakes, milagros (metal votive offerings), sugar skulls, and a wide array of miniatures. As of 2025, the shop is run once again by a mother-daughter team of Santa Fe locals.
Located just four blocks off the central plaza in downtown Santa Fe, Las Palomas is a unique inn that showcases the distinctive architecture of the region. Built in 1890, the casitas (or intimate, single-family homes) were transformed into the present-day boutique hotel in the 1990s by acclaimed opera singer Neil Rosenshein. Once Within a Time utilizes a building on the side of the sprawling property that faces Water Street, a short distance from Las Palomas’s main entrance on San Francisco Street.
