1 Turn trash to treasure.
Brian Fleetwood (Mvskoke Creek), a faculty member at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA), creates striking works that push the boundaries of jewelry as an artistic medium. On Friday, the mobile art space Axle Contemporary presents Place/Holding, his new body of work created in collaboration with the community. “I am really interested in making art accessible,” Fleetwood says. “It’s such a fundamental part of the human experience and so many people are divorced from it now. I want it to be a collaborative thing. It’s not mine, I am facilitating it.”
Fleetwood made wearable art pieces from recycled plastic with folks from Abiquiú, IAIA, and the New Mexico School for the Arts as the inaugural artist-in-residence at Axle and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. When it came to the shape and content of the pieces, Fleetwood took a passive role in the creative process. “I gave a little guidance, but I didn’t want to direct,” he says. “The goal was to create a fossil of a community in time.”
Catch the exhibition, on view through May 19, in the mobile art space at the Santa Fe Railyard by the water tower on Friday for the opening from 5 to 7 p.m. and Saturday during the Earth Day celebration in the park behind SITE Santa Fe from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. “There will be a toy capsule vending machine so people can get pieces for themselves,” says Fleetwood, who will do demonstrations of plastic recycling, inviting attendees into the process.
2 Party for the planet.
Earth Day Festival New Mexico, Albuquerque
Albuquerque hosts the inaugural Earth Day Festival New Mexico at Balloon Fiesta Park with a poetry contest, info booths, presentations, a kids’ activity center, and an art contest on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The theme of the event is the planet vs. plastics, and the info booths will highlight ways to reduce plastic use in your home.
Earth Day Festival, Los Alamos
The Pajarito Environmental Education Center celebrates Earth Day on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with music by Recycle Man, who makes instruments from recycled materials, games, information booths, and food by Manko, a Native fusion food truck.
Earth Day at the Museum of Nature & Science, Las Cruces
On Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the museum hosts a special Earth Day celebration where visitors can learn more about food systems and how to nurture them, paint planting pots made by the museum’s studio programs, and more.
IAIA Land Healing and Restoration Celebration, Santa Fe
The Institute of American Indian Arts presents a celebration of the natural world includes hands-on activities, a performance by Indigenous reggae band Innastate, and information about techniques for water catchment, planting, soil conservation, healthy pollinators, and more on Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Earth Day at Railyard Park, Santa Fe
A dog photo booth, face painting, seed ball making, public art installations, and live music are all part of the Earth Day party at Railyard Park on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
3 Take action through art.
Renewal, reuse, and metaphor play into the works displayed in the Roswell Museum’s new exhibition, Regenerative Actions, which opens with a reception on Friday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The exhibition represents a first-time collaboration with the Santa Fe Art Institute and allows participants in the SFAI artist-in-residency program to create and show works under the theme of “changing climate” in the Roswell space. “This is a sort of test,” says Aaron Wilder, curator of collections and exhibitions at the Roswell Museum. “It’s shaping up to be really interesting, and we hope it stirs some dialogue about climate change here in Roswell.”
Paula Castillo, Jessica Zeglin, The Submergence Collective, and Tintawi Charaka Kaigziabiher are among the artists featured in the exhibition, which runs through October 13. “There are very different approaches to the theme,” Wilder says. “There’s diversity from ceremonial rattles to photographic and sculptural works.”
Castillo, for example, presents a corn cob crafted from resin cast human teeth as commentary on our relationship with corn as a physical thing we eat, but also as a symbolic reference to colonization. Kaigziabiher used natural materials like gourds and clay to create a set of seven “healing sisters” around a sacred carpet. “Her work is about communal healing,” Wilder says.
4 Attend a homecoming.
The Palace of the Governors celebrates its grand reopening after five years of preservation work on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Check out the new exhibition, History Homecoming; Past, Present, Place, and participate in hands-on activities like a history investigation and a kids’ trivia game. The party includes docent-led tours, live music from local legend Bill Hearne, dance performances by Mariachi Estrella, Ballet Folklórico Fiesta Mexicana, and more.
5 Celebrate American Indian Week.
The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center celebrates American Indian Week, April 20 to 28, with a host of events. A Spring Arts Market kicks things off on Saturday and Sunday with more than 50 vendors selling Indigenous-made artwork in mediums ranging from pottery to jewelry. Throughout the week, dancers from Zuni Pueblo, Acoma, and the Navajo Nation will perform traditional choreography in the cultural center’s courtyard. Next weekend, the celebrations culminate with a musical performance on Sunday April 28 featuring award-winning vocalist Fawn Wood and others.
Read more: For more things to do, check out our online calendar of events.