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For 50 years, the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in sa国际传媒官网网页入口 has served as a vital community gathering space for members of New Mexico鈥檚 19 Pueblos and a gateway to Pueblo culture for visitors from around the world.

To celebrate their 50th anniversary, IPCC is hosting two exhibitions, 鈥�50 for 50: Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, 1976鈥�2026鈥� and 鈥淕rounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery.鈥� Both exhibitions showcase significant works of Pueblo pottery, past and present.

鈥溾��50 for 50鈥� is really exciting. We are representing all 19 Pueblos with pottery, and we鈥檙e giving a behind-the-scenes look into our collections and archives,鈥� Michelle Lanteri, IPCC鈥檚 head curator, said. 鈥淲e really want to give people a sense of what those images from 1976 looked like 鈥� what our beginnings looked like 鈥� and then tour people through these different aspects of our collections throughout the years. So, we鈥檙e bringing in our mural sketches. 鈥� And we have a proclamation in there from Friends of the IPCC, a nonprofit that started the same year as the center opened. They did a lot for us. They really got us off the ground.鈥�

Lanteri said her curatorial team put a lot of thought into how to condense 50 years of history into a visual form and decided to present 50 objects, many of them rarely seen.

鈥淲e decided to approach the exhibition from a behind-the-scenes standpoint,鈥� Lanteri said. 鈥淪o, we鈥檙e taking you into our collections and our archives to give you a vault tour of sorts.鈥�

鈥�50 for 50鈥� also includes a selection of video interviews conducted by Carey Tully, the IPCC鈥檚 digital content producer, which will be updated throughout the year.

鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to showcase a mosaic of different voices in the gallery and keep it really fun,鈥� Lanteri said. 鈥淪o, you鈥檒l get some insider perspectives on the origination of the mural collection, different ideas about the archives, some important faces from our history 鈥� who have brought us here today and are carrying us forward to what we're doing for our future.鈥�

鈥淕rounded in Clay,鈥� meanwhile, is a major traveling exhibition of Pueblo pottery, past and present, which debuted at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe in 2022. It traveled to several major museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, before returning to New Mexico for its final stop at the IPCC. A Wall Street Journal called the show 鈥渆nchanting.鈥�

Elysia Poon, who directs the Indian Arts Research Center at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, was the project facilitator for 鈥淕rounded in Clay.鈥� Unlike most exhibitions, which are curated by a single person or a small team, the 100-plus objects in 鈥淕rounded in Clay鈥� were selected by various members of the Pueblo Pottery Collective, which includes artists and writers from all 19 Pueblos.

鈥淣ot everyone in the group was a curator, and we just met everyone where they were,鈥� Poon said. 鈥淪ome are nationally known writers and academics, and they just did their own thing, while others weren鈥檛 so confident in their writing. So, we had staff sit with them, take oral histories 鈥� and figure out what they wanted to say about their piece.鈥�

Rather than imposing a grand narrative onto the exhibition from the start, Poon and her team kept the parameters wide open, allowing participants to select any work of Pueblo pottery, from the most ancient to the most contemporary, that spoke to them.

鈥淚t was really about understanding pottery as vessels for stories,鈥� Poon said.

Community-curated exhibitions like these show how Pueblo pottery is understood within the communities themselves, rather than from an outsider鈥檚 perspective.

鈥淎 lot of the work that we do (at the Indian Arts Research Center) is based in policy work and creating more equity between museums and the communities that are represented in collections,鈥� Poon said. 鈥溾�楪rounded in Clay鈥� is just one example of that 鈥� of providing opportunities for community voices to shine and (showing) how important it is to privilege community knowledge and Indigenous knowledge.鈥�

One of the community curators selected for 鈥淕rounded in Clay鈥� was Tara Gatewood (Isleta Pueblo, Din茅), a broadcast journalist who recently retired from her role as host of the nationally syndicated radio show, 鈥淣ative America Calling.鈥� Working on the exhibition allowed her to physically connect with her ancestors through the sense of touch.

鈥淲e were able to welcome and greet them with our own fingertips. On a lot of these pieces, you can feel where that ancestor touched (the clay),鈥� Gatewood said. 鈥淚 mean, we talk about connecting to our ancestors, but this was a moment of that true manifestation, where you are literally touching where they touched. You know where their fingerprints were. To be able to have a moment like that is something we dream about 鈥� It鈥檚 an invitation to shake hands with our ancestors.鈥�

The IPCC campus encompasses the site of the former sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Indian School, a boarding school that operated between 1881 and 1981, which some members of IPCC鈥檚 current staff attended.

鈥淒ave Chalan was a graduate of sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Indian School 鈥� and to think about this campus being a huge part of his life 鈥� he鈥檚 been employed here and worked as our construction manager for 40 years,鈥� Monica Fragua (Jemez Pueblo), president and CEO of IPCC, said.

Fragua said she is proud of the way the IPCC has always honored its past while expanding its business operations and cultural programming over the decades.

鈥淥ur forefathers were very innovative in the way that they thought about the land. They came together as all 19 Pueblos to take stewardship of a land that was dilapidated but full of this rich history,鈥� Fragua said. 鈥淭hey would be blown away to see what it is today. It鈥檚 beyond their wildest dreams.鈥�

Amy G. Johnson (Isleta Pueblo), the IPCC鈥檚 curator of collections, has worked at the center for 24 years. She was one of the community curators for 鈥淕rounded in Clay鈥� and a co-curator of 鈥�50 for 50.鈥� Johnson said the innovative, community-oriented curation practices of both exhibitions are helping to change the way Indigenous work is exhibited elsewhere.

鈥淚鈥檓 really happy that there鈥檚 been a shift. It鈥檚 a little slow, but there鈥檚 a shift now 鈥� especially here in New Mexico 鈥� where museums are doing better with collaborating with descendant communities,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 their voice that we want to represent.鈥�

As the center celebrates 50 years of accomplishments, Fragua is looking to the future.

鈥淚 hope that 50 years from now, when the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center is celebrating its 100th anniversary, they鈥檒l look back and say, 鈥榃ow, 50 years ago they did something great to set up our success,鈥欌�� Fragua said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what it鈥檚 about. It鈥檚 about taking pride and ownership, and trusting in the leadership 鈥� and values that helped to shape this campus over many years.鈥�

Logan Royce Beitmen is an arts writer for the sa国际传媒官网网页入口. He covers visual art, music, fashion, theater and more. Reach him at lbeitmen@abqjournal.com or on Instagram at .