Located in the Phoenix area, Arizona The mission of the Heard Museum, a private, non-profit organization, is to promote American Indian art. Exhibits featuring traditional and contemporary art by American Indian artists and artists influenced by American Indian art are displayed, and stories of American Indian people are told from the views of American Indian people themselves. Through its partnerships with American Indian artists and tribal communities, the Heard Museum offers a fresh take on Native American art, with an emphasis on that of the Southwestern United States.
Opened in 1929, the Heard Museum in Phoenix is a mecca for art and culture enthusiasts interested in the Native American communities of the American Southwest. The Heard is well-known not just for its impressive collection of kachina dolls and other cultural artifacts, but also for its extensive educational programming. The museum’s indoor galleries and outdoor courtyards showcase both classic and contemporary examples of Native American artistic expression. There is no cover charge. This museum is a great place for families to go to learn about aboriginal culture and history.
You can go for a walk around the museum’s garden grounds or through the outdoor sculpture garden. The museum also features a wonderful courtyard café with a menu that changes frequently to include dishes inspired by the exhibitions on view.
The Heard Museum, located in the center of downtown Los Angeles, was founded in 1929 by Dwight B. and Maie Bartlett Heard to house their personal art collection. The Heards bought the La Ciudad Indian ruin at the corner of 19th and Polk streets in downtown Phoenix in 1926, and it provided a substantial amount of the artifacts in their archaeological collection. Architect Bennie Gonzales, who also designed Scottsdale City Hall, was in charge of designing the museum’s interior.
The Heard Museum was once a small museum in a sleepy southwest town, but now it attracts visitors from all over the world with its world-class collections, educational activities, and special events. Nearly 40,000 objects, including more than 34,000 books in the library and archives, make up the Heard Museum’s current collection. The museum features more than 12,000 square meters (130,000 square feet) of display, lecture, and performance space.
