Santa Fe’s newest museum, the Vladem Contemporaryopens to the public on Saturday with free admission for the whole weekend.
The museum is part of the New Mexico Museum of Art is a renovation and expansion of an old 1936 warehouse on Montezuma Avenue in the Santa Fe Railyard District.
The Executive Director of the New Mexico Museum of Art Mark White took the media and a few others on a tour of the facility on Thursday.
He says the Vladem is an expansion of the mission of the Museum of Art to broadly collect contemporary art for display to people from around the world who visit Santa Fe.
“We want people to have interesting and engaging experiences here,” he said. “We want them to think about what contemporary art can be, its possibilities, how they can connect with it and we’re interested in things that prevolk serious thought, serious contemplation as well as things that can be fun and engaging.”
White says Vladem will bring in five artists a year for residences of two weeks or longer to support artists who are working in the present to create contemporary art pieces.
The opening weekend will include art creations in the museum’s classroom for anyone who wants to participate.
Admission to the museum is free this weekend. The hours Saturday and Sunday are from 10 am to 5 pm.