For as long as humans have been on this earth, we have looked to the cosmos for information and direction. The Indigenous people of North America used the skies to make sense of their environments and to guide them in planting crops, building villages, and conducting ceremonies. The new exhibition at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, Makowa: The Worlds Above Us, showcases a wide range of art, photographs, videos, and more to center the wisdom and longevity of Native astronomy and to remind us that we are all interconnected. On this episode of Encounter Culture, guest consultants for the Makowa exhibition, Misha Pipe and Kaela Waldstein, join host Emily Withnall in the studio to talk about all of this and more.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Makowa: The Worlds Above Us exhibition at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture

“Symphonies in the Skies”: article about Makowa in Summer 2025 issue of El Palacio

“Star Parties, Rim Blown Flutes, and Pueblo History at Jemez Historic Site with Marlon Magdalena,” Encounter Culture podcast episode

Lowell Observatory

Jemez Historic Site (and summer Star Party events)

We’d love to hear from you! Let us know what you loved about the episode, share a personal story it made you think of, or ask us a question at [email protected]. You can write an email or record a short voice memo and attach it for us to listen to. 

Visit newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours, and more. 

Our favorite way to fully experience everything they have to offer is with the New Mexico CulturePass. Reserve yours online!  

If you love New Mexico, you’ll love El Palacio Magazine! Subscribe to El Palacio today.

Encounter Culture, a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios. 

Hosted by Emily Withnall, editor at El Palacio Magazine Executive Producer: Daniel Zillmann Technical Director & Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. Ruiz Recording Engineer: Collin Ungerleider and Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe Editor & Production Manager: Alex Riegler Associate Producer & Editor: Monica Braine (Assiniboine/Lakota) Theme Music: D’Santi Nava Instagram: @newmexicanculture and @elpalaciomagazine

On the surface, Diné author Daniel Vandever’s picture books might appear to be straightforward stories, but the messages about the power of imagination and adventure in his books are imbued with layers of meaning. In his book Fall in Line, Holden!, a little boy breaks free from the constraints of rules and discipline by using his imagination. On a deeper level, the book speaks to the history of Indian Boarding Schools in pushing cultural assimilation.

Likewise, in his wordless picture book Herizon, a girl goes on a magic scarf ride to find her lost sheep. This book is imbued with symbolism about the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) epidemic, as well as cultural references to the Navajo Nation. Herizon was nominated to represent New Mexico at the 2024 National Book Festival.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Fall in Line, Holden! by Daniel Vandever

Herizon by Daniel Vandever

We Weave by Daniel Vandever

Salina Bookshelf

New Mexico representation at the 2024 National Book Festival

The Long Walk

Livestock Reduction Act

“A Brief History of Navaj- Churro Sheep” in the Spring 2025 issue of El Palacio

Navajo Code Talkers

Deb Haaland’s Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report: Volume I and Volume II

The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss

Roadrunner’s Dance by Rudolfo Anaya

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin

We’d love to hear from you! Let us know what you loved about the episode, share a personal story it made you think of, or ask us a question at [email protected]. You can write a regular email or record a short voice memo and attach it for us to listen to. 

Visit newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours, and more. 

Our favorite way to fully experience everything they have to offer is with the New Mexico CulturePass. Reserve yours online!  

If you love New Mexico, you’ll love El Palacio Magazine! Subscribe to El Palacio today. Encounter Culture, a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios. 

Hosted by Emily Withnall, editor at El Palacio MagazineExecutive Producer: Daniel Zillmann Technical Director & Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. RuizRecording Engineer: Collin Ungerleider and Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa FeEditor & Production Manager: Alex RieglerAssociate Producer & Editor: Monica Braine (Assiniboine/Lakota) Theme Music: D’Santi Nava Instagram: @newmexicanculture and @elpalaciomagazine

A long, long time ago, the region that is now New Mexico was part of a giant land mass, and it was located on the equator. The climate was warm and tropical and much of the present-day state was covered in shallow seas. This was long before humans or even dinosaurs existed—252 to 541 million years ago. 

The New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science has recently opened a new permanent exhibition, The Bradbury Stamm Construction Hall of Ancient Life, that covers the vast geologic history of ancient life in the state. Piecing together the story of ancient life in New Mexico can read like a detective story, and Matt Celeskey, Curator of Exhibits, and Spencer Lucas, Curator of Paleontology, help us unravel it. 

Mentioned in this Episode:

New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science

The Bradbury Stamm Construction Hall of Ancient Life

Before the Famous Fossils: Ancient Life in the Paleozoic Era in New Mexico article in Spring 2025 issue of El Palacio

Video walkthrough of exhibition in its final stages of construction

Gordodon reptile fossil found near Alamogordo

Eoscansor tree-climbing reptile fossil found near Chama

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We’d love to hear from you! Let us know what you loved about the episode, share a personal story it made you think of, or ask us a question at [email protected]. You can write a regular email or record a short voice memo and attach it for us to listen to. 

Visit newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours, and more. 

Our favorite way to fully experience everything they have to offer is with the New Mexico CulturePass. Reserve yours online!  

If you love New Mexico, you’ll love El Palacio Magazine! Subscribe to El Palacio today. Encounter Culture, a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios. 

Hosted by Emily Withnall, editor at El Palacio MagazineExecutive Producer: Daniel Zillmann Technical Director & Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. RuizRecording Engineer: Collin Ungerleider and Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa FeEditor & Production Manager: Alex RieglerAssociate Producer & Editor: Monica Braine (Assiniboine/Lakota) Theme Music: D’Santi Nava

Instagram: @newmexicanculture and @elpalaciomagazine

What did New Mexico look like before the time of the dinosaurs?

The 3,000-square-foot Bradbury Stamm Construction Hall of Ancient Life at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science tells the story of 300 million years of evolution  featuring never-before-seen fossils from ancient fish, amphibians, invertebrates, reptiles, and more uncovered across the state. 

Take a behind-the-scenes tour of the exhibit being contructed in the weeks before its grand opening with Spencer Lucas, Curator of Paleontology, and Matt Celeskey, Curator of Exhibits. (Then go see the exhibit fully assembled!)

New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science

The Bradbury Stamm Construction Hall of Ancient Life

Before the Famous Fossils: Ancient Life in the Paleozoic Era in New Mexico article in Spring 2025 issue of El Palacio

***

We’d love to hear from you! Let us know what you loved about the episode, share a personal story it made you think of, or ask us a question at [email protected]. You can write a regular email or record a short voice memo and attach it for us to listen to. 

Visit newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours, and more. 

Our favorite way to fully experience everything they have to offer is with the New Mexico CulturePass. Reserve yours online!  

If you love New Mexico, you’ll love El Palacio Magazine! Subscribe to El Palacio today.  Encounter Culture, a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios. 

Hosted by Emily Withnall, editor at El Palacio MagazineExecutive Producer: Daniel Zillmann Technical Director & Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. RuizEditor & Production Manager: Alex RieglerAssociate Producer & Editor: Monica Braine (Assiniboine/Lakota) Theme Music: D’Santi Nava

Instagram: @newmexicanculture and @elpalaciomagazine

The Media Arts & Technology department at New Mexico Highlands University is a one-of-a-kind program. Students not only learn about technology and design, but they get to implement their ideas, working from brainstorming and mind mapping to exhibition design and installation, interactive displays, and so much more.

NMHU professors Lauren Addario and Becca Sharp join Emily Withnall to talk about their program and their 20-year partnership with the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, including their exhibition design at many of DCA’s Historic Sites. This partnership and internship program is one way students from rural parts of the state can learn about various jobs in the arts and develop their skills in design, interpretation, cultural technology, and so much more.

Mentioned in this Episode:

NMHU Media Arts & Technology

Los Luceros Historic Site

Jemez Historic Site

Coronado Historic Site

Bosque Redondo Memorial at Fort Sumner Historic Site

New Mexico State Land Office

Returning Home article by DezBaa’ about the NM State Land Office’s land exchange program

Mineral Hill (Lauren's band!)

We’d love to hear from you! Let us know what you loved about the episode, share a personal story it made you think of, or ask us a question at [email protected]. You can write an email or record a short voice memo and attach it for us to listen to. 

Visit newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours, and more. 

Our favorite way to fully experience everything they have to offer is with the New Mexico CulturePass. Reserve yours online!  

If you love New Mexico, you’ll love El Palacio Magazine! Subscribe to El Palacio today. Encounter Culture, a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios. 

Hosted by Emily Withnall, editor at El Palacio MagazineExecutive Producer: Daniel Zillmann Technical Director & Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. RuizRecording Engineer: Collin Ungerleider and Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa FeEditor & Production Manager: Alex RieglerAssociate Producer & Editor: Monica Braine (Assiniboine/Lakota) Theme Music: D’Santi Nava

Instagram: @newmexicanculture and @elpalaciomagazine

New Mexico Arts runs a Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program that pairs masters in a particular art form with apprentices so that a wide variety of arts unique to New Mexico can be passed on. In this episode of Encounter Culture, host Emily Withnall chats with bootmakers Jes Márquez and Deana McGuffin about their experience with the Apprenticeship Program and the wonderful challenge of making beautiful cowboy boots. 

Mentioned in this Episode: 

New Mexico Arts Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program

Jes Márquez Instagram profile

Jes Márquez website

New Mexico Arts Art in Public Places

Zozobra event in Santa Fe

We’d love to hear from you! Let us know what you loved about the episode, share a personal story it made you think of, or ask us a question at [email protected]. You can write a regular email or record a short voice memo and attach it for us to listen to. 

Visit newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours, and more. 

Our favorite way to fully experience everything they have to offer is with the New Mexico CulturePass. Reserve yours online!  

If you love New Mexico, you’ll love El Palacio Magazine! Subscribe to El Palacio today.

Encounter Culture, a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios. 

Hosted by Emily Withnall, editor at El Palacio Magazine

Executive Producer: Daniel Zillmann

Technical Director & Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. Ruiz

Recording Engineer: Collin Ungerleider and Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

Editor & Production Manager: Alex Riegler

Associate Producer & Editor: Monica Braine (Assiniboine/Lakota)

Theme Music: D’Santi Nava

Instagram: @newmexicanculture and @elpalaciomagazine

The Virgin of Guadalupe is a cultural icon with deep roots in Mexican and Chicano communities across the United States and Mexico, among other places. Artists in New Mexico often reference Guadalupe in their work—including Chicana artist Delilah Montoya. 

A mixed-media piece, “La Guadalupana,” by Montoya features a large photograph of the Virgin of Guadalupe as tattooed on the back of an incarcerated man. It is one of the many works of art on display at New Mexico Museum of Art’s Vladem Contemporary as a part of their “identity” theme in Off-Center.

Katie Doyle, assistant curator at the New Mexico Museum of Art, says Montoya’s work fits in with Vladem’s exhibition because it tells one of many essential stories about the cultural and historical issues that have continued to affect people in New Mexico. 

Mentioned in this Episode: 

Gloria Anzaldúa on la Virgen de Guadalupe

Off-Center: New Mexico Art, 1970-2000 at New Mexico Museum of Art’s Vladem Contemporary

La Guadalupana by Delilah Montoya

Chicano Awareness Center in Omaha, Nebraska

Civil Rights Movement in Omaha, Nebraska

National Geographic article about DNA and human ancestry

***

We’d love to hear from you! Let us know what you loved about the episode, share a personal story it made you think of, or ask us a question at [email protected]. You can write a regular email or record a short voice memo and attach it for us to listen to. 

Visit newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours, and more. 

Our favorite way to fully experience everything they have to offer is with the New Mexico CulturePass. Reserve yours online!  

If you love New Mexico, you’ll love El Palacio Magazine! Subscribe to El Palacio today. Encounter Culture, a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios. 

Hosted by Emily Withnall, editor at El Palacio MagazineExecutive Producer: Daniel Zillmann Technical Director & Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. RuizRecording Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa FeEditor & Production Manager: Alex RieglerAssociate Producer & Editor: Monica Braine (Assiniboine/Lakota) Theme Music: D’Santi Nava Instagram: @newmexicanculture and @elpalaciomagazine

Join host Emily Withnall and producer Andrea Klunder for a preview of the upcoming 8th season of Encounter Culture. This season features diverse topics, including an interview with artist Delilah Montoya, a tour of the brand-new Ancient Life exhibition at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, a conversation about children's books with author Daniel Vandever, and a deep look inside the art of bootmaking.

“It's cool to think about art in that way, you know, to create beauty from nothing. It starts as an idea and then all of a sudden you have this beautiful object that you've somehow created from that original spark of an idea in your brain.” ~Emily Withnall

ENCOUNTER CULTURE EPISODES REFERENCED

Look Up! Leo Villareal’s Astral Array at New Mexico Museum of Art Vladem Contemporary

FOR FURTHER EXPLORATION

Delilah Montoya

Off-Center at the New Mexico Museum of Art, Vladem Contemporary

Ancient Life at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science

Program for Interactive Cultural Technology, New Mexico Highlands University

Fall in Line, Holden! by Daniel Vandever

Herizon by Daniel Vandever

We Weave by Daniel Vandever

New Mexico State Library

New Mexico Arts Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program

Jes Márquez

 Museum of Indian Arts and Culture

***

We’d love to hear from you! Let us know what your favorite episodes of the podcast are, share a personal story, or ask us a question at [email protected]. You can write a regular email or record a short voice memo and attach it for us to listen to. 

Visit newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours, and more. 

Our favorite way to fully experience everything they have to offer is with the New Mexico CulturePass. Reserve yours online!  

If you love New Mexico, you’ll love El Palacio Magazine! Subscribe to El Palacio today. Encounter Culture, a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios. 

Hosted by Emily Withnall, editor at El Palacio Magazine

Executive Producer: Daniel Zillmann

Technical Director & Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. Ruiz

Recording Engineers: Collin Ungerleider & Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

Editor & Production Manager: Alex Riegler

Associate Producer & Editor: Monica Braine (Assiniboine/Lakota)

Theme Music: D’Santi Nava

Instagram: @newmexicanculture and @elpalaciomagazine

Roughly six thousand large antelopes native to Africa live on the White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico. Once small in number, these oryx have proliferated and make for an unexpected sight with their giant bodies, striking black and white faces, and long, spear-like horns. What are the oryx doing in New Mexico? Las Cruces-based photographer, Marcus Xavier Chormicle’s research of the animals has informed his oryx photography series. The oryx series was the focus of Chormicle’s work during his New Mexico Arts residency at Lincoln Historic Site in the spring of 2024. He joined Encounter Culture to share what he has learned about the history of the oryx in the state and how his project has helped him wrestle with the complicated questions that arise from the animals’ presence.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Marcus Xavier Chormicle photography

Deep Springs photography book by Sam Contis

Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University

American artist Binh Danh

Lincoln Historic Site

White Sands Missile Range

Trinity Site

For further reading and more resources, view the full show notes.

***

We’d love to hear from you! Let us know what you loved about the episode, share a personal story it made you think of, or ask us a question at [email protected]. You can write a regular email or record a short voice memo and attach it for us to listen to. 

Visit newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours, and more. 

Our favorite way to fully experience everything they have to offer is with the New Mexico CulturePass. Reserve yours online!  

If you love New Mexico, you’ll love El Palacio Magazine! Subscribe to El Palacio today. ***

Encounter Culture is a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.

Hosted by Emily Withnall, editor at El Palacio Magazine Executive Producer: Daniel Zillmann Technical Director & Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. Ruiz Recording Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe Editor & Production Manager: Alex Riegler Associate Producer & Editor: Monica Braine (Assiniboine/Lakota) Theme Music: D’Santi Nava

Instagram: @newmexicanculture and @elpalaciomagazine

How many times have you visited the same museum? Whether your answer is “one” or “hundreds” this episode of Encounter Culture invites listeners behind the scenes to hear about the rewards of visiting and revisiting the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe. Longtime security guard Nick Wadell and docent and customer service rep, Michelle Rodriguez, share stories about works of art, mysteries, and memorable visitors that will give listeners a deeper experience of the museum—and hopefully, entice them back again.

Mentioned in this Episode: 

Girard Wing at the Museum of International Folk Art

Santero Felix Lopez

Article in fall issue of El Palacio: The Art of Survival: The Aftermath of the Deadly 1980 New Mexico State Penitentiary Riot

Amidst Cries from the Rubble: Art of Loss and Resilience from Ukraine: Exhibition at MOIFA through April 27, 2025

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We’d love to hear from you! Let us know what you loved about the episode, share a personal story it made you think of, or ask us a question at [email protected]. You can write a regular email or record a short voice memo and attach it for us to listen to. 

Visit newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours, and more. 

Our favorite way to fully experience everything they have to offer is with the New Mexico CulturePass. Reserve yours online!  

If you love New Mexico, you’ll love El Palacio Magazine! Subscribe to El Palacio today. ***

Encounter Culture is a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.

Hosted by Emily Withnall, editor at El Palacio Magazine Executive Producer: Daniel Zillmann Technical Director & Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. Ruiz Recording Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe Editor & Production Manager: Alex Riegler Associate Producer & Editor: Monica Braine (Assiniboine/Lakota) Theme Music: D’Santi Nava

Instagram: @newmexicanculture and @elpalaciomagazine

For further reading and more resources, view the full show notes.