Ledger Drawings Alongside Other Media
From September 8, 2025, through January 8, 2026, the Southern Plains Indian Museum presented Newly Acquired Contemporary Works from the Southern Plains Indian Museum Collection. The museum, administered by the Department of the Interior's Indian Arts and Crafts Board, announced work by Native American artists from the Southwest and the Northern and Southern Plains.
Its collection exhibition included narrative ledger drawings as well as oil and acrylic paintings. Beadwork, quillwork, silverwork, pottery and textiles formed the three-dimensional part of the exhibition, placing these forms in the same show as the drawings and paintings.
Painting, Abstraction and Storytelling
In April 2025, the Sioux Indian Museum announced Oscar Howe: His Impact and Legacy, an exhibition featuring the Yanktonai painter and four of his students. The museum's account described Howe as expanding the definition of Native art through new techniques and elements of abstraction that had not previously appeared in American Indian art. Howe produced hundreds of works in his lifetime, exhibited throughout South Dakota, where aspiring artists had opportunities to encounter them.
At the same museum, Art as a Reconciling Force: Paintings by renowned Omaha/Sicangu Lakota Artist Bobby Penn ran from February 27 through June 28, 2026. Penn, who lived from 1946 to 1999, depicted Tribal culture and themes through stories on canvas. The exhibition announcement identified every work on display as part of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, Sioux Indian Museum collection. Most of the works had also appeared in Penn's first solo exhibition, held at the museum in 1969, when he was 23.
The IACB Exhibition Programme
The Indian Arts and Crafts Board announced America 250 exhibitions at its three museums, scheduled from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027. The participating institutions are the Southern Plains Indian Museum, the Sioux Indian Museum and the Museum of the Plains Indian. America 250 commemorates the 250th anniversary of the United States.
The Board's exhibition announcement presents the programme as a celebration of Native American artists' and communities' resilience, creativity and enduring cultural contributions. Each museum's exhibition is intended to honor Tribal traditions and contemporary Native American artistry.
Tribal Participation and Museum Displays
In its December 31, 2025 renovation account, the National Park Service described collaboration with the 27 Pueblos and Tribes that have a special relationship to Mesa Verde. Eight tribally selected representatives, named the Native Interpretation Working Group, held their first virtual meeting in March 2020. They had worked closely on the redesign since that meeting, contributing to decision making throughout the project. At the time of the account, the project was in post-production, and the park planned to install exhibits in Fall 2027.
Working-group members identified the museum's dioramas as problematic and felt strongly that they should be removed from display. The Park Service honored that request by deciding, in consultation with tribal community members, to retire the diorama exhibit. Its December 31, 2025 diorama account states that the dioramas had been covered and were being preserved in place, with replacement exhibits to be positioned in front of them. The park describes the group's selection by the tribes as part of a collaborative relationship grounded in mutual trust and respect.