Collections & Exhibitions

MKIM’s collections include thousands of beautiful Native-made objects now housed in the main building, plus the plants growing in the Medicine Woods, and the trees growing in the Janeway Arboretum. We teach students and visitors that many of the Native-made objects inside the museum come from the resources – trees, roots, grasses, berries, stones, and animals – of the outdoors.

Inside the museum, there is the Main Gallery, the Contemporary Art Gallery, plus special lobby exhibits. The Main Gallery was established when the Museum opened in 1991, and was set up by Bud and Nancy Thompson. It is arranged in a circle, and divided into geographical regions of North America, with an emphasis on their different environments. There may be 100 or more different tribes in each of those regions, and the collections on display are the art and craft of those tribes.

Over the years we have painted the gallery walls, added murals, and made adjustments to highlight new objects, but the basic idea started by Bud and Nancy remains the same -- it is to help the visitor see the beauty in Native-made objects, and to try to imagine the world-views of the maker.

The Contemporary Art Gallery is an area for members of the Native community to create exhibits of contemporary Native art. In past years, members of the Native community have guest-curated new exhibits.

The Contemporary Art Gallery was established in 2012, and its exhibits have included: Beading is Breathing, Containers, Reading Native Art, Giona Sezoha G’dakinna – We Paint Our Land, All My Relations, Tattoos, Protection & Warmth, Shaping Traditions: Pueblo Pottery, 100 Years of Hopi Katsina Carvings, and more. In Summer 2023, an exhibit was presented in partnership with the Vermont Abenaki Artists Association and the Abenaki Arts & Education Center and discussed the importance of water and environmental stewardship. This exhibition was called Nebizun: Water is Life and was made possible by NH Humanities - Community Project Grants.

The current exhibit in the Contemporary Art Gallery for the 2024 season is Baskets ~ Carriers of Life and Spirit. This multi-sensory experience was curated by members of our Native community alongside dedicated museum staff and showcases the timeless beauty of ash splint and sweetgrass baskets woven for a variety of purposes, to not only carry the everyday materials of life, but also to hold within the intention and legacy of the artists who continue to craft them. See how raw resources from nature are transformed into beautiful baskets, smell the fresh fragrance of sweetgrass, and feel with your own hands the very items that have been a part of this artistic tradition for generations.

“These baskets are imprinted with the substance and spirit of the basket makers, as surely as the oil and salt from their fingers are embedded in the process.”

Lobby Exhibits - Southwest pottery and rugs from the Mike and Rita Griffin Collection are on display in the lobby area.