Located on the path leading toward the E. L. Wiegand Ponderosa Playscape, Finding the Light stands out among its natural surroundings, much like it did on the desert playa of Nevada. Created by local artist Kevin Necessary, the monolithic sculpture stood at Burning Man in 2024. Visitors walking the trail are encouraged to interact with the colorful shadows as the sun crosses the sky. The art installation is on view at the Museum temporarily.
Art in the West is an annual juried fine art exhibition and online silent auction featuring art that celebrates the landscapes, wildlife, people, cultures and history of the High Desert—a region that stretches from the eastern slope of the Cascades and Sierras to the Wyoming Basin and Colorado Plateau. Featuring nearly 120 pieces from 80-plus nationally and regionally acclaimed artists, the entire collection is on exhibit at the High Desert Museum and the 2025 Gallery Guide is available to view online!
The Kids Curate exhibition opens at the High Desert Museum on May 3! This year third and fourth graders from La Pine Elementary focused on the diverse perspectives of fire — from an agricultural tool to community threat to natural process. Come enjoy the students’ charcoal and acrylic paint artworks based on what they learned over months of special in-class visits as well as field trips to the Museum.
Bask in the sunshine surrounded by ponderosa pine trees in the outdoor playscape at the Museum! The area engages children’s playful side while encouraging them to learn about the lifecycle of a ponderosa pine tree. At every stage of the tree’s life — from cone to seed to adult — it plays an important role in the forest’s ecosystem. Even after the tree’s death, the pine tree remains in the forest as a snag or log and provides critical habitat for plants and animals.
Patterns at Play: Fractals in Nature is an original exhibition that invites you to take a closer look at the universe’s curious practice of self-organization. An immersive, family-friendly experience, the exhibit encourages you to build your own patterns while an animation creates new fractals right before your eyes. Visitors should expect to play, touch, listen and watch in this whimsical exploration of nature.
At the dawn of the 20th century, the Indigenous peoples of North America regularly faced narratives that they would soon disappear, be it from artists, academics or politicians. Yet Japanese immigrant and photographer Frank Sakae Matsura (1873-1913) approached his artistry differently. He arrived in the U.S. in 1901 and made Okanogan County, a rural expanse of High Desert in northern Washington state, his home. There, he grew strong relationships with the area’s tribal communities. The resulting body of work includes some of the most visually powerful and nuanced images of Indigenous people from the era.