A creative oasis in our desert heat is closer than you think. Metro Phoenix is bursting with artistic spaces, from public murals to independent art galleries, and the city’s museums are no exception. Strolling the air-conditioned halls of a museum is a wonderful way to endure peak summer temperatures – and get inspired by art.
Whether you want to explore a famed architect’s house in the foothills of desert mountains, listen to sounds from rare musical instruments collected the world over, learn about Indigenous peoples whose creative visions have always been integral to desert life, or gaze up at gigantic dinosaur fossils and touch ancient meteors, Phoenix truly has something for all interests.
Museums also offer an important public service – art enriches the lives of everyone who encounters it and should be accessible to all communities. Many Valley institutions offer free admission, discounted family summer passes, and/or discounted admission for students, veterans and others, so be sure to check before you visit.
Step out of the heat and into these creative wonderlands, which will no doubt expand your world and inspire. From paintings to music to history, these are some of the Valley’s best museums to visit.
Heard Museum
Since 1929, the Heard Museum has stood on land within the O’odham Jeved, the homeland of the Indigenous Akimel O’odham people. Now, it’s part of the Downtown Phoenix cultural complex. The Heard stands as a world-renowned non-profit organization celebrating Indigenous art, culture and resilience through showcasing historical artwork and artifacts as well as Native artists creating vibrant work today. Special exhibitions currently on view include Harry Fonseca’s pop art paintings of queer-coded coyotes frolicking through 1970s and ’80s San Francisco; Bob Haozous’s profound, playful and political multi-media retrospective spanning 60 years of his work; and Substance of Stars, an immersive exhibition highlighting our connection to the cosmos through exploring Indigenous creation stories and viewing the natural landscape as a sacred canvas. heard.org
Phoenix Art Museum
One of the largest art museums in the Southwest, Phoenix Art Museum has a vast permanent collection of extraordinary artwork. From its permanent collection featuring paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe and Kehinde Wiley, to stunning early Western landscape paintings, to the fashion collection featuring Alexander McQueen, Dior and Yohji Yamamoto, there is always a fabulous creative adventure to be had. Spend some time in the permanent “Fireflies” installation by Yayoi Kusama, where visitors step into an immersive darkened portal filled with cosmically inspired lights. Special exhibitions on display now include a retrospective from fashion designer Anna Sui and Funny Business: Photography and Humor. With many more collections and artworks to explore, Phoenix Art is a creative desert gem.The museum also offers Pay What You Wish Wednesdays, where admission is free to all after 3 p.m. phxart.org
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
SMoCA is a beacon of modern art in the desert, which is dedicated to creativity, collaboration and experimentation. Showing a diverse range of local and international artists, SMoCA highlights a fascinating range of work, from audio visual immersive exhibitions, to minimalist sculpture and photography, to land art projects. Current exhibitions include Life on Mars, with artists Erika Lynne Hanson and Steven J. Yazzie exploring humanity’s place in the cosmos and themes of planetary destruction and rebirth. Titled after the iconic David Bowie song, Life on Mars blends traditional crafts, Indigenous knowledge and contemporary techniques. scottsdalearts.org
Taliesin West
Renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s desert home and workshop laboratory Taliesin West is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in the foothills of the McDowell Mountains. Enamored with the desert landscape, Wright began work on Taliesin in the late 1930s and early 1940s, spurring development in what is present-day Scottsdale. Intimate guided tours reveal juicy tidbits about Wright’s life and work, such as that he resented tall people and famously designed low ceilings. With sweeping views of Phoenix’s skyline, boulders throughout the complex containing Indigenous petroglyphs, and Wright’s signature nature-inspired architectural forms, this is a unique oasis in the desert, offering guided tours and events throughout the year. It may be best for late summer or early fall, since it’s largely outside and not air-conditioned. franklloydwright.org/taliesin-west
ASU Art Museum
Part of Arizona State University, the ASU Art Museum in Tempe emerges from its summer recess on August 23 with Tierras Reimaginadas: Migration. Including a variety of artworks from the museum’s permanent collection, this exhibition explores migration as a natural part of our world, and invites viewers to ponder: “What if we understood that people, flora and fauna migrate, settle, collaborate and co-create new, more resilient communities and ecosystems?” ASU Art Museum centers art and artists in the service of community well-being and social good. As a learning-centered teaching institution, it is free to all, year-round. asuartmuseum.org
Arizona Museum of Natural History
The land on which Arizona sits was once home to an astounding array of dinosaurs, and the Arizona Museum of Natural History in Mesa is the perfect place to learn about this history. Featuring exhibits that transport visitors back 75 million years with animatronic dinosaurs, it also boasts cosmic displays where you can touch a piece of the meteorite that formed Arizona’s Meteor Crater more than 50,000 years ago. Time-travel through the region’s more recent history by viewing the intricate art of Indigenous peoples of the Southwest, stepping into original Territorial jail cells from 1884, or exploring a haunting recreation of the Lost Dutchman’s Mine, where visitors wind through earthen tunnels. A fun learning experience for families, from curious kids to adult explorers, this museum is a beautiful blend of desert history and local lore. arizonamuseumofnaturalhistory.org
Musical Instrument Museum
A true treasure trove for music lovers, the Musical Instrument Museum in North Phoenix opened in 2010 to celebrate the universal language of sound. While most music museums focus primarily on Western classical instruments, MIM’s vision centers instruments played by everyday people worldwide. With more than 7,500 instruments from more than 200 countries, it is a diverse paradise of collected sounds and aural experiences. Visitors are offered headphones so they can listen to sound samples while exploring, including rare mandolins, mechanical zithers, automaton music boxes, and instruments played by iconic musicians such as Johnny Cash, Joan Baez and Tito Puente. MIMS also offers a full concert schedule of local and visiting musicians. mim.org
