Highlights
- Phoenix Art Museum received 185 works by 99 Indigenous artists representing 44 tribal nations from the William P. Healey Collection.
- The gift is the single largest donation of Native art in the museum's 65-plus year history.
- An exhibition of more than 100 gifted works, 'The Way We Came,' opens August 26, 2026, and runs through July 11, 2027.
- Twenty-two of the 99 artists in the collection are women; featured names include Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Allan Houser, and Oscar Howe.
The Phoenix Art Museum has accepted 185 works by 99 Indigenous artists representing 44 tribal nations from the William P. Healey Collection, the single largest gift of Native art in the institution's 65-plus year history, the museum announced.
The collection spans the 20th century to the present. Featured artists include Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Allan Houser, Oscar Howe, and Pablita Velarde. Twenty-two of the 99 artists are women.
More than 100 works from the gift will anchor a new exhibition, "The Way We Came: A Century of Indigenous Art (The William P. Healey Collection at Phoenix Art Museum)," which the museum describes as an examination of modernity in Native art. The show opens August 26, 2026, and runs through July 11, 2027.
The acquisition deepens the Phoenix Art Museum's holdings at a moment when the region's appetite for Indigenous art is well established. The Heard Museum, founded in 1929 in central Phoenix, has long anchored that market, with its current exhibition "Wisdom from the Future" running through December 6, 2026, and a co-curated show of 30-plus large-scale works by Kay WalkingStick on view from its permanent collection.
What is the William P. Healey Collection?
The Healey Collection comprises 185 works by 99 Indigenous artists from 44 tribal nations, spanning the 20th century through the present day. The gift is the largest single donation of Native art the Phoenix Art Museum has received in its history, according to the museum.
"The Way We Came" opens at the Phoenix Art Museum on August 26, 2026.
Sources
Every factual claim in this article traces to one of the sources below. See how we work for the editorial process.
- phxart.org retrieved 11/06/2026 21:18
- wonderfulmuseums.com retrieved 11/06/2026 21:18
- heard.org retrieved 11/06/2026 21:18
Authored by The Scottsdale Signal. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 11/06/2026 21:18. Every claim traces to a source.
