Visitors in Phoenix saw it first, and then it went to San Antonio. Larry Bell: Improvisations is the survey of Bell's glass sculpture and wall works that has spent the past stretch on the road. It closes its tour inside SITE Santa Fe at 1606 Paseo de Peralta. SITE says the show "concludes its tour in New Mexico, where the artist has lived and worked since 1973." SITE also notes that Bell has spent those years in Taos and that this is his first exhibition at SITE.
For anyone who lives in the Railyard or the Guadalupe District, the details that matter come after that. SITE's homepage says "Admission to SITE SANTA FE is always free, no advance registration required!" In the other two cities, this show was something you planned a visit around. Here it's a room you can walk through between a Saturday produce run and lunch, then come back to before it closes on January 11, 2027. This fall's whole lineup on this stretch of Paseo de Peralta rewards a second visit and a third.
Forty Years of Glass, Seen in More Than One Light
Improvisations is curated by Rachel Zebro and covers forty years of Bell's two- and three-dimensional work. It runs from tabletop glass constructions up to large freestanding installations, along with wall-mounted works in a range of media. SITE places his start in the 1960s with Light and Space, the West Coast strand of Minimalism. It also describes the process that gives the work its color: Bell coats glass with thin films of vaporized metal inside a vacuum chamber he calls "The Tank."
That process is why one visit doesn't cover it. SITE writes that the coated panes reach "stunning chromatic variation" and that the collages and works on paper create prismatic effects. That means what you see depends on where you stand and on the light in the room. SITE's exhibition page quotes two lines from the artist:
"I like the idea of improbable things."
"In my opinion all artwork is stored energy."
SITE frames that second line as energy "unlocked by the viewer's embodied response." A short visit on a bright November morning and a slower one on a December afternoon will not show you the same cubes.
The Mural Built for SITE's Courtyard
The second show is made for this building specifically. Sara Genn: How to Build a Sky is curated by Louis Grachos and runs through February 14, 2027. It's the first solo museum exhibition for Genn, who is based in New York and Palm Springs. It includes a suite of paintings that respond to SITE's architecture and a mural commissioned for the courtyard.
Inside, Genn pours acrylic into raw canvas until the color soaks in with what SITE's exhibition page calls "a velvety saturation." She avoids hard edges in favor of what she calls "a defiant softness." Her newest paintings are tiered, multi-panel constructions with canvases stacked so the eye bounces between them. Outside, SITE writes, "the mural's gentle gradients of blue seamlessly give way to the surrounding sky." The museum ties her to Georgia O'Keeffe and Agnes Martin, painters who moved to the American West and whose work changed under the desert light.
The mural had attention before the doors opened. SITE's press page lists a Hyperallergic feature, "10 Public Artworks to See Across the US This Fall: Sara Genn," dated September 22, 2026. The mural is up from October 16 to February 14, so it will be seen against late-autumn skies and midwinter ones.
The Third Room Points Somewhere Else
Sayre Gomez: Closed Forever is curated by Brandee Caoba and closes on January 11, 2027, the same day as Bell. SITE describes large-scale paintings and sculptures, including airbrushed canvases and finely detailed three-dimensional works. The subject is ordinary city scenes, abandonment and late-capitalist decline. The cool, metallic glass in one gallery and the airbrushed storefront world in the next make for a sharp contrast. With free entry, you can see them on separate days instead of trying to take in all three shows at once.
The closing dates set the order for a visit:
| Exhibition | Curator | Closes |
|---|---|---|
| Larry Bell: Improvisations | Rachel Zebro | January 11, 2027 |
| Sayre Gomez: Closed Forever | Brandee Caoba | January 11, 2027 |
| Sara Genn: How to Build a Sky | Louis Grachos | February 14, 2027 |
Two of the three close together in early January, while the courtyard mural stays into Valentine's Day weekend. Anyone putting off a visit until the holidays settle down has less time with Bell and Gomez than with Genn.
Free Tours That Line Up With Market Days
SITE runs free public tours on Fridays at 5:30 PM, Saturdays at 11:30 AM and Sundays at 2 PM. SITE Guides, described as trained educators, staff the galleries. The weekend tour times sit right next to the Railyard's two standing weekend markets.
- Saturday: The Santa Fe Farmers' Market runs year-round on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Pavilion, 1607 Paseo de Peralta. SITE's 11:30 AM tour starts during market hours.
- Sunday: The Railyard Artisan Market sets up every Sunday year-round from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Railyard Plaza, 1612 Alcaldesa St., with more than 60 local artisans. SITE's 2 PM tour falls inside that window.
Gallery hours change by season, so check SITE's Plan Your Visit page before heading over. The same page lists paid parking in the city-managed surface lots behind SITE and Warehouse 21 next door, plus the Railyard Garage.
November 14 Is the Day to Plan Around
Most of SITE's fall programs are on its events calendar, and they spread through the season instead of bunching up around the October 16 opening.
- Saturday, October 31, 10 to 11:30 a.m.: Coffee and Conversation on Allen Ginsberg's Howl, held in the Marleen De Bode & Marc Olivié Education Lab.
- November 5 through 7: the dance performance Tessellations.
- Sunday, November 8, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: El Palacio Plática, "Listening to the land, looking closer, and subversive arts and action," in the Marlene Nathan Meyerson Auditorium.
- Saturday, November 14, 2 to 3:30 p.m.: Innovative Thinker: Larry Bell. Bell talks with writer and curator Randy Kennedy and with James Merle Thomas, and Zebro moderates. Tickets are $25 and members get in free.
- Saturday, November 21, 2 to 3 p.m.: Curator Talk with Stefanie Hessler.
- December 6 and December 20: Drawing in the Galleries.
- Saturday, December 12, 10 to 11:30 a.m.: Coffee and Conversation on H.G. Wells's The Time Machine.
The Bell talk is the date that brings the neighborhood together. November 14 is also the last day of a second New Mexico honor just steps up Paseo de Peralta. LewAllen Galleries, at 1613 Paseo de Peralta, is showing Bill Barrett's 2026 Governor's Award Celebration Exhibition from October 16 through November 14. LewAllen calls the award "New Mexico's highest artistic distinction." The Santa Fe Railyard's listing describes monumental bronze works, mid-size garden pieces, maquettes and paintings.
New Mexico Arts says Governor Bruce King and First Lady Alice King established the Governor's Awards in 1974. This year's other recipients include Adrian Aguirre, Anne Hillerman, Carol Anthony, Delbert Anderson, Eli Levin, Sam Scott, Andrew Connors and the Institute of American Indian Arts. On one Saturday afternoon, someone living near the Railyard can see Barrett's bronzes on their last day at LewAllen and then hear Bell's 2 p.m. conversation at SITE.
Architecture fans have a third stop with a little more time. Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, on the second floor at 435 S. Guadalupe St., is showing Powerhouse: The Engaged Regionalism of Judith Chafee's Architecture through November 25.
A Season That Leads Into 2027
SITE has already named the curator of what comes next. Ekow Eshun will curate the 13th SITE SANTA FE International Biennial, which runs from June 11, 2027, to January 10, 2028. The fall shows opened on October 16, nearly eight months before the biennial does. Bell and Gomez close on January 11, Genn's courtyard mural follows on February 14, and the biennial opens in the same building in June.
At Plaza Group Santa Fe, we follow the Railyard's gallery calendar as closely as its streets, and we're always glad to talk about what's on Paseo de Peralta this season. If you'd like a curated afternoon built around the Bell talk, or a Saturday that runs from the market to the galleries, Beth Caldarello and the team can help you plan it. Schedule a Private Consultation.
