Oct. 28—New Museum of Indian Arts & Culture (MIAC) director Pollyanna Nordstrand is Hopi by blood.

But she grew up in Sonoma County, California, where her mother made sure she was involved in Native American cultural activities, although the family traveled regularly to the Arizona pueblo to visit family.

"It's really hard to practice Hopi culture without the community, but we did connect with Native people where we lived," Nordstrand said in a telephone interview from the San Bernardino area. "Being Native was part of my life without really understanding it as a kid."

Nordstrand's Norwegian father was a painter and sculptor, so art was all around her. The family regularly visited the now-shuttered American Indian Contemporary Arts Museum in San Francisco, where she landed her first job as a receptionist.

Nordstrand comes to New Mexico with extensive museum experience, including curator of Southwest art at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center Museum at Colorado College and associate curator of Native art at the Denver Art Museum.

She comes to Santa Fe from Arkansas, where she was appointed the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art's first curator of Native American art.

Nordstrand first caught the museum bug at Stanford University when she joined a team curating a collection of photographs by the late Kiowa photographer Horace Poolaw. The Oklahoma-based Poolaw was considered one of the most prolific Native American photographers of his time.

The understanding of objects grew into a personal passion.

"I really had no idea there were careers in that," Nordstrand said.

Nordstrand's approach to museums has been shaped by the increasing collaboration between tribes and institutions. She applied to the MIAC position when she had been working at Crystal Bridges for just eight months, never expecting to receive an offer.

"I have 30 years in the field and a number of friends of mine are museum directors," Nordstrand said. "I thought it was a great opportunity to work at a museum already invested in our museum practices — getting Native people involved in planning and in curating."

Nordstrand has regularly traveled to Santa Fe for Indian Market and symposiums at the Institute of American Indian Arts, especially when she was working in Colorado Springs.

"I feel like there is a responsiveness to the concerns of Native people," she said. "They're very engaged with what is currently happening."

Nordstrand has produced several solo exhibitions of contemporary artists, including Nora Naranjo Morse (Santa Clara Pueblo), Christine Howard Sandoval (Chalon Nation), Anna Tsouhlarakis (Navajo/Creek/Greek) and Melanie Yazzie (Navajo). The Andy Warhol Foundation and Ford Foundation have both supported her scholarship. Museums calling for her expertise have included the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago.

"She is a believer in community engagement and deeply committed to achieving buy-in from stakeholders, especially from the people whose art and culture are being interpreted and exhibited," said Debra Garcia y Griego, cabinet secretary of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.

Nordstrand will begin her position on Nov. 14.