Santa Fe is a town that takes its artsy reputation seriously. It has museums devoted to art (the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture and the Museum of International Folk Art, just to name three). There’s a mural or a funky sculpture on practically every side street. You could even say the town itself—adobe architecture, leafy plazas, mountain backdrop—is a work of art.

Of course downtown Santa Fe is packed with shops selling every type of art imaginable, from cheap trinkets to exquisite handcrafted pieces. But the really heavy-duty art scene is nearby on Canyon Road. This “art and soul of Santa Fe” is where you’ll find a slew of adobe buildings, former homes that have been converted into galleries. They exhibit paintings, sculpture, pottery, rugs, custom-designed furniture and other high-quality items ranging in style from traditional Southwestern to cutting-edge contemporary.

Even if you’re not armed with a limitless credit card it’s fun just to stroll this 10-block, gallery-lined stretch and poke around, which I did on a gloriously sunny and cool morning. I started at the west end (at Paseo de Peralta, a block south of Alameda Street and a block east of Old Santa Fe Trail). Right off the bat, check out the sculpture in the courtyard of Coady Contemporary (205 Canyon Rd.). I call it “Ten Guys in Search of a Chair.”

In the next block (opposite Garcia Street) take a left at Canyon Road Contemporary Art (403 Canyon Rd.) and walk to the rear toward Project Tibet and the Wiford Gallery. The Wiford Gallery’s outdoor sculpture garden has a large collection of wind sculptures by Utah artist Lyman Whitaker. These delicate-looking copper and stainless steel creations twirl in the slightest breeze; it was mesmerizing to sit and watch them.

The garden also features an Aeolian harp, a boxlike stringed instrument that’s “played” by the wind. The breeze animating the wind sculptures produced a low but distinctly audible hum from the harp, a sound almost impossible to describe unless you’ve heard it. This was my favorite spot on Canyon Road; I spent half an hour just chilling to the sound of the harp and the insistent fluttering of the sculptures. Before leaving I checked out the Buddha Garden at Project Tibet, a gallery specializing in jewelry, silk fabrics and Tibetan arts and crafts.

Take another left at Delgado Street, where there is a cluster of galleries. Walk through the outdoor courtyard at The Stephenson Gallery (238 Delgado St.) to see the delightful collection of bronze sculptures of children. Patricia Carlisle Fine Art (554 Canyon Rd.) is housed in one of those charming Santa Fe-style houses that I would dearly love to own. It has a lovely sculpture garden that was radiant with blooming irises on my visit. 

Canyon Road abounds with outdoor art. Keep your eyes peeled for the winged dude on horseback (above) and the Indian brave with arms folded gazing off into the distance. There are more frolicking kids in the garden at Nedra Matteucci Fine Art (555 Canyon Rd., just west of Camino Escondido). The Waxlander Gallery (622 Canyon Rd.) also has a sculpture garden with bronzes as well as kinetic art.

In the courtyard of a gallery at Canyon Road and East Palace Avenue there’s a fine bust of a horse’s head; you can’t miss it. This marks the eastern end of the gallery district. I turned left on Palace Avenue, which took me through an attractive residential area right back to the downtown plaza. If the collector-worthy wares at the galleries are a little too rich for your blood, stop and browse under the portal at the Palace of the Governors (on the plaza’s north side). Native artisans spread their work out on blankets; it’s a great hunting ground for rings, turquoise and silver jewelry and wood carvings.

Canyon Road is just east of downtown Santa Fe, between East Alameda Street and Acequia Madre Street.