Summer Field Trips and Tours

Available for youth and adults all summer, Tuesdays through Sundays. Call (505) 768-6027 to schedule one today! 

EXHIBITIONS

The Art of Ballooning -- Patterns in the Sky

This juried exhibition features painted silk banners created by members of SPIN (Silk Painters International). The jury process was based on samples submitted from a call earlier in the year.  Artists juried into the show agreed to paint banners of a standard size with the theme of Patterns in the Sky. More than twenty such banners are now on display in the Museum, through the end of the Balloon Fiesta.

All of the artists have donated their creations. They are available for purchase through October 13, 2008 via silent auction bid at the Museum Shoppe or online through the Balloon Museum Foundation site.  Proceeds from the sale of the banners will benefit the educational programs of the Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum and Silk Painters International.

Las Nubes de La Palma/Clouds of La Palma:
Clouds, Weather and Ballooning

The exhibition features some 100 striking photographs of clouds above La Palma, an island in Spain’s Canary Islands. The formations are very unusual and create fascinating images. Visitors will be surprised at the number of similarities between these clouds that formed halfway across the world and those in our own area.

Visitors will also learn about the important role balloons have played in predicting weather, and how ballooning activities are influenced by the weather.

A large area has been set aside for fun hands-on activities. Here you can learn about “lift” with a wind machine; create your own tornado; start a weather journal; and hold instruments and learn how they are used.

Native Americans and Ballooning

The contributions of Native American members of the World War I US Balloon Corps and Native balloonists and crew members are featured in the exhibition. Information on Native American participants in sport ballooning and a variety of balloon-based scientific and astronomical programs in the U.S. are also highlighted.

Included in the exhibition are artifacts from North and South American Native groups. They include paintings, bead work, pottery, basketry, jewelry, and sand paintings with balloon themes.

Also featured are ballooning events in “Indian Country,” the commercial balloons of tribal enterprises such as casinos, and Native images incorporated in balloon envelope designs.

The exhibition highlights several new acquisitions to the Museum’s permanent collection, including Santo Domingo Pueblo potter Robert Tenorio's bowl "Balloon Fiesta at Sandia Pueblo."

The Museum will have special programs and demonstrations during the course of the exhibition, dates to be announced.

Special Exhibition on Airships Held Over!

Blimps, dirigibles, zeppelins . . . no matter what we call them, airships have played a fascinating role in world history, art, culture, science and recreation. From the Hindenburg to Goodyear—from Graf Zeppelin to Led Zeppelin—images of airships challenge our imagination. In this new exhibit we revisit the wonder of these “monsters of the sky” through award-winning models, art and historical objects.

Learn about the types of airships; their influence on popular culture (films, music, toys and games); and some of the unforgettable airship tragedies. Enjoy heraldic World War I china shaped like airships. Get a glimpse of service ware and tableware designed for great ships such as the Graf Zeppelin and Hindenburg.

And if you think that only balloons are used for sport and recreation, come view Albuquerque’s own Good Beer Blimp gondola car! Now through June 21, 2008.

AIRSHIPS: THE BIG, BAD & BOLD is included with paid admission to the Balloon Museum.