Kayenta Art Village

Nestled in the red rocks of Ivins, Utah, this creative enclave is home to a diverse collection of artistic enterprises, including over 50 annual events at the Kayenta Center for the Arts that range from dance to storytelling to theater. The Center hosts several major festivals throughout the year, including a Native Arts Market—featuring traditional and contemporary indigenous artwork—and a Street Painting Festival that brings artists and students together to create asphalt murals. 

On a stroll through the village, visitors can explore several different galleries, including Charly Moor’s Mystic Canyon Light Gallery, where landscape and wildlife photography come to life, and the mixed-media-focused Gallery 873. Additionally, at Juniper Sky Gallery, the grandeur of southwest Utah is highlighted in paintings of sweeping valleys, flowing waters, and high desert plateaus. 

Once you’ve taken in the Village’s many artistic offerings, there’s still plenty more to explore. At the volunteer-run Kayenta Desert Arboretum, visitors can stroll a path filled with different native plants, ending at the eleven-circuit Desert Rose Labyrinth and its attached sculpture garden. 

Food options at Kayenta include Xetava Garden Cafe—where elevated southwestern cuisine is served on a canopied patio with mountain views—and the Rustic Cactus, a seasonally-inspired eatery focusing on shared small plates and creative cocktails. Both restaurants help to foster Kayenta’s vibrant arts scene, hosting musical performances and showcasing local paintings and handicrafts. 

New works are created every day in the Village’s various studios, including Hutch Studio—a collaboration between jewelry-maker Deborah Hutcheson and her sister, Judith, an oil painter. Meanwhile, at Kayenta’s MakeSpace Studio, anyone can try their hand at a new craft. The studio’s packed calendar introduces the public to watercolor painting, botanical printing, figure drawing, and much more through workshops and multi-week courses led by a rotating staff of professionals. 

Since 2011, the Village has been overseen by the Kayenta Arts Foundation, which champions arts education and promotes work that contributes to the region’s rich cultural heritage.