Located in downtown Palm Springs on Agua Caliente tribal land, the luxe new Thompson Hotel features museum-quality American Indian art.
Native American tribes have lived in the Coachella Valley since time immemorial — the sheltering mountains and bubbling hot springs made for abundant living.
For modern visitors, the attraction of downtown Palm Springs lies in the unique combination of the city’s rich Indigenous cultural heritage with modern design. The newest hotel in the heart of downtown marries these elements in a grand style.
The Thompson Palm Springs spans two and a half city blocks and features a stunning collection of contemporary Native American art by artists whose works can be found in museums worldwide.
Jeffrey Gibson’s mural The Land Is Speaking Are You Listening is on display near the Thompson Palm Springs’ outdoor seating area.
The collection is curated by Virginia Shore of Shore Art Advisory. “I have worked with many Native American artists,” says Shore, who was the chief curator at the U.S. Department of State and curated many collections for years. “This has been a focus for me for decades. [When I was] a child, my family lived in the Mojave Desert, a magical and surreal place that has always stayed with me. The forms, colors, mountains, and aureate light created an indelible impression.”
Working on the Thompson Hotel project, Shore says, provided her with the opportunity to return to the Mojave and Joshua Tree with her family.
“Using a broad range of materials and artistic approaches — from mosaic to murals, paintings to sculpture, recycled aluminum, feathers, shoelaces to textiles — the works capture the region’s distinctive flora and fauna, its deep history and rich culture, and the natural beauty of the land,” Shore says.
“A concern for the land reverberates throughout much of the work, and calls attention to the living plants, animals, humans, and environment that surround us. My hope is that the guests and visitors will not only feel appreciated in this joyful and beautiful place but also be inspired by the magic that each artist sends out to the world.”
Nanibah Chacon’s mural What Dreams Are Made Of can be seen featured on the walls of the Thompson Palm Springs.
The most dramatic work is a 70-foot glittering glass mosaic mural in the landscaped courtyard by Jeffrey Gibson (Cherokee), who is the first Native American artist to have a solo show at the prestigious Venice Biennale in Italy this year.
The Land Is Speaking Are You Listening features a neon rainbow of colors with the words presented in abstract graphics.
“I was feeling very troubled, very blocked by the limited perceptions of being Native American. I was trying to extract them from myself, to kick them out of my system. Making work was a way to do that. It was therapeutic,” Gibson says. “I always think I use too much color, but then I never stop. I just keep going.”
The works of several American Indian artists can be seen across the Thompson Palm Springs.
Another stunning work can be found in the main lobby, where there’s a wall-mounted sculpture by Gerald Clarke. The artist created the eight-foot-wide Continuum Basket: Creation in 2023 using recycled aluminum cans that he crushed and arranged into graphic motifs based on traditional Cahuilla basket designs.
Clarke is a tribal member of the Cahuilla Band of Indians and lives on their ancestral land nearby. Through his art, he honors Cahuilla basket makers, who hand-gather grasses from the desert for weaving. Clarke sources his materials from the same land, but instead of traditional materials, he collects beer and soda can litter, turning man-made waste into large-scale contemporary sculptures that link to his cultural heritage.
Gerald Clarke’s design Continuum Basket: Creation at the Thompson Palm Springs.
What Dreams Are Made Of by Nanibah Chacon zooms for 20 feet across the wall of the Lola Rose Grand Mezze rooftop restaurant, where a black El Camino lowrider blooms with roses.
“This work is based on a recurring dream I’ve had,” Chacon says. “This piece was about creating something that existed in two different worlds and two different notions of beauty. This is my dream car, the automotive against something very natural and the very hard against something that's very soft.”
Nanibah Chacon’s mural What Dreams Are Made Of is one of the many pieces of art by prominent American Indian artists featured at the Thompson Palm Springs.
A powerful solitary figure made of carved New Mexico pine and clay beads by Rose B. Simpson holds court in the lobby. Simpson is from the Santa Clara Pueblo in Española, New Mexico, and comes from a long matrilineal line of ceramists. Her distinct clay work revolves around the self, not political, tribal, or social issues relating to Native American identity.
“Everything I make is a version of myself,” Simpson says of her life-size figures wrapped in symbols, earthy colors, and headpieces.
Other Native artworks in the hotel are by Wendy Red Star, Saif Azzuz, Julie Buffalohead, Eric Paul Reige, and William Cordova.
Rose B. Simpson’s figure greets visitors in the lobby of the Thompson Palm Springs.
PHOTOGRAPHY: Courtesy of Sandra Hale Schulman
