Joseph M. Sanchez (born in Trinidad, Colorado in 1948) is an artist and museum curator.  His personal surrealist style began to formalize in 1968 during his years as a member of United States Marine Corps.  Sanchez lived in Canada from the early to mid-1970s where he met Daphne Odjig, who had opened up the Warehouse Gallery in the early 1970s, and was a founding member of the PNIAI (Indian Group of Seven). Sanchez returned to the United States in 1976 and formed two collectives near Phoenix helping lead Chicano artists to collaborate and exhibit together. In addition he helped create the National Association of Artist Organizations to benefit American artists on a national level.  In 1978 he began work at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts as a security guard, becoming a gallery assistant until 1982. Soon Sanchez was recruited by the Phoenix Art Museum as a preparator, where he remained from 1982-1984.  Sanchez continued to paint, perform, and develop art workshops for youth during the 1980s and 1990s. In 1990, Sanchez visited Paris, which sparked an abundance of work. Yet, despite occasional exhibitions, Sanchez's energy was mostly spent supporting the careers of fellow artists. In the 2000s, with his move to Santa Fe, New Mexico, Sanchez's work shifted in tone and color, adapting to the new landscape and with a new studio, Sanchez returned to large scale works like those of the early 1990s.  In 2001 he began volunteering for the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe.  He soon became their Exhibition Coordinator. Later, Sanchez was named the Chief Curator at the IAIA Museum, now known as the Museum of Contemporary Native Art, and was acting Director until his retirement in 2010.  Since retirement, Sanchez has continued to curate, but primarily returned to the studio full time, and continues to exhibit in galleries and museums internationally.