As the fall season gets under way, attention tends to focus on major cities like New York and London because of their blockbuster museum exhibits and trophy-art auctions. The vagaries of the art market hold greater sway there, with galleries opening and closing with every tilt in collector confidence.

Yet beyond these global hubs, there exist smaller, self-sustaining art scenes that appear to thrive in good markets and bad. Santa Fe, N.M., is one such “microclimate.” Aspen, Colo., is another.