American Indian Art Dealers Directory Blog

Southwest Assoc for Indian Arts hosts an auction gala on the last evening of Indian Market to raise money for fellowships and other good works by SWAIA. In 2009 the event raised over $200,000.

Artist Collaboration

Each year a special collaborative, one of a kind piece, is commissioned by SWAIA for the auction. This year’s piece was Butterfly Symphony, a necklace created by Roderick Tenorio (Santa Domingo), Veronica Benally (Navajo), Fritz Casuse (navajo) and Cody Sanderson) Dine/Hopi/Nambe), featuring sterling silver and 18K gold, pearls, rubies and sapphires and valued at $39,000.

30 Donated Pieces

Other pieces for the auction are donated by the artists. This year pieces were donated by Pahponee, Robert P. Tenorio, Jody Naranjo, Anderson Peynetsa, Tony Jonola, Dominique Toya, Shawn Bluejacket, Denise Wallace, Martine lovato, Richard Chavez, David Bradley, Nocona Burgess, Geronima Cruz Montoya, Penny singer, Victoria Adams, Teri Greeves, Roxanne Swentzell, Upton Ethelbah Jr, Arlo Namingha and others.

More information is available in the Santa Fean August September, 2010 issue, including photos of Butterfly Symphony.

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It’s worthy of note that this is the first time in over 20 years that the Best of Show award has gone to a Hopi katsina doll. And this one by Stetson Honyumptewa was ‘outstanding,’ commented one of the wooden carvings judges.

Stetson is known for his well articulated unclothed bodies. It is more difficult to carve the bodies unclothed, but Stetson does so beautifully. Below are a couple of his carvings.

Here is a photo of Stetson at Indian Market in front of his carving. He said that he had had an ‘artists block’ for about three years and had put his heart and soul into this carving. What a beauty.

The photo is from the Navajo Times

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Deb Neal at Old Territorial Shop in Scottsdale pointed out that I had neglected to include the pottery winner at Indian Market. He is Robert Patricio, an Acoma potter. His is in his early 40s and is considered a rising star in the pottery world. His work is sophisticated and graphics lovely. He collaborates often with his wife Melody.

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If you promise not to hold me to the absolute numbers, I’d like to bore you with some fun facts.

This year’s market had 66 judges by my count. Of these about 36 were artists, 16 or so connected in some way to museums across the country and only about 5 who are (or were) gallery/shop owners (including our very own Kent McMannis of Grey Dog in Tucson). Also among the judges was Dan Gibson, author and editor of Native Peoples.

There are ten Classifications, such as Jewelry, Pottery, Sculpture, etc.

Within the ten Classifications, there are differing numbers of Divisions. For instance, in Jewelry, there are two Divisions. One deals with jewelry done using culturally acceptable materials, the other with pre contact styles such as heishi and inlay. For each Division there is one Best of Division Award.

Pottery Classification has the largest number of Divisions at five, Moving Images (new this year) with none.

Within the Divisions, there are Categories. Continuing with Jewelry as our example, each of the two Divisions are broken into Categories such as, Necklaces, Bracelets, Rings, etc. And for each category within a Division a First, Second and sometimes Honorable Mention may be awarded.

So, a Category first place winner will compete to win a Division first place and the Division first place winners, compete to win the Classification. From Classification winners the Best of Show winner is selected.

Lost yet?

Well, again don’t hold me to the exact numbers, but it looks like there are anywhere from 4 to 73 award winners in a Classification with Pottery having the largest number.

The total number of ribbons awarded is somewhere around 280.

I think that is terrific. Not all 700 or so exhibitors at Indian Market submit a piece for competition, and some will submit more than one. But it has to stimulate artists to work really hard to produce something special to bring to market knowing that the opportunity to win a ribbon is not so ovewhelmingly daunting.

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Although I don’t have photos of the winning art, I thought you might be interested in the artists who won the classifications (if you don’t already know, that is).

Jewelry Daniel Sunshine Reeves

Paintings, Drawings, Graphics & Photography, Eve-Lauryn LaFountain

Wooden Pueblo figurative Carvings and Sculpture, Stetson Honyumptewa

Sculpture, Jason Quigno

Textiles, Patricia Michaels

Diverse Art Forms, Charlene Holy Bear

Bead Work & Quill Work, Vanessa Paukeigope Jennings

Youth (17 and younger), Trent Lee

Moving Images, Blackhorse Lowe, for Shimasani

Basketry, Dolores Garza

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The Santa Fe Indian Market issue of Santa Fean also featured an interesting article about the Traditional versus Contemporary Native American Art. SWAIA posed the question of whether or not the distinction between the two is valid and asked several native art experts to comment. Interesting discussion.

While all of the comments are fascinating and highlight the confusion these terms create, my favorite comes from Aleta Ringlero, Curatorial Consultant at Casino Arizona.

“Contemporary art is directly grounded in the Anglo-European high art traditions, that is easel painting, sculpture and graphics. Such forms are without ritual or utilitarian association and have no reference to tribal ethnographic object production.”

So, then, how do we define and differentiate the work of say, Bryon Yellowhorse who produces modern inlay pieces like this cuff from Evelyn Eustice White’s needlepoint squash blossom? Neither would be contemporary by Ringlero’s definition above. The term modern here might work for Bryon, but how would we define Evelyn’s work? Is it traditional?

That term traditional is often associated with a time line. In this case, traditional might be something done in the original way it was first created. However, Evelyn’s work is too fine to be done without benefit of modern tools in her crafting of the piece above. Does that, by this definition of traditional, make it modern?

We might say that Evelyn’s piece is traditional because the form is grounded in ethnographic object production. But, then isn’t Bryon’s piece traditional as well since it uses the inlay technique?

And we can begin to see how confusion is created. Check out the article. It is aptly titled “The Elephant in the Portal.”

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SWAIA is doing a bang up job promoting Native American arts. The August September issue of Santa Fean published some really great articles about SWAIA and what it does besides sponsor Indian Market.

The whole thing began in 1922

when the advocacy organization was called New Mexico Assoc of Indian Arts and was primarily focused on advocating politically for Indian rights. That same year the Museum of New Mexico held the first Indian Fair during the Santa Fe Fiesta celebration.

In 1936, there was renewed interest in promoting Indian art and the precursor to the modern Indian Market was born under the portal of the Palace of the Governors (initiating the ever popular portal vendor program functioning today.) Then, market was operated on Saturdays in July and August.

By 1950s, market expanded to include areas other than New Mexico and by 1959 the name was changed to SAIA.

In 1962, Market became a one weekend a year occurrence. By 1964, the number of artists numbered 75 and the market grew out from under the portal to lining Palace Avenue.

SWAIA is not just the Indian Market sponsor

Bruce Bernstein, Executive Director, has worked hard to make SWAIA a year round organization. The group routinely sponsors events to educate the public about Indian arts, offers artist fellowships and over $100,000 in award monies. It is their commitment to share Native American cultural expression in Native Arts.

Native Arts continue to evolve

This year storytelling in video/movie form was designated a category for competition. During 2011, SWAIA’s event schedule will include more theater, film, and dance honoring dancers and choreographers.

SWAIA takes on a two fold job

The group continues to honor the traditional artists and art forms recognized as Native American throughout the world. But they are also dedicated to keeping the fine arts world informed of what wonderful contemporary endeavors Native artists are bringing to the table.

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I’ve learned a couple of lessons from being here my first time. Most importantly, perhaps someone can, but I cannot effectively interview artists for future blogs, say hi and catch up with my favorite dealers in town, meet and chat with Gail Chehak (exec. of IACA) and Dan Gibson (editor of Native Peoples) Arch Thiessen (President of ATADA), write the blog on a daily basis and BUY ART!!!

Guess which gets preference. Well, I did manage to do the meet and greet stuff and got some info from artists for future blog work and of course the BUY ART did not suffer for lack of time. But, this blog has.

Little things that get overlooked in the hubub.

I was struck as today wound down and the air cooled from a little rain (which held off till almost after the show closed) by some of the little things I had not paid attention to these last three days. There was an artist who parked a humongous van a little away from Market booths who was from Oregon (according to his plates). He unloaded amazingly large, elaborate wooden sculptures onto the street behind his parked van, and talked to anyone who happened by about the wood he used, his technique, etc. These carvings were so large that I watched four very big guys load his truck up at the end of the show. I can’t imagine he sold anything. And even if he did, where did he have to truck it to? Amazing.

There was also on SF West, a couple blocks away from Indian Market booths, a guy who set up shop on top of some newspaper vending machines. He bundled lavender into smudge style bundles while his customers watched. And just before he handed the bundle they bought, he tucked in a miniature rose bud. This invariably generated a smile. I don’t know who he is or how he came to be there. For all I know he does this every year. But, every time I passed him he was busy bundling for someone and making them smile. Best of all, the entire block smelled of lavender. What a special contribution he made to my walk to and from Market every day.

During my travels I heard some things about Market this year that SWAIA (Southwest Assoc of Indian Arts) changed.

Submissions for consideration for awards was moved to Wednesday, two days earlier than usual. This might have created a hardship for some artists who may have normally submitted work. It would have meant that they would have to come to town and pay room and board for two days more than previous years. There was some concern voiced that this change (which according to one SWAIA volunteer during preview was probably made to accommodate more time for judging) might decrease the number of submissions for awards.

The second change was an increase in booth fees. Even to a novice like me, $600 seems like a lot of money to charge an artist who we are trying to encourage to continue his work. There are those who sell pieces in the high range who won’t blink an eye at such a fee, but there are surely others who price their work in the mid range and may not be able to generate a large inventory, to whom this, added to the room and board, can be prohibitive. Some estimates of the expense to an artist to show at Indian Market are around $1500.

The artists.

I was lucky enough to spend some time with Lena Boone and interview her for a more extensive blog piece when I get back home. Here she is chatting with Arch Theissen (President of ATADA). I will be adding Arch’s Sunshine Studios internet business to my website soon after I get back. He has the largest inventory of fetishes I’ve seen. And of course, I bought a beautiful Fabian Cheama (who was not at market) buffalo from Sunshine Studios which I will take a photo of as soon as I get home. You all will love it as much as I do.

I spent some talking with Deborah Magee, Blackfoot quill artist who is a ribbon winner at the show. I interviewed her and will do a later blog piece on her technique and how she came to get involved in quill work. Here she is doing some beading on a piece.

And this one of her lovely pieces.

Just for fun.

One of Santa Fe’s most trusted and expert shop owners told me a great story today. One day, some folks were passing his shop’s open door and peered in at his wall of traditional style katsina dolls. One gentleman was heard to remark, “Hey come look at this. They got some vodoo dolls in here.”

Another great story came from a pottery shop owner in Santa Fe who was asked the question as they browsed the shop, “I’m looking for an oval salad bowl. These are all round.” When he was told these pots were actually works of art and not created for everyday use, he responded, “Didn’t Indians eat salad?”

If you have a good story like this, I would love to hear it.

And just for the fun of it, some of the color of market.

Looks like Daniel Boone and his pal made it to Santa Fe. They caused quite a stir.

And then it was time to pack it up and go home.

And the once transformed Plaza would slowly return to it’s former self until SWAIA works it’s magic yet again next year and creates these wonderful two days.

Looking forward to following up with some artist interviews in the next few weeks. Thanks for tuning in. Comments are welcome. Discussion is encouraged.

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Here’s the scene at 6:30 Am

6:46

By 10 Am

Somebody told me that by 10 AM it’s all over. What they meant of course is that if you want to buy from one of the hot artists, you’d better get to their booth before 10 AM. I learned the hard way that this is true.

Jackie Bread, whose work I admired when Grey Dog in Tucson had her at a reception after the Heard show, was absolutely sold out when I got there around 10. She won a second place ribbon, but had sold the piece so I could not get a photo. But, as we talked about a piece she might make for me I took some photos of work in her book.

Noreen Simplicio, who I interviewed at the Heard in March was here in Santa Fe and won a first place ribbon for a piece. Her table was loaded and she was wonderfully vociferous and enthusiastic about her work as usual.

Ricky Laahty was there with all of his frog carvings. And with his wonderful sense of humor informed me that he does carve animals other than frogs and proceeded to show me a bear. However, he is really known for his frogs, one of which I had to have. I had not realized that his dad, Morris Laahty was also a carver. But Ricky learned the technique from his dad. His photo kind of shows his whimsical personality.

Charlene Holy Bear won Best of Division in Diverse Art Forms for her wonderful dancing female, beaded sculpture. She said she took inspiration from traditional patterns and art deco. Her piece is magnificent.

Zuni fetish carver, Brion Hattie, won a first place ribbon in traditional fetishes for his Bobcat and a second in the miniature division for a jet bear which I did not get a photo of. But I couldn’t resist taking a photo of his six directional piece. What beauties. Brion has only been carving for five years and is brother of the late, famed carver, Jeffrey Tsalbutie.

Randall and brother Brent Brokeshoulder, cleaned house on the traditional style katsina dolls, taking first and second place. Randall took first in the classification as well. These two are very young men who are doing some wonderful things.

Randall’s piece is very large, took him a week to complete and had the most difficulty with the headdress. At the last minute he decided to cut out some areas he had originally planned to paint. That was a good idea, but took lots of time and trouble.

Brent is attending nursing school so does his katsina dolls between classes. He’s been carving since he was 15 and is now all of 25 years old. Quite an accomplished artist for such a young man. Brent’s piece dangled a couple of mudheads from the bottom, adding a whimsical nature. Both pieces, however, were artfully done and painted using natural pigments. Both brothers were very happy.

I’m exhausted gang. I’m off to dinner and a marguerita! More later……

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From the preview tonight of the ribbon winners, I can tell you that the Best of Show was a tie.

Stetson Honyumptewa won Best of Show for his katsina doll carving and shared that honor with Blackhorse Lowe who won for his video. This is the first year that video has been a category and Blackhorse is a young man. Quite a coup.

Although it wasn’t allowed, I did sneak a couple of photos of some winners.

More tomorrow…..

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