Innholdsfortegnelse for December - January 2018 / No.12 i Native American Art Magazine

DEC. 2 INDIANAPOLIS, IN Winter Market Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art (317) 636-9378 www.eiteljorg.org THROUGH JAN. 1, 2018 SANTA FE, NM Daniel McCoy: The Ceaseless Quest for Utopia IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Art (888) 922-4242 www.iaia.edu DEC. 2 BOSTON, MA American Indian & Ethnographic Art Auction Skinner, Inc. (617) 350-5400 www.skinnerinc.com THROUGH JAN. 6, 2018 SANTA FE, NM Pueblo Nacimiento Sets Adobe Gallery (505) 955-0550 www.adobegallery.com DEC. 4 SAN FRANCISCO, CA Native American Art Bonhams (415) 503-3294 www.bonhams.com THROUGH JAN. 7, 2018 TULSA, OK Kay WalkingStick: An American Artist Gilcrease Museum (918) 496-2700 www.gilcrease.org OPENING DEC. 15 SANTA FE, NM Group Show Lyn A. Fox Fine Pueblo Pottery (505) 577-0835 www.foxpueblopottery.com THROUGH JAN. 7, 2018 SANTA FE, NM I-Witness Culture: Frank Buffalo Hyde Museum of Indian…

Colette Lemmon Curator of Exhibitions Iroquois Indian Museum Howes Cave, NY, (518) 296-8949 www.iroquoismuseum.org What exhibitions are you currently working on? Right now we’re working on Tonto, Teepees & Totem Poles: Considering Stereotypes in the 21st Century, which opens this spring. We did an exhibit with artist Tom Huff back in the mid 90s about stereotypes and we wanted to take stock of what’s happened since then. A lot of the older stereotypes have pretty much disappeared, but plenty of new ones have definitely taken their place. The idea that stereotypes aren’t solely proliferated from the outside is definitely part of the mix. We’ll be pulling some work from our collection, but more importantly, we’re inviting Haudenosaunee artists to respond to the theme. I expect we’ll see some quite pointed,…

One of the Southwest’s most iconic art forms, the squash blossom necklace, has long been associated with Navajo and Zuni jewelry traditions. This timeless classic is a hallmark of Native tradition and artistry—or is it? Its history may surprise fans of the necklaces. Robert Bauver, author of Masterworks and Eccentricities: Navajo and Pueblo Jewelry and Metalwork 1880 – 1950 (Four Winds Publisher, 2000) and other books about Southwestern Native jewelry, notes that the one of the squash blossom’s components, the Naja pendant, dates to Egyptian and Roman times. In the 5th century, the Moors brought the symbol to Spain from Northern Africa during their nearly eightcentury occupation. Crafted in silver, the inverted crescent-shaped Naja was centered on the head of a horse’s bridle, and was said to protect the horse…

SANTA FE, NM In the Native Nacimiento, or Nativity, scene, the three wise men bring gifts like corn, turquoise and rabbits instead of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Adobe Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has displayed these Nativity sets since its early years as a gallery. The first known Pueblo Nativity set was created in the 1950s by Manuel Vigil, a Tesuque Pueblo artist, for his church. For the next decade or so, Vigil was the only producer of these Nacimiento scenes, creating them for neighboring Pueblo churches, but in the 1970s, the genre expanded, with more artists creating the storyteller figurines in a variety of styles and mediums. Adobe Gallery held its first exhibition of Southwest Native Nativity scenes in 1980. “A book was published in 1979 listing every…

SANTA FE, NM The Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA) is holding its annual Winter Indian Market in Santa Fe, New Mexico, this December. Located at La Fonda on the Plaza and running December 16 through 17, the market will feature Native paintings, jewelry, pottery, clothing and more. Roughly 130 artists will participate, including Upton Ethelbah, Peterson Yazzie, Nocona Burgess, Osavio Crespin, Lonnie Vigil, Fortune Huntinghorse and Marcellus Medina. The SWAIA winter market will include music and dance performances, a silent auction and picture opportunities with Native Santa. It is a rare opportunity to meet Native artists and learn about contemporary Indian arts and cultures, such as potter and painter Medina, who sees his art as a continuation of his family’s work. “The inspiration is the tradition and brilliance of…

DENNIS JUNE Owner, Dennis June Gallery The current art market in Scottsdale remains strong on a seasonal basis. Visitors and locals are affected by Arizona’s sizzling summers. But when it gets to be frigid cold in northern states, many flee to the Valley and our guaranteed glorious weather. Buyer moods are at a high point in these temperate months—November through April—and major events are plentiful, from major art gallery openings, to worldclass horse shows (think Arabian), to notable car auctions, parades, conventions and civic events. Gallery art shows and outdoor fairs abound as artisans flood Scottsdale. We can report growing sales in each of the last four years and look forward to another banner year for Native American art in 2018. Best sellers in the American Indian art world continue…

University researches Native Americans in Britain CANTERBURY, UK The University of Kent’s School of English has begun a project to provide a comprehensive history of Native North Americans in Britain in the last 450 years. Beyond the Spectacle: Native North American Presence in Britain will document the travel of Native North Americans across the Atlantic and how they traveled throughout the country. The project focuses particularly on the last 150 years, and asks the help of the public to uncover previously unknown historical objects and stories. Peabody Essex celebrates T.C. Cannon SALEM, MA Opening March 3, 2018, at Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, T.C. Cannon: At the Edge of America highlights 70 paintings and works on paper from the artist, poet and aspiring musician. His bold color combinations put…

Searching for the seven cities of gold led to 17 decades of indigenous silversmiths. In the late 1860s, after five years of forced incarceration at Bosque Redondo, industrious Navajos—looking for new methods to make a living after their herds of sheep were annihilated by the American government— turned to silver after coming into contact with Mexican and Spanish silversmiths and blacksmiths. The earliest of the silver pieces were made not for humans but for animals. Horses to be exact. A part of the bridle known as the headstall. These pieces were not crudely made—many had decoration or ornamentation—but were simple in form and function. “The Navajo learned from the Mexican silversmiths first, but the Zuni were right there. Some people think the Zunis learned from the Navajos while others think…

Richard I. Chavez wanted to be an architect when he was growing up. He went to Dallas to study architectural draughting and returned to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to look for work near his San Felipe Pueblo home. “I had no practical experience,” he explains, “so I worked in construction for five years. That was an eye-opener. I had been drawing details of buildings but finally saw how buildings go together.” In the early ’70s, the architect Harvey S. Hoshour, A.I.A., was commissioned by the Tribal Councils of the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico to design the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque. Hoshour had worked with the Bauhaus architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and brought the Bauhaus ideas of simplicity and craftsmanship to the design of the center. Out…

Jan Musial recalls that at the age of 7, living in Culver City, California, he and his friends would walk to the library and he always gravitated to the Indian section. “When it was time to leave,” he says, “my friends would come looking for me. When I asked ‘How’d you find me?’ they said, ‘You’re always in the Indian section!’” He continues, “I had an aunt and an uncle in Las Vegas, Nevada. When we went to visit them my father and my uncle would take my cousin and me to see real Native Americans and their arts and crafts. I bought my first pot, a Santa Clara piece, in 1953 for $1.65. I was earning 50 cents a week at that time doing chores around the house so…

SONITA, AZ Over the past 40 years, Steve Getzwiller has complied a broad collection of Navajo weavings that includes Two Grey Hills examples. These are considered to be among the finest of Navajo textiles and are marked by their simple color palette, geometric designs and the artist’s mastery of carding and spinning. Through April 2018, Getzwiller’s Nizhoni Ranch Gallery in Sonita, Arizona, will display nearly 50 historic and several contemporary examples from his collection in the exhibition Timeless Treasures of Two Grey Hills. The pieces on display will reflect the history and influences of the regional style throughout time. Earliest examples include works by master weavers Daisy Taugelchee and Bessie Manygoats, while newer textiles are by Helen Bia, Elsie Bia, Carrie Yazzie, Cara Gorman, James Sherman and more. In his…

MESA, AZ At the annual Brian Lebel’s Old West Show & Auction in Mesa, Arizona, collectors of Native American art are treated to an assortment of quality items all in one place. As they explore the more than 180 dealer booths, and attend the live auction of over 300 lots, they will find contemporary and historic high-end baskets, pots, rugs and beadwork, to name a few categories. “We cover pretty much the whole spectrum of Native American material,” says Brian Lebel, owner of the show. “Even though more of our dealers in Mesa do concentrate on the Southwest with the baskets, pottery and textiles, there is Northern Plains’ materials and a lot of dealers from the North. The show covers pretty much everything, and people from all over the world…

IAIA MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY NATIVE ARTS The IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has announced the acquisition of Cherokee artist and educator Lloyd Kiva New’s personal art collection. Donated by New’s widow Aysen New, the collection includes over 250 works of art, sketchbooks, textiles and garments by the artist, including paintings and sketches from his time serving in the U.S. Navy in World War II. “We are honored that Aysen New gifted us a collection that has special meaning to IAIA given New’s dedicated career in Native arts and culture,” says IAIA Museum Collections Curator Tatiana Lomahaftewa-Singer. “Today, IAIA students are starting to understand and learn about Lloyd Kiva New and are excited to see works that many people have never seen! A…

To call Zuni, New Mexico, isolated doesn’t feel right, even though technically it is. Spanning 700 miles of land in the largely unpopulated central part of the state, the reservation nudges right up against the Arizona border. It’s an otherworldly place, the sky above an overturned bowl of cerulean, scraped clean of clouds: bright, immense. Taking advantage of an unseasonably balmy, late-October weekend, photographer Zoë Marieh Urness and I decided to make the 211-mile road trip from Santa Fe to Zuni Pueblo to learn about the tribe’s distinctive jewelry. From Albuquerque, we headed east on Interstate 40, driving through immense stretches of beautiful nothing, the in-between spaces of the New Mexico desert. Zuni has a population of around 10,000, making it New Mexico’s largest Pueblo; unlike many smaller Southwestern reservations,…

One of the hallmarks of Native American jewelry is the stunning lapidary work that artists have refined over years of practice and creation. The pieces are intricate and colorful, bringing together their skills in metalworking and in engraving, cutting and polishing materials. Collectors from around the world covet these handmade treasures for their oneof- a-kind qualities and the unique stamp the artists place on their pieces. Long synonymous with Native American jewelry has been the use of turquoise in all its varying hues of vibrant blue-green. However, artists also incorporate other stones in their work, creating striking color combinations and imagery using the materials’ textures and tones. “I would say other than turquoise, the first stones that Native Americans used in more modern times were used after 1900,” says Gene…

It’s 5,945 miles from Santa Fe to Tokyo. But as Japanese buyers come to the American Southwest looking for jewelry in turquoise and silver, and American artists and dealers venture east to present their works to a receptive new audience, the distance between here and there doesn’t feel quite so vast. It started for many artists subtly and with little fanfare. They simply began seeing more and more Japanese buyers at major shows, from fairs such as Santa Fe Indian Market or the Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market in Phoenix. Navajo jeweler Cody Sanderson remembers seeing Japanese buyers in 2002 and thinking, “Hey, how do I tap into that market?” The market, it turns out, would find him. “There was a Japanese designer, Takahiro Miyashita with The Soloist.…

CINCINNATI, OH Sellers saw frequent sales and high demand at the fall American Indian and Western Art Auction at Cowan’s Auctions in Cincinnati. Pieces from well-known collectors were of much interest all day, sparking robust bidding that resulted in a $1.25 million sale. The top lot of the day was an 18th-century Eastern Woodlands pipe, previously owned by well-known collector Clem Caldwell, which sold for $132,000. One of many bidding wars on the day that spurred the auction to its total, the Eastern Woodlands pipe “exceeded its high estimate [of $120,000]—but even at this price, our buyer got a great deal,” says Danica Farnand, Cowan’s director of American Indian Art. “Pipes from this era and this region are incredibly rare, but pipes with this level of craftsmanship quite simply don’t…