Innholdsfortegnelse for December - January 2020 / No.24 i Native American Art Magazine

What event (gallery show, museum exhibit, etc.) in the next few months are you looking forward to, and why? I hope to make it out to the Museum of Northern Arizona soon for their recently opened The Force is With Our People exhibit. They gathered some really cool artists to do some really cool things smashing pop culture and traditional Native arts. I am also looking forward to the Jim Henson exhibit at Albuquerque Museum next month because of Muppets! What are you reading? I just finished No Turning Back: A Hopi Woman’s Struggle to Live in Two Worlds by Polingaysi Qöyawayma. I also keep a finger in the Lord of the Rings series. Interesting exhibit, gallery opening or work of art you’ve seen recently. I was at a conference…

Whew…well, that was fun. We have spent the past few months planning, creating and preparing to bring you the biggest and best turquoise issue we have ever produced and now here it is, sitting in your hands, just dying to be read. Inspired by the overwhelming popularity of the very first turquoise issue (and if you have one in your possession, hold on to it because we even fight for them here at the magazine), which we completed now three years ago, we wanted to make sure that this issue had everything collectors could ask for when it comes to studying this wonderful stone that drives us all so wild. So how did we do that? Well, we spoke to everyone—miners, collectors, dealers, artists, writers, sculptors, gallery owners, auction professionals,…

The Zuni reservation is located in Northwest New Mexico’s high desert at 6,000 to 8,000 feet with a jurisdiction of 450,000 acres and a population of 6,400 people, most of whom live in the Pueblo of Zuni. Often we think of the art from Zuni in terms of fetish carvings and magnificent white-slipped pottery. Frank Cushing of the Smithsonian collected much of the historical material in 1879. The most recent art form and the one that may have the most lasting legacy into the 21st century is their exquisite jewelry made of mosaic and finely carved turquoise stones. These design elements have become synonymous with Zuni jewelry. Zuni silversmiths have a long tradition of making jewelry, learning the art form from the Navajo around 1872. The first Zuni pieces would…

When it comes to geology, scientists work on such grand scales it can be hard to even fathom. The age of the Grand Canyon, for example, has been estimated at 6 million years. Yosemite’s Half Dome is pegged at 65 million years old. Monument Valley is the wise old grandpa at 270 million years. By those measurements, turquoise is one of geology’s younger children at roughly 30 million years old. Formed after moisture trickles down through copper- or aluminum-rich rock, turquoise grows slowly, feeding off the oxidation of the source rock. It’s sort of a zombie stone, eating away at the material around it and creeping out in all directions in veiny paths that are chasing a slowly occurring chemical reaction. It’s here, within another rock, turquoise grows. And waits.…

NEW YORK, NY In 1996, the Drawing Center in New York co-organized the exhibition Plains Indian Ledger Drawings, which raised public interest in the art form. Its current exhibition, The Pencil is the Key: Drawings by Incarcerated Artists, on view through January 5, 2020, contains several ledger drawings. Aniko Erdosi, director of Donald Ellis Gallery in New York, comments, “The exhibition examines the art of past and contemporary artists throughout the world who have experienced incarceration or who developed as artists while incarcerated. Donald Ellis Gallery is the proud lender of a group of important ledger drawings produced by Native Americans while imprisoned at Fort Marion, St. Augustine, Florida, from 1875 to 1878.” Native American pictographic art was once painted on buffalo hides. As the buffalo herds were slaughtered and…

SANTA FE, NM Helen Cordero (Cochiti, 1915-1994) began making pottery figures in the 1950s. There are clay female figures from the Ancestral Puebloans of the 400s and Cochiti artists made satirical figures in the 1880s, poking fun at the visitors who began to invade the Pueblos with the coming of the railroad, from circus performers to the clergy. In 1964, Cordero began making her famed storyteller figures based on her grandfather, a Cochiti storyteller. Also in the 1950s, sets of figures depicting the nativity began to appear. “Nacimientos” have been popular in Europe since the 15th century. In 1972, Cordero began creating a 17-figure nacimiento. It is the centerpiece of the exhibition Native American Nacimientos at Adobe Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, continuing through November 23. The exhibition includes…

TULSA, OK This year’s Cherokee Art Market celebrated its 14th year from October 12 to 13 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa. The event kicked off the evening of Friday, October 11 with an awards reception honoring Caddo artist Chase Kahwinhut Earles with the Best of Show Award for his stunning pottery piece Kee-wat: Caddo Home. The show saw, yet again, another successful year with a wide range of artwork by Native artists from across the country. “Having all of the artists who come from all the different tribes from across the United States really adds to the market and to the feel of it. It brings so much [value] to all the differences and similarities,” says Deborah Fritts, Cherokee Art Market event coordinator. Discussing Best of Show…

CINCINNATI, OH The more than 200-lot collection of James B. Scoville kicked off the two-day fall American Indian and Western Art auction held October 10 and 11 at Cowan’s Auctions in Cincinnati. There was much fanfare as bidders from across the country vied for items from the collector, who was an outdoorsman and founding director of Citizens for Conservation in Barrington, Illinois. His pieces led to a robust $923,625 of the sale’s more than $2 million total. “From the moment I saw this collection I absolutely fell in love with it and I’m so happy to see collectors appreciated it as much as I did,” says Danica Farnand, Cowan’s director of American Indian and Western art. “Jim Scoville’s fervent passion and incredible eye for quality created one of the most…

NOV. 19 NEW YORK, NY Native American Art Sale Sotheby’s (212) 606-7000 www.sothebys.com NOV. 22 DALLAS, TX Ethnographic Art American Indian, Pre-Columbian and Tribal Art Signature Auction Heritage Auctions (877) 437-4824 www.ha.com THROUGH NOV. 23 SANTA FE, NM Native American Nacimientos Adobe Gallery (505) 955-0550 www.adobegallery.com NOV. 23-24 SAN ANTONIO, TX Yanaguana Indian Arts Market Briscoe Western Art Museum (210) 299-4499 www.briscoemuseum.org NOV. 29-DEC. 1 TUCSON, AZ American Indian Month Social & Craft Market Sheraton Hotel Ballroom (520) 248-5849 www.usaindianinfo.com DEC. 5-19 SANTA FE, NM Juan de la Cruz King Galleries (480) 440-3912 www.kinggalleries.com DEC. 13 SANTA FE, NM Annual Museum Hill Holiday Stroll Museum of Indian Arts & Culture (505) 476-1269 www.miaclab.org DEC. 14 SANTA FE, NM IAIA Holiday Market Institute of American Indian Arts (505) 424-2300 www.iaia.edu DEC.…

MINERALOGY AND CHEMISTRY Scarcity makes an object more desirable, makes it more powerful. Scarcity makes an object magical For centuries in New Mexico, scarcity has been synonymous with water. Our reservoir of sky offers us the color of water. It releases a few drops that the ground laps up. The drops navigate through rocky soil toward a home port — that small crevice that opens next to particles of copper. Over eons, the copper makes magic with the water, taking its elements, transforming them into turquoise, that reflects the sky. The magic follows a formula: CuAl6(PO)44(OH)8-4H2O. This alchemy creates a range of blues and greens in different shapes. It makes turquoise as hard as a gemstone, but compliant to stone tools. It also, in the traditional view, gives turquoise a…

Bisbee Blue turquoise is unquestionably a favorite for many turquoise fans. Navajo jewelry artist Darryl Dean Begay, who spent 12 days in Japan, recently saw that firsthand. “It’s got a really good reputation,” he says. “Even in Japan! They really like the Bisbee turquoise out there. It’s one that’s really nice and high grade and has a really blue-blue…and the chocolate matrix! It’s very popular worldwide.” Emerald Tanner, with Tanner’s Indian Arts in Gallup, New Mexico, loves to tell a story about a business trip her father, Joe Tanner, took in the early 1960s to New York City. “He visited Cartier and Tiffany’s and asked them to see their best representation of turquoise, and…” Her dad, Joe, chimes in, “They brought out from the vault the very best Persian quality,…

They say each piece of turquoise is like a snowflake, and no two pieces will ever be alike. The hardness of the stone, the color of the stone, the richness of the color, the matrix, the shape…a dozen factors make each and every piece of turquoise one of a kind. It all starts with moisture trickling down through rock and soil. The water reacts to the copper-rich host rock, often called the mother stone, and slowly over the course of 30 million years or so turns into the sky-colored stone that jewelers treasure. Although turquoise mostly forms in dry climates, the source rock can vary wildly—copper, aluminum, pyrite, phosphorus, quartz and other materials can change the color, composition and matrix of a forming piece of turquoise. So turquoise mined in…

MESA, AZ On January 24 through 26, Brian Lebel’s Mesa Old West Show & Auction returns to the Mesa Convention Center in Mesa, Arizona. The annual event, now in its 30th year, will once again bring top Western and Native American art and artifacts from around the country to collectors of all stripes. For show owner Brian Lebel, he takes pride that his events have friendly environments, even as the art world is known as a cutthroat industry. “It’s a tough business,” Lebel says. “Some of the bidders and dealers really go at it at these auctions. But at our events we might have two bidders going at it, and one of them has to lose, but they’ll go out for drinks after. It’s all very friendly.” This year’s dealer…

INDIANAPOLIS, IN Every other year, the Eiteljorg Museum announces a new group of artists for its Contemporary Art Fellowship, which awards fellows $25,000 each to pursue their passions, completely unrestricted. Each of the artists are movers and shakers, making waves in the contemporary Native art sphere and making personal, political and societal impacts through their artwork. An exhibition featuring the works of the five 2019 Art Fellowship artists—Matthew Alan Kirk, Dyani White Hawk, Hannah Claus, Demian DinéYazhí and invited artist Rita Letendre—is on view at the museum from November 16 to February 2 of next year. Titled Blurring the Line: The Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship 2019, the show highlights paintings, drawings, mixed media and installations. The title of the exhibition is laden with profound meaning, and the Eiteljorg show is…

WASHINGTON, DC Picturing the American Buffalo: George Catlin and Modern Native American Artists features works by Catlin and modern Native artists exploring the significance and symbolism behind the American buffalo. Catlin’s time spent in America during the 19th century offers insight into the customs and traditions of Native peoples he encountered on his journeys and his efforts to try and preserve images of the buffalo before he feared they would vanish. The two perspectives of modern and antique art offer significant insight into how art preserves history. Artwork in this exhibition will be on display through April 12, 2020 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.…

THERE IS A CONTINUED BROAD-BASED INTEREST in Native American art. Our sales occur throughout the United States, and lately, we have had more inquiries from overseas, especially Japan. We specialize in Native American jewelry and find this to be the most active area of sales with Navajo rugs a close second. Native American jewelry pre-1950s has been strong, and there is great interest in the master silversmiths, which include but are not limited to Kenneth Begay, Mark Chee and Julian Lovato. Squash blossom necklaces and turquoise rings are particularly in demand, and we have found Hopi jewelry across the spectrum to be gaining momentum, especially the pre-1960 examples. On the painting front, Shonto Begay, while not new to the contemporary art scene, has an avid collector base and continues to…

One of the greatest design successes of our modern era has been the iconic pairing of turquoise and silver in American Indigenous adornment. Over the course of 150 years, Native-made jewelry has moved from regional ethnic craft to international artistry. The road to artistic distinction has taken various twists and turns but has always retained one constant: Turquoise lies at the root of this achievement. A recounting of some lesser-known key historical factors will help explain how this melding of two materials—gemstone and precious metal—triggered a creative outpouring of sacred, cultural and personal vision that reached well beyond the American Southwest. Native Americans of that region, most particularly Navajos and Pueblos, called turquoise a “jewel” in stories and songs. The Pueblo Indians already possessed a long tradition of using regional…

SONOITA, AZ In the last part of the 19th century as trading posts began to open and lure consumers who were visiting the Western United States, there was a shift in the Native American art market from creating wearing blankets to weaving floor rugs. This period, which spanned approximately 40 years, from the 1880s to the 1910s, has become known as the transitional period with the textiles made by Navajo weavers reflecting the same name. On view now at Nizhoni Ranch Gallery in Sonoita, Arizona, are approximately 50 transitional weavings that are available for purchase. The appointment-only gallery will highlight the work that has become recognized for its beautiful wool, out of the box designs and having an ideal price point for collectors. “In the late 1880s, a trader by…

SANTA FE, NM Take the grandiose nature of the electrifying Santa Fe Indian Market in August, present it in a smaller scale and add the charm of the holiday season, and you’ve got the SWAIA Winter Indian Market. The annual December event, taking place this year December 14 and 15, features artwork from 150 Native artists selling jewelry, pottery, paintings, weavings, beadwork, sculpture and more, as well as live music, dance and cultural performances. It’s the place you come to do your holiday shopping when you want to make it personal, having discussions with the artists face-to-face about their works. “My favorite thing about Winter Indian Market is how intimate it is,” says Amanda Crocker, SWAIA interim co-director/PR and marketing director. “Whereas the summer market is outdoors and has a…

NEW YORK, NY In the exhibition Stretching the Canvas: Eight Decades of Native Painting, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in New York City challenges the traditional definitions of what people consider Native American artwork to be. Through nearly 40 paintings by 30 artists, the show explores how artists from around 1940 through today developed their own art that broke boundaries in many ways. First, these artists moved from the more familiar mediums of jewelry, pottery and basketry to painting, and second, they found freedom in their artistic visions. “It’s really quite amazing when you think about how stereotypes of Native people and romanticized or even caricatured notions have been imposed upon and controlled so many facets of our artistic expression,” says the museum’s director Kevin Gover (Pawnee).…

LOS ANGELES, CA Bonhams’ December Native American Art sale will bring to the auction block a diversity of Native American art and artifacts. According to Ingmars Lindbergs, director of Native American art at Bonhams, collectors can expect a large collection of katsina dolls, some very fine early Navajo textiles, great examples of Plains pictorial material and much more. One of the most noteworthy aspects of the sale, Lindbergs explains, is a collection of primarily Navajo and Zuni jewelry from the late collector Barbara Rogers Simpson, a collection amassed essentially over Simpson’s entire life. “It’s been years since a collection of this caliber has come up,” says Lindbergs. A Zuni inlaid Shalako plaque, attributed to Leo Poblano (1905-1959) will be offered in the sale. The plaque, depicting a Zuni Shalako dancer,…