Innholdsfortegnelse for June-July 2022/ No. 39 i Native American Art Magazine

Welcome to Native American Art magazine’s June/July issue! As Native American art continues to shine a bright light on the artists and the shows, collectors are noticing the major art influences of Native American artists within the contemporary art world. When we reflect on the influence that Native American artists had in the 1950s, when the blossoming American abstract movement was becoming mainstream, we see a pattern happening again. As we head toward some of the biggest Native American art fairs in the United States in the coming months, we see these modern artists coming on the scene with fervor—new ideas, new art, new ways of mixing art—to create contemporary pieces that are must-owns by collectors. Of course, traditional influence and techniques will always be the heart of Native American…

First there was earth. Then there was fire. And at the end, amid the smoke and ash, there was pottery. Of all the categories of Native American art, few have so thoroughly delighted collectors as much as pottery. While the artwork is always exceptional, pottery also has a mystique that is palpable when you’re at a museum, a gallery or browsing booths at Santa Fe Indian Market. You can sense it when you talk to the artists, including some of the rock stars of the pottery world, artists like Russell Sanchez, Jody Folwell, Richard Zane Smith, Nancy Youngblood, Virgil Ortiz and many more. These artists, and so many others, are not only honoring traditions, they are pushing pottery into the 21st century. It’s that push and pull—traditional and contemporary, form…

Distinctive in their fractured, compositionally complex designs, the Northern Northwest Coast figurative ceremonial “Chilkat” dance blanket, known as Naaxéin (nahk-HAYN) by the Tlingit (translating to “fringe about the body”),1 are not only visually striking, but expressions of cultural identity, ingenuity, adaptability and technical prowess. Unlike the way by which many of us encounter the Chilkat blanket today, spread flat and hanging in a museum case, the robes were conceived to be royal objects in motion, the fringe swirling and swaying as the noble wearer danced at a potlatch and other special events, the blanket draped over his or her shoulders, dipping and turning to a drumbeat and breathing life into crest figures represented within the weavings. The general styling and weaving technique of the Chilkat blanket is said by Native…

Opening August 27 is the thrilling exhibition Art of the Northwest Coast, with contemporary pieces pulled from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s permanent collection, along with a recently acquired 147-piece grouping from the Richard Walker collection. The museum notes that the exhibition has depth and beauty unlike anything else and is “not all that typical for most of our visitors,” says Eric D. Singleton, curator of ethnology. Indigenous art from the Northwest holds a unique place in the Americas, and is known for its deep symbolism, narrative and distinctive style. The Richard Walker collection, making up most of the exhibition, includes contemporary works like wood bowls, horn spoons, baskets, pipes and sculptures, to name just a few. “This actually filled a very significant gap in our Northwest Coast…

SANTA FE, NM Blue Rain Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is known for its impressive art collections that encompasses contemporary, Western heritage and Native American art, across many mediums including paintings, bronze, pottery and jewelry. Beginning June 9, the gallery will present Group Glass Exhibition, a new show that features 10 esteemed contemporary artists. “Glass is a magical medium,” says executive director Denise Phetteplace, “and this exhibition seeks to further illustrate that point. Glass can be blown, stretched, cut, cast, cold-worked, colored, opalescent, opaque and luminous. It can visually look like glass, or it can take on the appearance of other materials. In an exhibition like this, we can highlight just how broad glass art can be; each of the participating artists represents a unique skillset and visual style…

LOS ANGELES, CA On March 15, John Moran Auctioneers presented 300 lots from the James M. Cole Collection of American Indian Art to an enthusiastic audience of collectors that resulted in a 100 perecent sell-through. While there was a variety of Native American objects, art and artifacts represented, the primary focus of the sale was Cole’s extensive collection of Native American baskets, mainly from California and the Southwest. Many of the 150 basketry lots came out with finishing prices well above original estimates, but the star of the show was a Polychrome California Mission Rattlesnake Basket. Masterfully woven into a striking composition of a coiled rattlesnake, the stand-out piece ratcheted bidders up to the final strike at $29,250. Several other California Mission baskets soared above their estimated values—one piece was…

SANTA FE, NM After being canceled for two straight years, the Native American Clothing Contest is returning to SWAIA’s Santa Fe Indian Market. The popular event, which allows Native Americans of all ages to participate in a fashion show with traditional clothing, has not taken place due to the pandemic. The contest is broken up by age group and often included young children, who would walk across the bandstand in the Santa Fe Plaza wearing elaborate and magnificent clothing that represented their culture and heritage. The show was praised for showing the more traditional aspects of Native American fashion. The show also serves as a complementary part of the larger, more modern fashion show that takes place later in the day. Both events have historically taken place on Sunday during…

Art often focuses on one or two of the five senses, including sight and touch. But when it comes to carvings, particularly carvings involving cedar, smell can also be a factor. That earthy and organic smell—if it doesn’t transport you outside into the cool air, then something is very wrong. For Qap’u’luq (John Marston), a Stz’uminus artist from Vancouver Island, British Columbia, his material is an extension of his art form. “I’m mostly using red cedar and yellow cedar. I’ve also worked with old growth for many years, ever since the beginning,” Qap’u’luq says. “As time has gone on, accessibility to certain material has changed, or I’ve branched out. Mostly I try not to restrict myself to the more traditional material. I’ve used black walnut or even metal to make…

Every region of North America is unique, and every form of art is precious to its people and culture. The Southwest is known for its magnificent weavings and jewelry. The Pueblos have their exquisite pottery forms. The Great Plains has astounding beadwork and quillwork. The Northeast has its intricate ash baskets. Even when the mediums shift around and diverge from the classic categories, each region’s artists make work that is so uniquely designed that its place of origin is unmistakable. This is certainly true of the Northwest Coast, which has produced artwork for thousands of years, much of it so specifically designed that there is nothing even remotely comparable to it anywhere else in the world. The nations and tribes that have made this work include Tlingit, Tsimshian, Haida, Bella…

PAULA A. BAXTER Paula A. Baxter, a former curator and adjunct professor from New York, is an independent design historian living in Scottsdale, Arizona. Her best-known titles are Southwest Silver Jewelry and Pueblo Bead Jewelry: Living Design. Paula’s sixth book, Navajo and Pueblo Jewelry Design: 1870 to 1945 should be released in 2022. She’ll be hitting the road soon with her photographer husband Barry Katzen to begin work on the sequel. CHRISTY CHRISTODOULIDES Christy Christodoulides, M.A., ISA AM, is an independent art scholar and accredited member with the International Society of Appraisers (ISA) specializing in historic and contemporary Native American artwork and material culture; Northwest regional art, American fine art and historic photography. She is the proprietor of Duwamps Appraisals in Seattle. ALEXANDER DAWKINS Alexander Dawkins is a co-owner of…

Nearly four years later, the vivid memory of my first visit to the collection at the Indian Arts Research Center (IARC) lives on in my mind’s eye. If I close my eyes, I can recall the incomparable yet indescribable feeling of being in the presence of so many beautiful pots—so many beautiful relatives. Anyone who has ever set foot within the vaults of the IARC can surely relate to this memory. What sets the IARC apart from any museum is the open storage of the collection. The vaults are filled with rows and rows of shelves upon shelves of pottery—each item with a story and life of its own. With a collection of more than 12,000 items that span from the sixth century to the present, the IARC is primarily…

Now on view is the thrilling exhibition Painted Reflections: Isomeric Design in Ancestral Pueblo Pottery that explores the optical illusions and perceptual reversals found in what are called isomeric designs. Three curators with the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture have brought their individual expertise to highlight and analyze the significance of these visual structures—Joseph Traugott, Ph.D., retired curator at the New Mexico Museum of Art; Antonio R. Chavarria (Santa Clara Pueblo), curator of ethnology at MIAC; and Scott G. Ortman, Ph.D., associate professor of anthropology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. “The great thing about the three of us coming together for this, is that each of us brings a different point of view, and together, there’s a rather holistic presentation of pueblo pottery,” Traugott explains. “Each point of…

Northwest Coast Indigenous art has always been receptive to cultural and social aesthetic trends. When argillite sculpture from the archipelago of Haida Gwaii caught the attention of visitors and collectors during the mid-1800s, Haida artists began creating Western objects like pipes and mugs from this slate-like rock. After chainsaws became widely available in the 1960s, artists in the Pacific Northwest jumped at the opportunity to own a tool that could help them both fell trees and rough-out large-scale sculptures. Advancements in three-dimensional printing and laser technology have now inspired some Northwest Coast Indigenous artists to experiment with new techniques and materials. While there are traditionalists in every field, many Northwest Coast artists have historically embraced technological advancements to help push the art form forward and to innovate. Some galleries in…

“The Tlingit art form chose me,” says artist James Johnson. “I’m fortunate my ancestors placed this gift into my hands to carry through my lifetime.” He remembers the powerful moment when a Tlingit elder observed him carving. “She said, ‘Your ancestors are smiling down on you,’” Johnson recounts. “That cut me to the core of my being; it makes me emotional every time I think of what she said…Every day I work to better myself at this. I work to learn more about our culture and carry it forward. As a Tlingit artist, you have such a larger responsibility on your shoulders than just trying to create something that is ‘beautiful.’ You’re carrying forward a tradition, a culture that went through colonization, where everything that could have been done, was…

SANTA FE, NM The Diné people have lived and thrived in the American Southwest for thousands of years, staying in close harmony with nature, and a great deal of their artwork reflects that connection. Historic Diné settlement areas like Window Rock, Canyon de Chelly and Monument Valley provide some of nature’s most gorgeous settings from which to draw inspiration, as well as millenia of cultural stories and traditions. An upcoming exhibition at the Dancing Rabbit Gallery, running July 1 through August 31, celebrates the vast array of work created by talented artists of the Navajo Nation. “Diversity in Diné art is a fascinating subject for me, and the more I examine the subject, the more fascinating it becomes,” says Katie Richarme, owner of the Dancing Rabbit Gallery. She adds that…

INDIANAPOLIS, IN The Eiteljorg Indian Market and Festival returns to a live, in-person format for the first time since 2019, just in time to celebrate the annual event’s 30th anniversary. From June 25 to 26, nearly 150 Native American artists representing 60 tribal nations across the United States and Canada will gather at the Eiteljorg Museum to show and sell a diverse array of jewelry, pottery, paintings, beadwork, basketry, weavings, carvings and more. Indian Market and Festival provides an opportunity for market-goers to meet the artists and learn about their work, process and culture firsthand in an intimate setting. “Our hospitality and going above and beyond to make sure all of our artists and their families feel welcome is one of the aspects that make this festival special,” says Brandi…