Santa Fe Indian Market Preview

According to SWAIA, Indian Market Week promises to be better than ever in 2012. The grand finale that is  Indian Market begins at 7:00 am on Saturday, August 18. 

While the diversity of art has always been celebrated at Indian Market, new art forms, materials, and techniques are joining traditional arts, particularly in jewelry making and Pueblo pottery making. 


Jewelry artists have more choices these days. Economic survival in the face of rising costs of  turquoise and silver drives artists to find new materials and techniques. Fake and Indian-look-alike jewelry continues to undercut the market for authentic Native American-made work. The former are sold throughout the southwest, to the detriment of the real thing. Indian Market informs us of its continuing efforts to assure that only authentic materials and handmade jewelry is offered at Market. 

Pueblo pottery has long been the foundation of Indian Market; The Market was created to present and reward outstanding Native pottery. Pueblo pottery is feeling the impact of "modern" techniques, materials and technologies, accompanied by the pressure to make money. 

Potters in particular suffer economically during recession years.Yet, traditional pottery hasn't been replaced. It is a genre and lifestyle filled with ritual and tradition. A Pueblo potter that makes pottery the traditional way, does so just because he or she believes it is the right way.

According to potters,  traditional pottery requires a pottery-maker to collect and prepare the clay; hand coil it, use paints without commercial additives, and fire the vessel outdoors. The values rooted in making pottery are deeply embedded in communities; the same place where religious ideas values are preserved and nurtured.. Because it is associated with tribal origin and religious belief, it is akin to dance, song, and ritual. 

As collectors of pueblo pottery, Aboriginals Gallery and it's online showcase, Native-Potterylink.comhttp://www.Native-PotteryLink is honored to be part of efforts to support and preserve the deep cultural significance of pottery in the Pueblos. 

Having just posted some Hopi pottery to our Facebook page, I came across this video on YouTube, created by Paul Niemi. It is an interview in 2010 with three Sahmie Sisters, descendants of the great Hopi potter, Nampeyo.
With thanks to Uncle Paulie, who also blogs on blogspot and in keeping with YouTube's Commons License, I am posting it here. I hope you enjoy it.
 

SWAIA's Rising Artists Project

As members of SWAIA, Aboriginals and it's allied websites at Native-PotteryLink.com, Native-American-jewelry.org

Tribalworks.com and //www.ZuniLink.com.  supports programs like these as ways to enrich Native American Arts and Artists.

The Rising Artists Project

 
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico—The Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA) and Nativo Lodge, a Heritage Hotel & Resort will host three artists, Jaque Fragua, Lynnette Haozous, and Ehren Natay, for one-week residencies in June as part of the Rising Artists Project, a new artist-in-residence program geared toward early-career Native American artists in New Mexico.  The three residencies will culminate in an opening reception, June 30, 2012, 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
 
The schedules for the residencies are as follows:  Jaque Fragua, June 11-15; Lynnette Haozous, June 17-23; Ehren K. Natay, June 25-29. Visitors are welcome to visit the artists “in-studio” as they work. 
 
SWAIA and Nativo Lodge invite the public to the opening reception of the Rising Artists Project, June 30, 2012 from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at Nativo Lodge (6000 Pan American Freeway NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109), which will feature a DJ, refreshments, and a cash bar. 
 
Rooms at Nativo Lodge (http://www.hhandr.com/nativo.php) will be available for a special rate of $69 from June 11th through June 29th and for $79 the night of June 30th, courtesy of Heritage Hotels & Resorts.

 

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

JAQUE FRAGUA
Jaque Fragua is an acclaimed multi-media artist from New Mexico. From his cultural background, he has developed a yearning for creativity and for the intrinsic process that is Art. Experimenting with various mediums, such as aerosol, found objects, earthworks, poetry, music, messages of civil unrest, social justice, emotional introspection, and personal healing have heartened his unique perspective on life through art. Fragua has studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts, and in turn, has taught many community-based workshops, such as mural projects/public-art studies, and studio classes for figure drawing & painting. Fragua has worked with fine establishments such as Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Institute of American Indian Arts, & Museum of Indian Arts & Culture to produce progressive/innovative exhibits concerning the plight of Native America.
 
LYNNETTE HAOZOUS
Lynnette Haozous bloodlines include Chiricahua (San Carlos) Apache, Navajo, and Taos Pueblo descent. Haozous is an enrolled member of the San Carlos Chiricahua Apache tribe in Arizona. Haozous was fortunate to grow up and experience living in her tribes nations, but calls Taos Pueblo, New Mexico home. Drawing inspiration from all three of her tribes, Haozous employs herself as an artistic instrument of the indigenous journey to convey her people’s truths, through such mediums as painting, drawing, sculpture, jewelry, pottery, film and stage. While attending Central New Mexico Community College she concentrated in Studio Arts with a focus in Painting. Some of her works include: mural artist for artist Douglas Miles’ show ,“Apaches and Angels” in 2010, at the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts in Santa Fe, which landed her as the back cover artist for THE Magazine, in October 2010.  Haozous also has a deep passion for acting, starring in such films as Lumbini Park (2008), “Kokopelli” (2009), and most recently, the documentary about female native artists entitled, “APACHE Was Here…” (2010). Some of her works on stage include starring in native written plays, such as “Fancy Dancer” (2011), “The Duel”  (2011), and “Smoke” (2010).
 
EHREN NATAY
Ehren Natay (Navajo), a working artist in Santa Fe, NM, looks at connection and conflict in his experience as a Native person who lives off a reservation. “I am torn between two worlds, and the struggle is inherent in my artwork.” Seeking understanding, Natay examines the challenges and injustices of urban environments with Reservation life, as well as questions of social interface. Natay asks, “What challenges do Reservation Indians and Urban Indians face together?  What does it mean to be denied the right to certain outlets of expression because it is culturally taboo?  Is there room for the American society to adopt native tradition?”
 
Ehren has been recognized for his work in sculpture, painting, jewelry, and other media by the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, the Navajo Nation Museum, Native Treasures Art Show, and at the Santa Fe Indian Market.  His acclaimed work has been shown in New Mexico, Arizona, and in Las Vegas, Nevada.

SOUTHWESTERN ASSOCIATION FOR INDIAN ARTS
P.O. Box 969 · Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504 · 505.983.5220 · www.santafeindianmarket.com
SWAIA is a non-profit organization supporting Native arts and cultures

Contemporary Native American Artists

A dedicated group of Native American artist have embarked on a campaign to create a documentary about the contemporary world of Native American art. 




Give this video a watch and, if you are moved by the possibilities, please contribute. Thank you.