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.