Special offers from Indian Market week

Our trip to New Mexico for Indian Market has been quite productive.

We've acquired Cochiti fetish carvings by Salvador Romero,  new Zuni fetish carvings and stunning Navajo jewelry items. When we get them home, the real work begins to put the new items on our Zuni carvings website and our Native American Jewelry website. So, we are offering some discounts for preview purchasers.

Here's a Todd Westika's Shell Corn Maiden with six directional ears of corn. When it is added to the website the price will be $350. Buy it now for $330.

This pair of horses by Salvador Romero will be $150 on the eband $140 if you buy it now.

These two pendants by Navajo Calvin Begay will be $250 on line and $295 on line respectively with preview prices of $200 and $250 respectively if purchased now.

To purchase, email us at Sanibelart@gmail.com and mention this blog message or telephone us at 800-305-0185.

When the items are posted on the websites, the prices will be higher. Give us a call or send us an email message.

ATADA Theft Alert

Antique Tribal Art Dealers Association has posted an alert about the theft of the Sioux ceremonial gown pictured above from a Van Nuys CA. During the night of August 3-4, 2012, a small well-worn cardboard box containing the dress and jewelry pictured was stolen from a car in Van Nuys, CA. A reward is being offered if the items are returned in a timely manner.Please contact Diane Petersen, caretaker of the items. She is asking whoever took
the items to return them as soon as possible, phone 1-719-362-3558 or email godswill7@gmail.com .

Aboriginals: Art of the First Person and its associated online galleries of Native Art dealing in Zuni and other tribal carvings,, Native American Pottery, Native American Jewelry and African, Australian, Inuit and Navajo folk art, members of ATADA, post and report these theft alerts in the hopes that anyone approached by a seller of this stolen item can be identified. There is no statue of limitations in the USA for the possession of stolen goods.

Thank you for your help.

Indian Market is just hours away

...and we are eagerly awaiting it.

In the meantime, we have had some very nice visits with some of our favorite artists.

We have added some excellent and unusual fetish carvings to our selection. We also have added some distinctive and stunning Calvin Begay pendants and link bracelets. But we will not be able to post any of it up until next month.

As a regular customer of ZuniLink.com and Native-American-jewelry.org, you know that we cherry-pick and personally select each item, refusing many pieces that are perfectly acceptable but not perfect enough for you.

Take a look at our web pages this week and bookmark them to return in September for a wonderful treat.

Native Art:Who cares who made it and where it was made

On August 2, the South West Association for Indian Art (SWAIA) will sponsor a panel discussion on Authenticity and the Production of Quality in Native Arts. The event will be co-sponsored by Collected Works Bookstore, the Santa Fe venue for the discussion.

 
Artists, experts, and interested parties in the Santa Fe art market will discuss upholding standards in art making, and integrity in the sale of Native art in shops.  There is little doubt in an art making community like Santa Fe that there is a plethora of beautiful things –many handmade and genuine. But some copies and knock-offs, both deliberate and unintentional, provide ready sources of income to satiate tourists and decorators.  
 
But what are the consequences of allowing the dollar to take the lead in the production of Native art and Indian-style souvenirs in Santa Fe?  Is the groundwork now laid for eventual collapse?  How do artists and non-profits serve to protect heritage, and what is the city of Santa Fe's culpability and role?  
 
The panel, to be moderated by Dr. Bruce Bernstein, Executive Director of SWAIA, is part of SWAIA’s investigation into quality and its commitment to upholding standards of excellence as the preeminent authority in Native art.
 
The August 2 panel begins at 6 pm and is free and open to the public.

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This writer notes in reading the SWAIA announcement that little credit is given to the commercial aspect of a healthy Native art market. Once again, the "institutional" view seems to be that professional collector/dealers are somewhere between irrelevant, venal an at least, unwelcome.


As one of those dealer/collectors of Native American pottery
Indian jewelry and fetish carvings, who is a member of IACA and ATADA, I know countless professionals in the field. They are upright, honest and supportive of the artists and the market. It is in their best interest to protect the integrity of Native arts. After all, in addition to being a passion for them, it is a source of their income and economic success. They wouldn't think of fouling the nest.


Moreover, the network of reputable dealers, whether resident in Santa Fe or online, is fundamental to the appreciation and success of the Native arts genre. How would the products of artists, who often live in remote communities, get to market, to the thousands of collectors who may never get to a pueblo or Indian Market? Collector/dealers not only buy outright, channeling funds immediately to the artists, but also invest a substantial portion of their income in promoting the artists and the art.


Yes, there are some miscreants in shops along the walkways of Santa Fe. But overwhelmingly, the people who deal in authentic Native arts in Santa Fe and online are responsible, reputable and integral to the growth and popularity of Native art. They should be treated with respect by the institutional elite.