Institute of American Indian Arts Celebrates 50th Anniversary

Aboriginals: Art of the First Person and our websites, Native-American-jewelry.org, ZuniLink.com and Native-PotteryLink.com, have watched the growth of IAIA for the 33 years we have been involved with Native American art and culture. We salute its contribution to Native American art. So we join the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the world's only four-year fine arts college dedicated to the study of contemporary Native arts this Saturday. The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) will celebrate its 50th anniversary on October 13 with panel sessions on IAIA's impact on creative writing, museum studies, Indigenous studies and studio arts with astute alumni and faculty. Creative Writing Chairman Jon Davis, who is also Santa Fe's poet laureate, and award-winning poet Joy Harjo(Muscogee (Creek) Nation) will be part of Saturday's discussion. Other panelists include award-winning artist Tony Abeyta (Navajo) and Pojoaque Pueblo Governor George Rivera. Other events include campus tours, garden and greenhouse tours, art demonstrations-- some using state-of-the-art equipment--and student films and art exhibitions.   To view a historic interactive timeline of IAIA's 50-year history, go to www.iaia.edu/50th.

Tribal Art: The New Felony?

Did you know that the person who sells art to you could be a felon? Or you could be one for purchasing any art with a component of wood or plant fiber?

Yep.

According to provisions in the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, aka Public Law 110-246, an amendment to the Lacey Act that is included in the bill makes all wood a federally regulated, suspect substance.

To quote from the blog, Classical Values, “Either raw wood, lumber, or anything made of wood from tables and chairs, to flooring, siding, particle board, to handles on knives, baskets, chopsticks, or even toothpicks has to have a label naming the genus and species of tree that it came from and the country of origin. Incorrect labeling becomes a federal felony.” And the law applies to any wood product that is in interstate commerce within the country.

Here are excerpts from a summary of the law, once again as provided by Classical Values:

“Anyone who imports into the United States, or exports out of the United States, illegally harvested plants or products made from illegally harvested plants, including timber, as well as anyone who exports, transports, sells, receives, acquires or purchases such products in the United States, may be prosecuted.”

[…]

“Violations of the Lacey Act provisions for timber and other plant products, as well as fish and wildlife, may be prosecuted through either civil or criminal enforcement actions. Regardless of any prosecution, the tainted plants may be seized and forfeited.”

So, according to this law and this interpretation of it, anyone who sells you a wood carving, a basket, or an object of art with a wood component, such as a picture frame, and anyone who buys it, without a label as to genus and species of wood and country of origin, can be subject to prosecution of committing a felony. And you can be prosecuted for buying and having it.

Yes, there is a requirement that interstate commerce have been included. But almost everything we sell and own these days was involved in interstate commerce at one time or another.

While all would have to agree that the chances of anyone being prosecuted is remote, it is also true that once the Feds have you in their sights, they can and will use anything to get you. I recall hearing that they never could arrest Al Capone for anything, due to insufficient evidence, until they caught him with an open cigarette pack on which the federal tax stamp had not been destroyed.

Equally of concern is the possibility that materials can be confiscated and not returned, regardless of the outcome of any prosecution.

There have been recent stories of Federal agents raiding and confiscating collections of Native American tribal artifacts on the premise that the items were acquired illegally and in violation of Federal law. Granted, some pieces confiscated do fall under Federal prohibitions. At the same time, many pieces are confiscated that do not constitute contraband. These may be held for long periods, even indefinitely, during investigations.

Keep this in mind as you consider selling or purchasing any goods that fall within the purview of the Lacey Act as amended by Public Law 110-246.

Is anyone safe?

This report is provided by Aboriginals: Art of the First Person, online dealers in African, Australian and Native American tribal art.

We also offer Native American jewelry, Native American pottery and Native American stone carvings online.

Indian Market Top Awards - Native American art

News from Aboriginals: Art of the First Person; TribalWorks, ZuniLink, Native-JewelryLink and Native-PotteryLink

Date Line: Santa Fe, New Mexico, August 22,2009
Reported by William Waites.

The 88th Annual SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market Awards were announced Friday, August 21 at the Members' Sneak Preview at the Santa Fe Convention Center.

Best of Show - Darryl and Rebecca Begay - Belt with cast silver conch-type figures representing "Return from the Long Walk"

(Also Winner of Best of Classification I - Jewelry)

Best of Classification II - Dominique Toya - Swirl Fluted Pot

Best of Classification III - Paintings, Drawings, Graphics & Photography - Jason Garcia

Best of Classification V - Sculpture - Vincent Kaydahzinnie - Bronze Tableau

Best of Classification VI - Textiles & Basketry - Barbara Ornelas - Weaving

Best of Classification VII - Diverse Art Forms - Therese Tohtsoni - Cabinet

Best of Classification VIII - Beadwork & Quillwork - Jamie Okuma - Beaded Figure

Best of Classification IX - Youth (17 years and under) Danielle Weahkee

Standards Award - Joseph Youngblood-Lugo - black on black incised pot

Standards Award -Darryl Growing Thunder - ledger paper art

Standards Award - Diane Douglas-Willard - small lidded basket

Artists' choice - Peer award for exceptional innovation in any media -Jackie Bread

Best of Division -Beadwork and Quillwork -Articles of Attire -Juanita Growing Thunder Fogarty

Many more Division Awards were presented. They will be included in future Tribal Artery blogs.

Do we need a Culture Czar?

Posted by William and Susanne Waites of Native-JewelryLink, Native-PotteryLink, TribalWorks and ZuniLink, under Tribal Art

Culture Grrl Lee Rosenbaum, who blogs as the Culture Grrl and comments on the culture and arts scene, has posted a message expressing disfavor with the concept of a Federal Government culture czar. Frankly, we agree with her.

The government has no business "czar-ing" art and culture. If they can tell us what good art is, they can tell us what bad art is. We fervently believe that judgement is best made by the audience as individuals. Keep the politics out of it.

We've captured an opening paragraph Lee's blog. There is a link to continue at the end.

I've got nothing against better coordination among government programs involving the arts and humanities. Regular meetings of representatives from the relevant offices and agencies could foment creative synergies. Perhaps a White House official with advisory, not managerial, responsibilities could help facilitate this without inserting what we emphatically DON'T need---an extra layer of bureaucratic control over our nation's cultural activity.

Read more

Our Glass Corn Maiden by Ira Lujan

A visit to the Wheelwright Museum's Native American curio trade show

A major exhibition has opened at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe, New Mexico.


Entitled, "From the Railroad to Route 66: The Native American Curio Trade in New Mexico," it traces Native American art and craft from the mid-19th Century to today. The exhibition coincides with the release of Jonathan Batkin's new book of a similar name, The Native American Curio Trade in New Mexico. The book and the exhibition follow 20 years of research by Batkin, the current Director of the Wheelwright.

The visitor's tour through the time tunnel of Native American curio and craft work starts with the first dealer to open a store in Santa Fe, Aaron Gold and his son, Jake. The owners worked with Native artisans to create crafts that could be sold to visitors and to the world at large.

At the time, the interest in things Indian was explosive. Items were created by the thousands at the direction of trading posts and dealers. Actual Native significance was less important than attractiveness to tourists.

Others entered the field. Jake Gold joined up with J. S. Candelario, a first rate promoter on his own, who extended the reach of the curio trade to eastern cities.

Shortly after the start of the 20th Century, Maurice Maisel opened his store in downtown Albuquerque. Maisel set up his shop so that customers could lookdown from the sales floor to a table below with Native silversmiths at work.

(J. L. Hubbell, the Indian trader at Ganado, had witnessed increases in interest and sales when potential buyers could watch Native silversmiths as they created their exotic jewelry.)

In Maisel's shop, each artisan had a workbench and would hand assemble the silver items being created. Hidden away and unseen by customers, were punch presses and mills that were used to stamp out the silver forms that the artisans assembled. This was the first appearance of mechanized manufacturing in a field that was appreciated in large measure because the jewelry was believed to be hand-made.

For several years, this manufacturing approach stirred a lot of controversy, which gave birth to the federal Indian Arts and Crafts Act that required accurate labeling and truthful representation of Native American art.

Even today, disputes arise about what constitutes jewelry hand-made by Indians and what is made in an assembly line and presented as hand-made.

The Wheelwright Museum exhibition is a spoon-fed version of the material covered in the 317-page book by the same name, including several actual examples of the items offered and the advertising and catalogs that promoted them.

If you are in Santa Fe while the show continues, through April 19, 2009, I recommend you take the hour or so it requires to absorb the full story of the Native American Curio Trade in New Mexico. Admission to the Wheelwright is free, although donations are encouraged. If you can't get to the museum, I recommend you get a hold of the book.

Tohono O’odham, the People of the Desert

In the Sonora Desert of south central Arizona, a people reside whose ancestry goes back 100s of years. These are the Tohono O’odham, formerly know as the Pagago Indian tribe, a name translating to “bean eaters” that was rejected by the tribal members who felt it was derogatory.

The reservation, constituting more than 2.8 million acres lies in four disconnected districts, framed by borders south of Casa Grande, including portions of Pinal and Pima Counties and extending south to the Mexican border.

As of December, 2000, the population of Tohono O’odham was estimated at 24,000.

Tohono O’odham people are known principally in the Native American craft world for their baskets. Most Tohono O’odham baskets are monochromatic green or tan, the natural color of the river grass used to weave them.

This Tohono O’odham basket in our collection is a dramatic example of polychromatic weaving in an extraordinary plaque basket.

In the visual arts, Michael Chiago and the late Leonard Chana achieved recognition for paintings and drawings of traditional O'odham activities and scenes. Chiago has exhibited at the Heard Museum and has contributed cover art to Arizona Highways magazine and University of Arizona Press books; Chana illustrated books by Tucson writer Byrd Baylor and created murals for Tohono O'odham Nation buildings.

At the National Museum for the American Indian (NMAI), the Tohono O'odham were represented in the founding exhibition. Mr. Lopez blessed the exhibit. In 2004, the Heard Museum awarded Danny Lopez its first heritage award, recognizing his lifelong work sustaining the desert people's way of life.

Among the more visible aspects of Tohono O’odham are the Desert Diamond Casino, which funds a portion of the tribes activities (but not all) and a major tourist attraction near Tucson, Mission San Xavier del Bac, the "White Dove of the Desert." The mission, founded in 1700 by the Jesuit missionary and explorer Eusebio Kino, is in the San Xavier District. The current church building was constructed by the Tohono O'odham and Franciscan priests from 1783 to 1797. It is one of many missions built in the southwest by the Spanish on their then-northern frontier.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tribal Artery is a periodic blog by William Ernest Waites and Susanne Waites, proprietors of Aboriginals:Art of the First Person, an online gallery with links at ZuniLink.com, Native-JewelryLink.com, Native-PotteryLink.com and TribalWorks.com

In Search of Sammy Smith, Navajo carver

It started before we traveled to Santa Fe this year.

A customer told us that she had seen a carving by Sammy Smith that she was interested in buying but it had already been sold by the store where she was shopping.

We were slightly acquainted with Sammy’s work but it was the result of the rare carving of his that we picked up through trusted third-party wholesalers.

Based on her request, we set out to find Sammy Smith, introduce ourselves personally and purchase a carving similar to the one the customer was looking for.
We finally found Sammy (pictured here) in Gallup, New Mexico, at small workshop on Route 66. (The legendary Route 66, where millions have gotten "their kicks", runs through the heart of Gallup.)

We walked into a veritable feast of carvings, each one more fascinating than the last. Once we started, we put aside dozens of carvings. We were particularly struck by his horses.

We have several collectors who are horse lovers. A few of them asked us to look for horse carvings that they could add to their collections. Sammy Smith gave us a big head start.

Here are a few examples of Sammy Smith’s wonderful carvings:

We start with Sammy Smith's statuesque Picasso marble horse.

Not a horse, but how clever is this pipestone donkey by Sammy Smith?

Rainbow calsilica forms a Sammy Smith owl with incredible "camouflage".

Sammy Smith is a stand-up guy when it comes to this Picasso marble turtle.

Sammy Smith had a little lamb. Its fleece was white as marble.

These and other carvings by Sammy Smith can be found in more variation and with complete details about size and price at

http://www.zunilink.com/Sammy-Smith-Navajo-Fetish-Carvings.htm

When you visit, be sure to click through to Sammy's second and third pages as well.

Dallin Maybee receives Best of Show Award at 2007 Santa Fe Indian Market.

Santa Fe, NM August 17, 20007: Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA) tonight announced that the Best of Show winner of the 86th Annual Indian Market artist awards program for 2007 is Dallin Maybee, (Seneca/Norther Arapaho), whose winning entry was two panels of bead work done in ledger book style as the cover for a children’s book. One panel represents a mother and child and the second represents a father son, with horses as the theme because horses have been so important to native people. This entry also won Best of Classification for Bead Work & Quill Work.

Dallin Maybee with his Best of Show winning work.

Additional "Best of" awards were awarded to Philander Begay (Navajo), Artist's Choice - Peer award for exceptional innovative work in any media, for a silver concho belt; Ric Charlie (Navajo) for Best of Classification - Jewelry; Rainy Naha (Hopi) for Best of Classification - Pottery; W.B. Franklin ( Navajo) for Best of Classification - Paintings, Drawings, Graphics & Photography; Kevin Sekakuku (Hopi) for Best of Classification - Wooden Pueblo Figurative Carvings & Sculpture; Anthony Begay (Navajo) for Best of Classification - Sculpture; Melissa Darden (Chitimacha) for Best of Classification - Textiles & Basketry; Jamie Okuma (Shoshone Bannock/Luiseno) for Best of Classification - Diverse Art Forms; Chris Youngblood Cutler (Santa Clara Pueblo) for Best of Classification - Youth (17 years and under); Gloria Kahe (Navajo) for Helen Naha Award; Chandler Goodstrike (Gros Ventre) for Indian Arts Fund Award; and America Meredith (Cherokee) for IAIA Distinguished Alumni Award - for Excellence in Contemporary Native American Arts. Six of the winning artists were available at the presentation and announcement. They are pictured below. (L-R) Ric Charlie, Melissa Darden, Dallin Maybee, Jamie Okuma, Chris Youngblood Cutler, America Meredith

More pictures and Indian Market news will follow in subsequent blog messages.

Thanks for your interest.
Posted by William Ernest Waites, Eyewriter, and Susanne Waites, Aboriginals Gallery.