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.

A Primer on Old Zuni Pueblo Art

We have recently come across a video that was recorded by Deb Slaney, currently Curator at the Albuquerque Museum, when she was with the Heard Museum, Phoenix.

It is a fascinating discussion of the background of the C.G. Wallace Collection and the artists and work represented in it.

This link will take you to it on YouTube. http://youtu.be/0J1Kwij6PJs

As collectors, dealers and students of Native American jewelry, and Zuni art particularly, we are always interested in learning more about the history of Zuni jewelry and carvings, and the techniques of the artists who created it a generation ago.

ATADA Alerts of Native American Art Theft

Recently, the Antique Tribal Art Dealers Association, of which Aboriginals: Art of the First Person is a member, published an alert about two Navajo weavings stolen from a Santa Fe, NM gallery.

Alerts like this are intended to call attention to items that may subsequently show up in the resale or collector market. This time, as in the past, it worked. With one of the weavings being recovered already.

Please look at the linked-to page to see a photo of the weaving that still is at large. If you run across it, please report your information to ATADA or the gallery. It is against the law to possess stolen merchandise.

Aboriginals offers Native American art at ZuniLink (Zuni and other Native carvings), Native-American-jewelry (Native American silver and turquoise jewelry), Native-PotteryLink (Pueblo Pottery) and TribalWorks (Navajo folk art).

Lena Boone, Zuni fetish carver, talks about her family and carving.

Lena Boone has long been one of our favorite Zuni carvers. We meet her early in our pursuit of wonderful Zuni fetishes, possibly 20 years ago.

Lena is very productive, very gracious, and very giving of her love, care and attention to others.

She also is very unassuming.

An unfortunate aspect of In this video, during which she talks about her family, both ancestral and current, is my difficulty in arranging a proper video interview venue. Once she agreed, I had to settle for the venue at hand. It was a noisy booth at this year's Indian Market (2010).

The background sound is terrible, and I have not figured out how to filter it out, if that is even possible. If I do, I will re-post the video at a later time.

But for now, please listen carefully and learn about Lena's connection to the legendary Teddy Weahkie, one of the original Zuni fetish carvers, and how she fosters the talent of youngsters who have been in her care.

She is a truly remarkable woman.

You may see many pieces by Lena Boone on her pages at ZuniLink.com - click on one of her pages in the left hand navigation column. Then click on additional pages (there are five) as you go.

You may also use the search box on the Zuni Link home page and enter "Boone" too access carvings by her and Leland Boone, Emery Boone and Evalena Boone.

A fetish carving by Lena Boone not only brings traditional Zuni values of healing and protection but also carries the personal spirit and caring of Lena herself.


Thank you.

Brian Yatsattie tells about his Zuni fetish art.

During our travels in the Southwest, we found Brian Yatsattie at his home. We have carried Brian's Zuni fetish carvings for a while, having first met him at the Santo Domingo Arts & Crafts Festival in 2009. His six directions carvings, created in antler are still available on our web site.

This year, we acquired more Zuni fetishes from him and also had an opportunity to videotape him outside of his home, which now is on San Felipe Pueblo. Here is the Brian Yatsattie in his own words.



Brian's new Zuni carvings will soon be posted at http://www.ZuniLink.com. Come back and look in a few days.

Thank you.

A video interview with Melvin Sandoval

This blog contains a video. Scroll down to view it.

Introduction

Yesterday, we had the great pleasure of spending some time with Melvin Sandoval in his San Felipe Pueblo home.

We were driving through the Pueblo on our way to another meeting when we passed Melvin's home. One of his sons was in the front yard tending to the corn crop that was in various stages of ripening. Melvin later told us some of it already had been harvested, while other rows are still to reach maturity.

We pulled into Melvin's driveway and called to his son, "Is Melvin here?" In less than thirty seconds, Melvin emerged from behind his tidy, manufactured home. His hands were filled with small pieces of stone and covered with dust. We had caught him in the act of carving.

After a few seconds of "who are you?" looks from Melvin, we identified ourselves, "Susanne and Bill Waites". We had not seen Melvin for a couple of years. His appearance had changed and so had ours. Of course, we had the advantage of knowing where we were. For Melvin, we were just two people who appeared unannounced in a (rental) car he didn't recognize.

As the light of recognition came on, there were hearty, "How are you"s, followed by embraces of reunion.

Melvin invited us into his home and we sat at his dining table, catching up. He has a new granddaughter, by name of Madison, and he had started carving in earnest again, after a break for family and pueblo duties.

He showed us some of his newest carvings - a couple of otters, a couple of wolves and an eagle. The first four are in dolomite, a stone he likes to carve but has not had much supply of lately. The eagle is in travertine.

As he shared his vision, artistry and motivation with us, we asked if we could record him talking about it.

The Video:



Acknowledgements:

We enjoy our time with Melvin, as we do with all of our artist friends from Native America.

It is one of the fringe benefits of operating web sites that feature their work - ZuniLink.com, Native-JewelryLink.com, Native PotteryLink.com and TribalWorks.com.

We hope you also will enjoy this encounter with Melvin Sandoval, a San Felipe carver with ties to Zuni and a deft touch in the Zuni style. His new carvings will be available on ZuniLink in September.

Tribal Artery - Mashantucket Pequot Schemitzun cancelled

The Mashantucket Pequot tribe of Connecticut has announced that it's annual pow-wow event, Schemitzun, has canceled the event for 2009. According to Lori Potter, a spokesperson for the tribe made the announcement while indicating that it was part of the tribal governements plans to reduce expenses in this time of economic stress.

The Mashantucket Pequot also operate the Native America casino called Foxwoods Resort Casino. The event, also known as the Feast of Green Corn and Dance, was launched in 1992. It has been held at the Miner Farm on Winecthog Hill Road, North Stonington , CT. where hundrds of Native Americans competed in dances and rodeo acts, and native American booths sold art, clothing and jewelry. There also were demonstrations of various Native American crafts.

In canceling the event, the tribe graciously thanked all those who had participated in the event and supported it in the past.

It is unclear whether or not the event will be reinstated when economic conditions improve.

Aboriginals:Art of the First Person, owners of websites that feature Native American art, carvings, pottery and jewelry, regrets the loss of a major event such as this. We big fans of powwows and encourage all our readers to patronize any that are held where you live or visit.

Tribal Art - Saving the Planet online

Whether or not you believe in man-made global warming – personally, I am an agnostic - it turns out that you may be reducing your impact on the planet by purchasing items online instead of in-person.

The Carnegie Mellon Green Design Institute put together a study that purports to prove that e-commerce not only uses less energy but also reduces the carbon footprint of retailing by one-third vs. bricks-and-mortar retailing.

The team, led by H. Scott Matthews, compared energy consumption and CO2 emissions required to deliver a small thumb drive to a customer via a shopping trip to a store vs. buying and shipping from an online site.

According to the study, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, the highest environmental cost of traditional shopping is the drive by car to the store. (This was based on an estimate of an average shopping round-trip being 14 miles, with three different items purchased on a trip.)

But what about the environmental cost of delivery to you home? The researchers determined that the “last-mile” cost of delivering a package as part of a UPS delivery truck’s trip - in which numerous packages are delivered to different addresses – requires significantly less energy per package.

Okay, what about the cost of data centers and computers? Well, it turns out that, on average the incremental costs of running data centers and computers, beyond the energy costs that are incurred by businesses tracking inventory and consumers using computers for other tasks, is insignificant.

To be fair, the extra packaging to ship safely adds mare cost than carrying an item home in shopping bag. In addition, using air mail or personalized express shipping options can increase the impact on the environment. On the other hand, using the postal service3 to ship has almost no incremental cost since the time and resources are already being used for normal mail delivery.

There is one way the traditional retailing has less impact on the environment than e-commerce; if you walk to the store. Of course, that seldom applies to shopping for tribal art since so few of us live down he stet from a tribal art gallery.

While we are on the subject of tribal art, let’s reflect on its benign environmental impact.

Very little if any non-renewable energy is used in the making of tribal art. True, some Native American carvers use electrically-driven carving tools. But then they start with natural materials, stone, wood, semi-precious gems, silver, gold and clay with very little energy expended in manufacturing and very little wasted material.

For example, Native American potters create their works the traditional way. They mine the clay by hand. They form it by hand. They fire in pits using wood. They polish by hand with smoothing stones.

Finally, buying tribal art supports a process and practice that has been place for generations, and the artists who were among the first to recognize the importance of honoring Mother Earth.

This report is brought to you by Susanne and William Waites, proprietors of Aboriginals: Art of the First Person, with Web sites at ZuniLink.com, featuring Zuni and other Native American carvings; Native-JewelryLink.com, featuring the finest in Native American Indian jewelry; Native-PotteryLink, featuring handmade Indian pottery from Native Pueblos; and TribalWorks.com, combining triabl art from African, Australian Aboriginal art, Arctic art and Navajo folk art.

We are gratified to be able to bring this outstanding tribal work to your attention, on behalf of the artists (and the planet).

ZuniLink offers free shipping to military addresses

ZuniLink.com ( http://www.ZuniLink.com ) announces a special offer to people who want to send healing and protective holiday gifts to friends and loved ones in the military.

We will ship gifts of Zuni fetish carvings to any military address at no charge. Also included are shipments to domestic addresses of members of the armed services.

“We think it is especially appropriate at this time of giving and gratitude to offer this free service. As collectors of Zuni fetishes know, they are considered by Native Americans to possess special powers of protection and healing.

“Whether or not the recipient shares Zuni beliefs in special powers, the fact of the gift manifests a material wish for good health, protection and power to the person receiving it. We are happy to pay our thanks to those who guard the ramparts by offering free shipping.”

More information about the offer and the special qualities of Zuni fetish carvings can be found at the ZuniLink website (http://www.ZuniLink.com/ZuniLink-Millitary-Shipping-Page.htm )

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Aboriginals: Art of the First Person, the parent company of ZuniLink.com is a member of the Lee County (FL) Alliance for the Arts, the Indian Arts and Crafts Association and the Southwestern Association for Indian Art. Orders may be placed online or by phoning 239-482-7025 or 800-305-0185.

Zuni Festival at Museum of Northern Arizona

This is the weekend for the Annual Zuni Festival of Arts and Culture at the Museum of Northern Arizona in flagstaff.

In its 18^th year, the festival will be held on Saturday, May 24 and Sunday, May 25 as a collaboration of the MNA and the A’shiwi A’wan Museum and Heritage Center at Zuni.

The Zuni Pueblo is one of New Mexico’s largest, covering more than 600 acres. More than 11,000 Zunis exist in and around the Pueblo, with about 80% of the families involved in some artistic endeavor. These include the creation of everything from pottery to carvings to jewelry and two-dimensional graphic art. Some families also create beautiful beaded figures, such as the one by Jeannette Dewesee, shown to the right.

The following artists and craftspeople are schedule to exhibit and/or demonstrate at the festival.

Colin Coonsis―inlay jewelry
Kenneth Epaloose―pottery
Rolanda Haloo―jewelry,
Silvester Hustitio―painting
Otto Lucio―jewelry
Claudia Peina―fetish carving,
Lynn Quam―fetish carving
Octavius and Irma Seowtewa―needlepoint jewelry
Margia Simplicio―beadwork
Noreen Simplicio―pottery
Raylan and Patty Edaakie - silver and inlay jewelry
Lorandina Sheche - fetish carvings
Todd Westika - fetish carvings

According to A:shiwi A:wan Director, Jim Enote, the Zuni Festival of Arts and Culture is “…more than an event about Zuni, it is a very public gesture, acknowledging Zuni presence and influence on the Colorado Plateau.”

Robert Breunig, director of the Museum of Northern Arizona agrees, “The Zuni culture is an integral part of the Colorado Plateau, with close cultural connections to the land and ancestral villages in southeastern Arizona and western New Mexico. The spiritual and ancestral landscape of the Zuni or A:shiwi includes the San Francisco Peaks or Sunha:kwin K'yaba:chu Yalanne in the west, Steamboat Wash in the north, Mount Taylor in the east, the Salt and Gila River Basins to the south, and of course, the Grand Canyon, the Zuni place of origin. By creating a collaborative relationship with the Zuni Tribe, MNA is able to ensure that the dialogue and cultural exchange about the Zuni people and their lifeways comes directly from the source.”

More information about the event is available at the Gallup Independent newspaper website and the website of the Museum of Northern Arizona.

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This message is brought to you as a public service in support of all tribal arts by William and Susanne Waites, proprietors of online galleries featuring Zuni carving, Zuni jewelry and Zuni pottery.

Dee Edaakie returns. More Zuni fetishes.

Tribal Artery is a periodic blog about tribal art from William Ernest Waites, tribal art collector and trader.
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The phone rang. We didn't get to it in time.

So we placed a return call to the number.

It was Dee Edaakie, one of our favorite Zuni carvers.

Actually, he had hit the wrong number on his speed dial. When he realized he wasn't dialing his uncle, he had hung up.

We figured it was karma, since we had it on our "to do" list to call Dee about new carvings.

So we ordered and he mailed.

Now there are a handful of beautiful new Dee Edaakie carvings on our ZuniLink website.

Here are some examples:Lapis Lazuli bear by Dee Edaakie

Lapis Lazuli parrot by Dee Edaakie

Hematite bear by Dee Edaakie

Ivorystone bear by Dee Edaakie

Zebra rock bear by Dee Edaakie

Visit the web site at ZuniLink.com to see more and get more information about these and other exciting Dee Edaakie Zuni fetish carvings.

Small carving worth $57 million

News from Sotheby's is that a small, 3 1/4 inch carving of a lion that is attributed to Mesopotamia some 5,000 years ago, just sold at auction for $57 million, including the auctioneers commission. You read it right. Fifty-seven million dollars.



It is the most that has ever been bid for a sculpture, surpassing $29 million bid for a Picasso sculpture earlier this year.



For more info, check this out.



Now, place this in the context of beautiful carvings by Zuni and other Native American carvers. Makes them look like incredible bargains, eh?



Take a look at some of them at ZuniLink.

It pays to advertise. It costs to ignore Tribal Artery

By William Ernest Waites

We advertise in the Smithsonian Museum American Indian Magazine from time to time.

The most recent edition included our ad featuring the newly acquired Troy Sice Nativity set carved from antler. With six elegantly carved pieces it is a stunning creation by a very talented Zuni carver.

No sooner than the magazine showed up in subscriber mailboxes than we received an order for it. Whoosh! At the speed of zephyr, it was gone.

We have since received numerous inquiries from others who are interested in purchasing it or one like it. We are aggressively seeking another set or two. But this is not the kind of item that is hiding in some inventory somewhere.

So it is difficult to make the connection or even special order one or more.

Here's the irony.

If you scroll down in the Tribal Artery blog to the November 6 blog message, you will see that we announced the acquisition of the Troy Sice Nativity at that time. Had anyone seen and contacted us about it, they could have purchased it first.

So, if you are interested in Nativities, we encourage to view the other sets available on our web site at Native-PotteryLink. We have many that may be just what you are looking for.

Thank you.

Dee Edaakie Zuni carvings have been added to Zuni LInk

As we catch up with posting of new carvings acquired during our last trip, we have added an entire page for Dee Edaakie's carvings. You'll find them on this page.


Dee is one of the group of what we consider to be young "master carvers" at Zuni. And they all are friends. The group includes Dee Edaakie, Jeff Tsalabutie, Gibbs Othole and Brian Hattie.

It is a highlight of our visits to Zuni Pueblo when we can see them all.

We think you will enjoy looking at Dee's work all on one page.