Uncle Paulie's World Gives Photographic Glimpse of 2012 SWAIA Indian Market



Handmade Doll by Emil Her Manyhorses/Photo: Paul Niemi

It's really true what they say...a picture is worth a thousand words!  In August, I attended the 2012 SWAIA Indian Market in Santa Fe.  The weekend started with a visit to Ahalenia Studio for Zombie Skins, a contemporary Native American art show higlighting creative works with the undead as their theme. Then it was on to Eggman and Walrus Art Emporium for Low Rez: Native American Lowbrow Art featuring the work of many of the same artists from the Ahalenia Studio show.  Then it was on to the SWAIA Indian Market Preview and then the Market itself over  the weekend.

Enjoy a video montage of all the colors and beauty (the people and the art!) that surrounded me during my fantastic weekend in Santa Fe HERE!

Zombies and Indians and Art, Oh My!

Photo: The Virtual Stage

Who doesn't love zombies, right?  They're everywhere these days.  Television fans are sitting on gravestones and pitchforks waiting for the new season of TMC's Walking Dead, which premieres October 14.  In Vancouver, British Columbia, The Virtual Stage, brings The Zombie Syndrome to town October 13-31.  This production takes audience members on a scavenger hunt from a starting location in downtown Vancouver.  The catch?  They won't know where until the day before when attendees will receive a phone call from a character in the show telling them where to meet.  Using the GPS on their smartphones (Yes, phones are very much encouraged!), audience groups advance the story by finding clues.  Conceptually, this show is like a theatrical "progressive dinner" without the food and with a little high-tech thrown in for good measure. Zombies lurk around every corner. See it for only $25!  For more information visit www.facebook.com/TheVirtualStage or follow them on Twitter @TheVirtualStage.

This fall, the University of Washington in Seattle is actually offering a course entitled Zombies and Indians.  The course is designed around the idea that "zombies have existed at some level of reality for centuries,"   though they were popularized during the Twentieth Century. The description goes on to add that they "have their origins at the many points of collision between colonizer and colonized..." and "have always walked the uncertain spaces between binary 'certainties' such as us and them, rich and poor, slave and master, and, of course, alive and dead."  It isn't hard then to see how this concept can be linked to Native Americans, and their treatment in popular culture iconography.

  

Photo: Ahalenia Studio/
Zombie Skins

In fact, there is a generation of contemporary Native American artists who are taking on these images, turning them around to make them their own to elicit discussions of issues that affect Native Americans.  Much of this "repatriation" is done in works that pay homage to the lowbrow movement of the late 1970s, or what people have come to know as "pop surrealism."   At first glance, many of these pieces seem frivolous with their bright color palettes and familiar subject matter plucked directly from popular culture.  While some pieces are meant to be tongue-in-cheek, according to Swedish-Cherokee artist America Meredith, who easily maneuvers between contemporary Native and lowbrow art, these works are intended to have a broader, more biting message.  "Even though the imagery in our work might be silly; the messages are serious."

She went on to say that Native artists walk a fine line of "respect and criticism" of the world.  "Many of the artists are also young parents, so they don't have the luxury of nihilism.  We hate society, but we love our grandmothers.”  Instead of fitting the mainstream stereotype of artists as iconoclast, many of the artists are dancers and are active in their own tribes’ ceremonies, and the art reflects this respect for their tribes. But many things need to be torn down and critiqued." 







Installation by Daniel McCoy in
Low-Rez at Eggman and Walrus Art Emporium
 

Last month, when I was in Santa Fe for the 2012 SWAIA Indian Market, I had the opportunity to check out some of this type of work in two exciting shows.  Low-Rez: Native American Lowbrow Art was curated by Meredith and on view at Eggman and Walrus Art Emporium just off of the Santa Fe Plaza.  The work was thoughtful, colorful, well executed and garnered praise by Native American art heavy hitters. "The response has been overwhelmingly fantastic. Luckily hosting the show during Market enabled us to share our work with the widest possible audience of people in the Native art world, including curators of major museums," Meredith explained.  

While Low-Rez was the show that attracted everyone's attention, quietly situated across town at Meredith's Ahalenia Studio I found Zombie Skins: Salon de la Vie Morte, another group show featuring many of the same artists from the Eggman and Walrus exhibtion, including Meredith, Monty Singer, Frank Buffalo Hyde, Daniel McCoy, Mary Beth Nelson, Tom Farris,  Chris Pappan, Melissa Melero, Ryan Singer, and more.  Meredith found herself coordinating this show as well.  I missed the opening night party but had the opportunity to peruse the studio walls uninterrupted by other spectators in late afternoon just before the SWAIA preview night. The art was high-quality, interesting, fun, and some pieces were even priced as little as $40!

 

Zombies Skins at Ahalenia Studio
Photo: Paul Niemi

Why a zombie show (besides the obvious reason that they are cool!)?  "Several artists at the Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair and Market asked me if they could do a show at my studio during Indian Market," Meredith said.  Chris Pappan stepped up and helped hang the show, along with his wife Debra Yepa-Pappan. Crews of volunteers made the show happen — Natasha Wagner, Robert Garcia, Stephen MacMurray, Staci Golar, Melissa Melero, Linda Eben Jones, Maggie Ohnesorgen, and others."  

While Meredith insists that this type of work is not the wave of the future for the Santa Fe Native American art scene, shows such as these are airing out some of the stuffiness that one oftentimes experiences in Santa Fe's cultural landscape. They give artists the opportunity to create outside of the confines dictated by many traditional galleries. With these shows, artists are free to set the rules and break them--whatever they want to do.

"Dealers in Santa Fe have a great deal of money and emotional investment in continuing on the exact same path they have been on for decades," Meredith contends. I hope Meredith continues to produce and support more art events such as the ones I attended during Indian Market week. 

"There’s a great deal of talk locally about demographic shifts occurring among Santa Fe Indian art collectors. More and more, Native people collect art, and the Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers are the collectors now...I believe they want art they can personally relate to." 

Photo: Partial Self-Portrait by
Cannupa Hanska Luger

Speaking of more shows of this genre, if you are traveling through Oklahoma, catch zombie madness with the debut of Zombie Skins in Norman, which opens tonight (Friday, September 14). Tom Farris of Bigfoot Creative has brought a handful of the artists and their work from the Santa Fe show and others to Norman. The exhibition will kick off with an artist reception and Night of the Living Dead Live Paint

at 7 p.m. as part of Norman's 2nd Friday Art Walk. The show features the work of Bryon Archuleta(Ohkay Owingeh), Lara Evans (Cherokee Nation), Tom Farris (Otoe-Missouria-Cherokee), Robert Garcia (Mestizo), April Holder (Sac and Fox-Wichita-Tonkawa), Topaz Jones (Shoshone-Lummi-Kalapuya-Molalla), Daniel McCoy, Jr. (Potawatomi-Muscogee Creek), Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan-Arikara-Hidatsa),America Meredith (Cherokee Nation), Joseph Sanchez (Mestizo),Hoka Skenandore (Luiseño-Oneida-Oglala Lakota), and Micah Wesley (Kiowa-Muscogee Creek). 

Zombie Skins runs through October 8 at Bigfoot Creative 315 E. Main Street in Norman, Oklahoma. Bigfoot Creative is open Monday through Saturday, 9:00am to 5:00pm, for more information call (405) 420-0119 or visit their web site at www.bigfootcreative.net.

Watch an interview with Otoe-Missouria-Cherokee artist Tom Farris at 2012 SWAIA Indian Market HERE.

5 Tips to Go from Spectator to Collector at the 2012 SWAIA Indian Market

AS SEEN ON KASA FOX 2'S "NEW MEXICO STYLE!!!"

Watch it HERE!

Okay...you've heard it before--original art can be affordable!  It's true, and nowhere is it more true than at SWAIA Indian Market.  Visitors to New Mexico will have the opportunity to find that out for themselves as the "City Different" gears up for the 2012 SWAIA Indian Market, which takes place on the historic Santa Fe Plaza August 18 and 19.

I have always thought of Indian Market as two markets. Obviously, visitors to Santa Fe will find the usual array of finely made Pueblo pottery, Diné (Navajo), Hopi and Zuni jewelry from the Southwestern region of the United States.  What many may not know is that SWAIA Indian Market, now in its 91st year, offers spectators the opportunity to see work by over 1000 juried Native American artists from around the country as well as Canada.  Indian Market gives them a lesson in the diversity of indigenous cultures and art forms from all over North America. From basketry, to beadwork, to jewelry, clothing, painting and sculpture, Indian Market offers the average person exposure to all the colors, textures and artistic processes that are inherent to many groups they may never have heard about.  SWAIA Indian Market is a wonderful teaching moment for adults and children alike because it's like taking a vacation to a whole bunch of regions in one place. 

So, you say that the economy is tough and spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on art just isn't in the budget? Don't let that keep you from enjoying and appreciating the beauty of all the art around you.  There is so much to see and learn.  After taking it all in, you might just decide to bring a little piece of Santa Fe and Indian Market home with you! Regardless of whether you are a spectator or collector, I have all the information to make this year's visit to SWAIA Indian Market memorable.

Tips for "Going from Spectator to Collector" at the 2012 SWAIA Indian Market:

1. Support Native American art in any way you can!  It doesn't matter if you're buying or not. Go because it's fun and FREE! There are fashion shows, dancing, exhibits, food and more.  There's lots to see, but don't be overwhelmed.  You have two full days to take it all in.
2. Determine your budget and stick to it!   SWAIA Indian Market offers exposure to the work of over 1000 artists.  You don't have to spend a lot to buy a piece of original art.  Many artists offer smaller pieces that cost under $100. In most cases, you can find your Indian Market memento for $10 to $50.  The key is to arrive early to find the best selection (and parking!). I like to arrive before 7 a.m. just as artists are settng up their booths to really get an idea of what to add to my "want" list.
3. Plan for the future! It's been said that in this tough economy, original fine art is providing better returns on investments than investing in the stock market. In most cases, fine art holds its value and may continue to appreciate.  Even if you are not in the market to buy pieces from established artists, you can always look for emerging artists, whose work typically sells for less. Since a great deal of Native American art is generational, many artists have children or grandchildren who are potters and painters "in training" and are the stars of tomorrow.  You can invest in them now and grow with the artist as he or she gets better and better.  This is a great way to build a valuable collection.  Most importantly, buy what you like. Names are great, but at the end of the day, you have to live with the art on a daily basis.
4. Politely ask if you may handle the art and feel free to ask questions!  While larger objects make this practice difficult, most artists encourage you to handle the art because they know if you hold it and love it, you'll probably buy it.  They are also very interested in sharing a part of their traditions and cultures with you. Shy away from questions about religious practices. This is your chance of a lifetime to connect with someone different from you, find common ground and learn a whole bunch in the process.
5. Instill an appreciation of art early in your child!  Introduce your child to the concept of collecting art at Indian Market.   There is something for every member of the family at Indian Market.  Give your child a spending allowance of $10 and let them explore.  Chances are if they find something they love this year, they will want to come back year after year to add pieces to their collection.

Again, SWAIA Indian Market offers something for every budget.  Here is my list of great finds for 2012:

CATCH A RISING 'STAR':

Calm Blue Morning 6" x 6" original acrylic  on canvas
by Marla Allison,  Laguna Pueblo ($100)

Very few of the top painters at Indian Market offer smaller pieces for newer collectors, but Marla Allison is all about accessibility to good work.    Marla is a highly sought after artist with works in the permanent collection at the Heard Museum in Phoenix and in top galleries across the Southwest.  Much of her work celebrates her Laguna/Hopi heritage and the nature found in Paguate Village where she lives. Take home this rarer small piece entitled Calm Blue Morning, which features a blue bird and Marla's new, colorful style. For more information visit www.marlaallison.com.  (SWAIA Indian Market Booth # 708 LIN-P)

DISCOVER THE 'OTHER' INDIAN MARKET:



Carol Emarthle-Douglas coiled waxed linen "Lightning Design" lidded basket
(4" high X 4" wide--Traditional coiled technique, one rod hemp twine core, wrapped with waxed linen thread, embellished with abalone shell bead on lid) ($450)



Colied waxed linen miniature "Women's Traditional" Basket
(1-3/8" high X 1-3/8" wide--1 millimeter round reed wrapped with natural
and dyed raffia. Embellished with silver size 13 cut beads) ($350)

Northern Arapaho/Seminole basket weaver Carol Emarthle-Douglas is an artist unto her own.  Her diverse knowledge of varied styles is as impressive as her precision. Being recognized for her precision is actually what motivates her to make basketry.  She is also credited with leading the rally to secure contemporary basketry its own category at SWAIA Indian Market, elevating it from craft to fine art.  While Carol was raised in Oklahoma, she didn't learn basketry until well into her adult years.  A basketry class in Seattle, where she currently lives and works, solidified her passion for basket weaving.   Many Native weavers work within only one weaving tradition.  Since Carol didn't grow up restricted by one style, she learned how to weave in the forms of many traditions, including the Skokomish and Haida of the Pacific Northwest and the Pomo of California.  Her work is made by utilizing the coiling method, a technique employed by many indigenous groups including the Northern Arapaho and Seminole people.  Carol creates "traditional-contemporary" baskets in many sizes incorporating contemporary materials such as color waxed linen with traditional weaving methods.  These are just two examples of the work you will see at her SWAIA Indian Market booth #516-SF.  Contact Carol directly via Facebook or at cemarthle (at) comcast (dot) net.

"Southeast Swirl" pen and ink by MaryBeth Nelson of the Cherokee Nation
(5" x 8" image matted in 11" x 14" frame) ($75)

MaryBeth Nelson has been painting for the last 13 years, but 2012 marks her very first SWAIA Indian Market.   A Cherokee artist with a strong following in Oklahoma, MaryBeth is essentially an "emerging" artist in the Santa Fe Native American art scene.  Her career is gaining momentum, though, and her work was most recently included in a Native American art exhibition in Paris, France. SWAIA Indian Market provides the opportunity for collectors to purchase  her larger and smaller works, including this "Southeast Swirl" design pen and ink piece. It comes matted and framed for easy hanging.  The designs pay homage to the Southeast Mound Builder culture through the use of sun circles, references to the four directions, as well as the use of the eye representing a door to the afterlife. For more information visit MaryBeth's art site HERE or email her at moonhawkart (at) gmail (dot) com. (SWAIA Indian Market Booth # 409 WA-E)

WEAR YOUR ART ON YOUR SLEEVE...OR EARS...OR HANDS:

Charlene Holy Bear Chevron Design micro-seed beaded earrings ($225)

A resident of Nevada, Charlene Holy Bear is an award-winning beadwork artist and doll maker known for her exquisite handmade, lifelike depictions of Lakota Sioux jingle dancers.  Her jingle dancer dolls with cellulose clay heads and handsewn and handbeaded clothing, juxtapose traditional and contemporary materials creating a unique "approach to Plains style traditional doll making."  These pieces can take nearly two years to complete, and while they can be exhausting to create, the end result is stunning, museum-quality work.  This year, Charlene will feature smaller jingle dancer dolls at the 2012 SWAIA Indian Market, but she has also been working on some wearable art, translating designs from her doll work for pieces for actual people.   At Indian Market you will find these stunning handbeaded micro-seed Chevron design earrings.  Visit www.charleneholybear.com for more information.  (SWAIA Indian Market Booth #408 WA-E)



Stainless steel and stingray cuff by Pat Pruitt of Laguna Pueblo ($450)

Pat Pruitt of Laguna Pueblo has single-handedly changed the judging criteria of jewelry on the Native American art market circuit.   It wasn't that long ago that the same collectors who now scramble to lay their claim to his pieces, once misunderstood his work fashioned from unlikely metals such as stainless steel and titanium. He also utilizes a computer and machinery to create them. That said, each piece, is completely hand-finished in the traditional way and embellished with a variety of natural and traditional materials.  His one-of-a-kind pieces, such as this gorgeous stainless steel cuff inlaid with stingray, have made discriminating collectors sit up and take notice.  For more information visit www.patpruitt.com. (SWAIA Indian Market Booth # 708 LIN-P)

GO BEYOND THE TRADITIONAL:

Black stone polished pot with turtle and fish motif

by Glendora Fragua of Jemez Pueblo

(Approximately 3" high by 2" wide) ($250)

Glendora Fragua of Jemez Pueblo is no stranger to traditional Jemez pottery making.  As a matter of fact, she comes from a prominent pottery making family.  She even learned early on how to handcoil, paint and stone polish a pot from her mother, Juanita Fragua.  Later on, Glendora ventured to California to study fashion design.  Willing to push  the envelope and make Jemez Pueblo pottery her own, Glendora returned and moved towards the style we see today, which incorporates delicate naturalistic themes such as birds, insects and turtles as can be seen in this black stone polished and etched pot with turtle and fish designs.  The etching is known as sgraffito. This smaller piece measuring 3" by 2" is found at the low end  of the price range for her work.  Every year, Glendora is sure to offer a wide array of pots with varied prices.  For more information, visit Glendora's Facebook page here or her SWAIA Indian Market Booth #652 PLZ.

I hope you find something here that you like.  Attend 2012 SWAIA Indian Market. Buy original art. See you there!

© 2012 All rights reserved (Paul Niemi and Uncle Paulie's World)

(*Paul Niemi is a compensated spokesperson for all of the products and services contained herein)

Thrift Store Art Finds: Authenticating Cryptic Northwest Coast Basketry

It's no big secret that I love Native American art. Throughout the last fews years, my interests have shifted from jewelry, to pottery, to paintings, and now my passion is basketry.  While purchasing historic and contemporary Native American basketry can be very expensive,  there are terrific pieces just waiting to be found in your local thrift store.  Since I seem to be a magnet for excellent thrift store finds, I have decided to periodically blog about them and share the information that I learn from the experts!

In the last few months, I have been a frequenter of thrift stores along the I-5 corridor in Washington State.  A couple of weeks ago, I was in a store in the Skagit Valley.  There amidst baskets of all types were three terrific baskets (one, which I think might be Cherokee, but goes unauthenticated as of yet, one from South America, or so I believe from the design and the materials employed, and one from the Northwest Coast).  When I first set eyes on the pictured basket, the plaiting and the twining on the piece led me to think that its origin was Makah.  The material appeared to be bear grass combined with cedar, which looked faded in color.

After forwarding photographs to a curator in British Columbia, I was able to learn that it is indeed Northwest Coast.  To her, it appears to be woven from bear grass and some kind of raffia--not cedar.  She also said that the base suggested Salish basketry, but that the plaiting (the square center weave as seen in the images) and twining (the weaving surrounding the plaiting) on the base led her to believe it was Makah style.  While the basket seemed somewhat hard to place, she said that it was likely made by either a Makah or a Quileute weaver.  My guess is that it could be early to mid-20th Century, but that goes uncorraborated. Regardless, it is a beautiful, compelling and decorative basket!

Did you know that both the Burke Museum in Seattle and the University of British Columbia have ethnology collections available for online viewing?  You can search by style of basket, tribe and other criteria and can enlarge photos to help you see crucial details. Check them out!

Contemporary Art Goes to the Birds in Vancouver

"I spent most of the last year making photographic, collage-based stop motion animation and installation work. With this body of work I’ve returned exclusively to painting as a way to reintroduce it amongst the other ideas I’m exploring..."--Jennifer Mawby

Regulars in the Vancouver, British Columbia art scene are familiar with the work of visual artist Jennifer Mawby.  This evening, Quinary Projects Pop Up Gallery will host an opening artist reception for a theatrical installation of expanded paintings by Mawby.  

What if an artist created a story in her head about what the outcome would be she went hunting, caught and skinned a painting and hung the pelt to dry? The end result?  The Aviary. 

Imagine walking into a large bird cage, over which a closed-eyed birdwatcher ironically keeps watch. Overall, the installation is a psychological landscape of what exists inside the mind of this silent film star-like protagonist.  

With many forms that have been cut out so as to appear like bricolage or photo-collage to "render them less precious and more animated," the oil paintings are created on loose canvas and clear Duralar.  Some assemblages take the form of Asian fighting kites and some are like hunting trophies. The Duralar pieces resemble single, cel (celluloid) animation frames. Both sides of the image are revealed through the material and the installation.  

The show will continue at Quinary Projects (Curated by Wesley Yuen and hosted by Dominion Grand Development)  with limited hours from July 19-21: Thursday, July 19th - 5pm to 8pm; Friday, July 20th - 5pm to 9pm; Saturday, July 21st - noon to 4pm. The gallery is located on the west side of Richards Street at Pacific in Yaletown (next to Trees Organic) in Vancouver. 

For further information contact Jennifer Mawby at 604.783.7178 or jjtmstudio@gmail.com.

Stonington Gallery Presents New Works and Lecture by Northwest Artist Barry Herem

Barry Herem and some of his pieces
(Photo: Stonington Gallery)

A lifetime of living in the Pacific Northwest and traveling up and down its coast will give a person an intimate familiarity with the people and the folklore that is so closely tied to them.  That's what artist and Northwest Coast scholar and lecturer Barry Herem has developed through his travels throughout the region, getting to know the indigenous populations and learning from his friendships with the likes of Bill Reid, Robert Davidson, Bill Holm and others.

Barry Herem's "Butterfly"
(Photo: Stonington Gallery)

Indigenous and indigenous-inspired art is always evolving keeping intact the traditional meaning, but pushing the envelope to expand how those meanings are conveyed.  In a new show at Seattle's Stonington Gallery, Barry Herem unveils a new body of work created using metal, glass and wood, which continues his formline experimentation with mixed media.

The exhibition and sale Beyond Beyond: A Barry Herem Solo Exhibit opens this evening July 5 with an artist's reception (6 p.m. - 8 p.m.) and continues through July 28.  On Sunday, July 8 at 6 p.m., Herem will present am illustrated lecture at Stonington Gallery entitled Received Boundaries: Stasis and Change, in which he will discuss his half-century love affair with Northwest Coast art and his numerous travels via canoe visiting remote locales in the coastal Northwest. 

"Raptor Gates" by Barry Herem
(Photo: Stonington Gallery)

"For most people the zeitgeist of world-wide iconoclasm and boundary breaking, i.e. liberation, is old hat, almost old school, except that it's still going on in many areas. Looking back on nearly 50 years in the modern 'renaissance' of Northwest Coast Indian style art - which lies below the beat of both modernism and post modernism in North American art generally - we can see where it had to go, and has. I want to show you something of how, what, when, where and right now. Also something about my work."

--Barry Herem

Stonington Gallery is located at 119 South Jackson Street in Seattle. For more information about Beyond Beyond: A Barry Herem Solo Exhibit or Herem's Sunday lecture call 866-405-4485 or visit the gallery web site at www.stoningtongallery.com.

Thought for the Day...

Progress is discovering that what once filled you up full doesn't, and it's time to move on to something else. It is tough, so have a good cry over it and then try something new!