Show Preview | Santa Fe Indian Market

Santa Fe, NM
Santa Fe Plaza, August 16-21

Micqaela Jones-Crouch, Bearly Spring, acrylic, 60 x 80.

This story was featured in the August 2016 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art August 2016 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

At Santa Fe Indian Market, the world’s largest juried Native art show, you would expect to experience the extraordinary beauty and diversity of art and cultures whose traditions reach back thousands of years. What you might not expect is the 21st-century vision of these ancient cultures through such contemporary forms as digital art, world-class haute couture, and film. As a showcase for cultural expression from some 200 tribes around North America, Indian Market celebrates every aspect of Native art today. Among the creations by more than 900 indigenous artists from the United States and Canada—some who’ve shown here for decades—are traditional and contemporary jewelry, pottery, sculpture, textiles, beadwork, painting and drawing, basketry, and other art forms. High standards of quality and authenticity are among the reasons up to 200,000 visitors converge in Santa Fe each August from around the world.

Participating artist Micqaela Jones-Crouch is a 39-year-old Western Shoshone painter whose vibrant artwork features animal portraits and teepees, among other imagery. This summer she was inspired to paint salmon after participating in the Duck Valley Shoshone Tribe’s first salmon-fishing opportunity in 100 years. Long displaced by dams, salmon had just been reintroduced to rivers on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation, straddling the Idaho-Nevada border, where Jones grew up. Using a traditional Shoshone fishing spear, she proudly caught two.

Ronnie-Leigh and Stonehorse Goeman, The Blue Heron, basket, mixed media.

Oklahoma-based artist J. Dylan Cavin reflects his Choctaw heritage in works on paper and paintings, including pen-and-ink drawings on ledger paper and other documents dating from the late 1800s. Also at this year’s Indian Market he’ll show his Blanket series of imagery featuring his young Choctaw niece. “The blanket reminds me of my heritage, so these pieces transcend my immediate family history,” the 37-year-old artist says. Among others to look for: San Felipe Pueblo jewelry artist Charlene Sanchez-Reano, Tonawanda Seneca sculptor Stonehorse Goeman and basket-maker Ronnie-Leigh Goeman, photographer Cara Romero of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, and award-winning Mohawk textile artist Carla Hemlock.

Indian Market festivities and cultural events begin on Tuesday, August 16, with a Native Cinema Showcase, which runs through Sunday and includes screenings of winning films from the market’s juried competition. Indian Market: EDGE, introduced in 2015, is a special curated show of contemporary art, opening with a preview reception on Thursday evening and continuing through Sunday at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center. “It’s one of the things I’m most excited about with this year’s market. It’s a way to expose people to phenomenal contemporary Native art,” says Dallin Maybee (Northern Arapaho/Seneca), chief operating officer for the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, the Santa Fe-based nonprofit organization that hosts Indian Market.

Other highlights include a Best of Show ceremony and luncheon, a preview of award-winning art, a live auction and gala, and the third annual Haute Couture and Prêt-à-Porter fashion show featuring Native designers. On Saturday and Sunday, hundreds of artists’ booths fill the Santa Fe Plaza and surrounding streets, while music, dance, and other cultural performances take place on the Plaza stage and at nearby Cathedral Park. The always-popular Native American fashion challenge/clothing contest is held on Sunday morning. A full schedule of events and information is available online. —Gussie Fauntleroy

contact information
505.983.5220
www.swaia.org