In 2014, Amber Dawn Bear Robe made an offhand suggestion to the then chief operating officer of the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA), Dallin Maybee. “I had organized fashion shows for the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts for the past two years, and I...
Throughout his 20s, Thomas Kegler toiled over his canvases, completing five or six a year, reinventing the wheel each time, yet never achieving what he felt was “beautiful art.” Then an accident nearly severed his drawing arm, and that changed everything. Fifteen years and another life-altering...
Behind the bar at Rancho Sabino Grande is a mural. At first glance, it resembles a Works Progress Administration piece from the 1930s, its smooth, flattened representational images and themes echoing a regional history in a specific landscape. It’s a great conversation piece, says interior...
Settling and unsettling, the paintings of Phil Epp fill the canvas with a wide-open vastness. His perspective on the Western landscape rattles the framework of convention and yet perfectly portrays life on the plains. A slit of torrential downpour, visible from miles away. Animation-like clouds...
The Body Electric, Jeffrey Gibson’s exhibition at SITE Santa Fe, is a deep dive into the artist’s oeuvre from his more than 20-year career. Including painting, sculpture, beadwork, live performance, and a commissioned mural for the institution’s front lobby and main galleries, the exhibition highlights...
Booth PLZ 55 Santa Fe Indian Market means many things for Montana-based Blackfoot beader Jackie Larson Bread. First, she is one of the only artists in the market’s history to win the prestigious Best of Show award twice, in 2013 and 2019. [caption id="attachment_25150" align="aligncenter" width="172"] Blackfeet...
While Navajo painter Tony Abeyta isn’t participating in the Santa Fe Indian Market this year, he’s been a force in the contemporary art world since his career began in the late 1980s. This year, he won’t have a booth on the plaza, but running concurrent...
Booth PLZ 29A From her studio on New Mexico’s Jemez Pueblo, Kathleen Wall contemplates her more than 30-year career creating and constructing her vision of Pueblo pottery. Wall’s work — a perennial favorite at the Santa Fe Indian Market — typically depicts a single smiling Pueblo...
Booth FR S 324 When Rhonda Holy Bear sits back and looks at her mixed-media piece, Lakota Honor-Sees the Horses Woman (SuWakan Ayutan Win), she doesn’t just see the Best of Show award it earned from the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA) during the 2021...
Booth PLZ 8A Zoë Urness had the “aha! moment” for her latest body of fine art photography at Christmas almost nine years ago when her father gave her a book of selections from The North American Indian, photographer Edward S. Curtis’ landmark project of more than...