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Get In the Spirit
Native Arts in Tacoma
The Pacific Northwest, a region rich in Native arts undergoing a
cultural rebirth, seems the ideal locale for a major Native arts
festival, but so far no event has gained long-term or major status.
That may be changing. See for yourself this summer, when the Washington
State History Museum in Tacoma hosts the second annual In the Spirit:
Northwest Native Arts Market & Festival, July 21–22.
“The festival has the opportunity to grow into one of the major Native
American art festivals, like those that are quite successful in the
Southwest in particular, bringing a strong sense of Native cultural
vitality to downtown Tacoma, the site of an ancient Puyallup Indian
village,” notes David Nicandri, director of the museum.
The festival will include a juried art market with some 35 regional
artists, including wood carvers, sculptors, printmakers, weavers and
bead artisans, who will sell their works in the museum courtyard.
Select artists will also be working in the courtyard, demonstrating
their process. Inside the museum’s spacious McClelland Gallery will be
an exhibition of works by 32 living Native artists—most drawn from the
Pacific Northwest—including Andrea Wilbur-Sigo (Coast Salish), who won
last year’s best in show award for her magnificent eight-foot spindle
whorl carving. The exhibition opened May 12 and closes July 22.
Music, dance and other performing arts will be presented throughout the
weekend. This will include master of ceremonies and flautist Arlie
Neskahi (Diné), violinist Richard Marshal (Lummi), singer Chenoa Egawa
(Lummi), poet Robert Guerrero (Tlingit), the Northwest Inupiaq Dancers,
the Git Hayetsk Dancers (Tsimshian), the drum and song group Puyallup
Canoe Family, and the Alaska Kuteeyaa Dancers (Tlingit/Tsimshian/Haida).
Serious collectors will also be interested in attending a seminar on
collecting Northwest art, on July 21 from 2 to 4 p.m., with insights
offered by collector Jack Curtright; artists Shaun Peterson
(Tulalip/Puyallup), Lisa Telford (Haida) and Rodney Cawston (Colville);
and Tina Kuckkahn (Ojibwe), director of the festival’s partner, the
Longhouse Education & Cultural Center at Evergreen State College.
Following this, Curtright will conduct appraisals of small artworks for
seminar members ($15 per item). The seminar costs $45 (call
253/798-5894).
Elsewhere
Make plans for the 12th annual Contemporary Indian Art Show, July
13–15, Cahokia Mounds State Historic Park, Collinsville, IL. On July
13, 6:30 to 9 p.m., join the preview party to mingle with artists and
guests, purchase art before the show opens to the public, vote for the
People’s Choice Award, and enjoy hors d’oeuvres, a dessert buffet and
cash bar. Preview tickets are $15 per person (reservations at
618/344-7316). The exhibition and sale of fine art, including painting,
sculpture, pottery, jewelry, metalwork and other works by more than 25
Indian artists from across the nation, will take place from 9 a.m. to 5
p.m., July 14–15. Plus, tour the fascinating 2,200-acre site with its
massive mound structures and Interpretive Center. Daily admission fee.
618/346-5160 or cahokiamounds.com
Motor over to the American Indian Intertribal Cultural Festival, July
21–22, Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA, part of a larger overall event
titled “America’s 400th Anniversary” associated with the founding of
Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. This aspect of the anniversary serves as
the tribute to Virginia’s rich Native American history and its eight
surviving state-recognized tribes. Visiting tribal members from around
the country will participate in dances and cultural demonstrations.
Activities will include a powwow, music, arts and crafts sales, art
demonstrations, storytelling, children’s activities, Native foods,
speakers and extensive exhibits. Open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Free
admission. A related event, “400 Years of Survival: Virginia Indian
Symposium,” will be held Oct. 5–7 at the Williamsburg Lodge, in
Williamsburg, Virginia. americas400thanniversary.com
Join the 36th annual Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Arts and Crafts
Fair, July 21–22, Hwy. 68, Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo (formerly known as San
Juan Pueblo), NM. Several hundred artists from Southwestern tribes are
expected, mostly Pueblo. Also watch dances both days and the annual
Pope Run (5K adult) and 1-Mile Fun Run on Sunday. Photography
permitted. 505/747-0700
Spring to the 16th annual Native American Dance, Music and Art
Festival, July 21–22, Ganondagan State Historic Site, Victor, NY. This
year’s event will feature the Navajo dance group Dineh Tah, traditional
Iroquois dances by Buffalo Creek and Young Spirit, contemporary Native
bands, fine arts and crafts, artist demonstrations, storytelling,
guided trail walks and longhouse tours, and Native food vendors.
Admission $5 seniors and students (13 years or older), $8 adults.
585/742-1690 or ganondagan.org
Bound to the NES Showcase Basketball Camp, July 27–28, Omaha Nation
Public School, Macy, NE, organized by Native Elite Sports. This
showcase features many of the nation’s best Native boy and girl
basketball players, attending by invitation, who will compete under the
watchful eyes of Division 1 coaches. Includes slam-dunk and three-point
contests, and live music by the sensational Native hip-hop musician
Jaynez. Tickets: $3 children, $5 adults. 402/837-5288
Jingle into Julyamsh: Coeur d’Alene Pow Wow & Tribal Encampment,
July 27–29, Greyhound Park, Post Falls, ID. Billed as the largest
outdoor powwow in the Northwest, this event features thousands of
dancers young and old. Grand entries will be held on Friday at 7 p.m.,
and at 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Head drum this year is Midnight
Express. 800/523-2464 or cdacasino.com
Wet your feet at Paddle to Lummi, July 30–Aug. 4, Bellingham, WA. Up to
70 canoe families from British Columbia, Washington and Oregon will
journey by sea in canoes carrying crews of eight to 20 paddlers to the
Lummi Nation near Bellingham, where they will come ashore on July 30.
Here they will be met by some 4,000 family members, friends and
spectators, who will welcome them with dancing, singing, storytelling
and potlatches over the next five days. The Lummi people, host of the
event, believe harmony and balance are achieved through the practice of
canoe-pulling. Free admission. paddletolummi.com
Drop by the 58th annual Navajo Marketplace, Aug. 3–5, Museum of
Northern Arizona, Flagstaff. Some 55 artists are expected, selling a
wide variety of works. Artists will be demonstrating pottery-making,
beading, painting and jewelry-making, as well as the entire process of
creating a fine wool rug. Also slated are traditional foods and
storytelling, traditional Navajo dances and hoop dancing, and
Navajo-led ethnobotanical tours of the museum’s garden trail.
928/774-5213 or musnaz.org
Cruise to Cali for the 8th annual Traditional Gathering, Aug. 4, Santa
Ysabel Indian Reservation, along Hwy. 79 northeast of San Diego, CA.
Catch birdsinging, children games, peon, dancing, baseball and
horseshoe contests, and a free dinner for all. 760/765-0845
Clue into the 16th annual Clan of the Hawk Pow Wow, Aug. 4–5,
Evansville, VT, near the Canadian border on the banks of the lovely
Willoughby River. Join this celebration of Abenaki culture, which
includes traditional arts and crafts (basketry, moccasins, leggings,
cornhusk dolls, etc.) and a traditional powwow with some 75 dancers,
and head drums Split Feather from Massachusetts and First Light from
Vermont. The 39-acre site includes campgrounds and swimming. The event
will be especially sweet this summer following the state’s recognition
of the Abenaki after 300 years of denial. The preceding weekend, July
28–29, will feature a large arts and crafts fair with Native artists
from across New England. Free admission. 802/754-6305 or
clanofthehawk.com
Zoom in on the Zuni Arts & Cultural Expo, Aug. 10–12, Zuni Visitors
Center, Zuni Pueblo, NM, which includes an arts fair with 40 to 50
juried artists—particularly the pueblo’s renowned jewelers, but also
fetish carvers and potters, and a youth division. There will also be
dancing, tours of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe mission church (erected
in 1629) and the tribe’s notable museum to visit. Free admission.
505/350-7867 or experiencezuni.org
Hit a bevy of antique Indian arts shows in Santa Fe just prior to
Indian Market: the 24th annual Ethnographic Art Show, Aug. 10–12, El
Museo Cultural (directed by Whitehawk, whitehawkshows.com); Best of
Santa Fe Auction, Aug. 11–12, La Fonda Hotel (an Allard Auctions event,
allardauctions.com); and the 29th annual Antique Indian Art Show, Aug.
13–15, El Museo Cultural (another Whitehawk event).
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