Another Significant Santa Fe Event: Native Treasures

Featured artist, jeweler Connie Tsosie Gaussoin (Picuris Pueblo/Navajo), will receive MIAC’s Living Treasure Award.

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Santa Fe, New Mexico is already home to America’s largest and most prestigious Indian art market, the Santa Fe Indian Market. But another much more intimate and relaxed happening has quickly established itself in the City Different as a must-do experience in the realm of Indian arts.
At only four years old, the Native Treasures Indian Arts Festival already has all the markings of a significant gathering for major art collectors and the merely curious. This year’s event takes place May 24–25 at Milner Plaza on Museum Hill.

“We’ve seen a huge growth in interest,” explains Ardith Eicher, chairperson of the all-volunteer-run festival and the primary force in its creation. Eicher moved to Santa Fe about five years ago and was soon serving as a docent for the state’s Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. “I saw that MIAC did not have a signature fund-raising event and felt that a small show of select artists could succeed.”

Despite the fact the participating artists donate a quarter of their proceeds to the museum (some $65,000 has been raised to date), Eicher says there is a long waiting list of artists asking to participate in the show, requiring an annual rotation to make room for some 50 new faces each year. “We’ve resisted the idea of expanding the roster beyond 140 artists, because we feel part of the festival’s appeal is in its intimate character.” Echoes Jane Buchsbaum, event artist chair, “It’s a fun weekend where buyers are able to ask questions in a relaxed atmosphere.”

This year’s featured artist is jeweler Connie Tsosie Gaussoin (Picuris Pueblo/Navajo), who will receive MIAC’s Living Treasure Award. “We are delighted to be recognizing Connie with this award,” notes MIAC Director Shelby Tisdale. “Her work is outstanding, and she is also a humble and wonderful human being who has given so much back to her community and this museum.”

The award will be presented at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 23, during a pre-sale and benefit reception that will feature elegant hors d’oeuvres, a wine bar and sale of select works by three notable pottery artists: Jody Naranjo (Santa Clara Pueblo), Autumn Borts-Medlock (Santa Clara Pueblo) and Lonnie Vigil (Nambe Pueblo). The $75 ticket will also provide free, early entry to the show from 9 to 10 a.m. on Saturday.
Entertainment on Saturday features William Clark from 9 to 10:30 a.m., and the Shelley Morningsong Trio from 1:30 to 4 p.m. On Sunday, the duo Native Spirit will play from 10 to 11 a.m., and Clark will perform again from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Demonstration weavers from Toadlena Trading Post also will be present. Admission on Saturday is $5, with free entry on Sunday. For additional details, call 505/476-1250 or visit nativetreasuressantafe.org.

Elsewhere:
Open your heart and checkbooks for Legacy Art, May 10, Sandia Resort & Casino, Albuquerque, a benefit art auction for St. Pius High School Foundation (and its Native student program) and the Art Has Heart Foundation of artist Amado Peña (Pascua Yaqui). The featured artist this year is painter C.W. Wells. Returning as a host is actor Lou Diamond Phillips, joined by James Avery and Robert David Hall. 505/897-7172 or e-mail jsalway@spx.k12.nm.us

Catch the R. Carlos Nakai Concert on May 10, 8 p.m., at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts in Scottsdale, AZ. Tickets are $38. 480/994-2787 or scottsdaleperformingarts.org

Mosey down to the 19th annual Cherokee County Indian Festival and Mother’s Day Pow-Wow, May 10-11, Boling Park, Canton, GA (30 minutes northwest of Atlanta), with competitive dancing and drumming, arts and crafts, a wide range of interesting craft and lifeways demonstrations (such as firemaking), foods, contemporary music and other activities. 770/735-6275 or rthunder.com

Jingle over to the 14th annual Native American Arts Festival & Mother’s Day Pow-Wow, May 10-11, Riverside Park, Grants Pass, OR. In addition to the arts, music and dance, Tracie Sage will discuss and illustrate use of local herbal medicines at 2 p.m. on Sunday. A special honoring of all mothers present will occur at 3 p.m. on Sunday. 541/472-0215 or e-mail nativeartsfestival@yahoo.com

Peruse the 14th annual New York International Tribal & Textile Arts Show, May 15–18, Gramercy Park Armory, New York City, with carpets and textiles, fine arts, artifacts and antiques of Native cultures of the Americas, Oceania, Asia and Africa represented by 70 or so dealers. Hosted by Caskey & Lees. 310/455-2886 or caskeylees.com

Dance into the Tunica-Biloxi Pow Wow, May 16–18, Marksville, LA, with musician/actress Irene Bedard (Inupiat/Cree) & Deni, storyteller Jackie Crow and flautist Hawk Henries (Nipmuc). Sponsored by the Paragon Casino & Resort. 800/946-1946 or tunicapowwow.org
Visit the 8th annual Tesoro Foundation Indian Market & Powwow, May 17–18, The Fort, Morrison, CO, which includes art sales by more than 45 premier artists, arts and crafts demonstrations, storytelling, and food and drink. 303/839-1671 or tesorofoundation.org

Don’t miss the 18th annual Zuni Festival of Arts & Culture, May 24–25, Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff, which includes Zuni Pueblo’s famed jewelers, fetish carvers and potters, as well as some weavers and artists working in other media. 928/774-5213 or musnaz.org

Check out the 41st annual Red Cloud Indian Art Show, June 1–Aug. 10, Heritage Center, Pine Ridge, SD. The nation’s oldest reservation-based Indian art show includes work by artists from more than 30 tribes, including many from the Plains, working in a wide variety of media. Free. 605/867-5491 or redcloudschool.org

Celebrate Celebration, June 5–7, in Juneau, AK. Hosted biennially by the Sealaska Heritage Institute, this is the largest cultural gathering of Natives in southeast Alaska. It features traditional dance, music, storytelling, oratory, arts, crafts foods, and other customs of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures. The featured dance group, among more than 40 groups expected to attend this year, is the Mt. St. Elias Dancers of Yakutat. 907/463-4844 or sealaskaheritage.org

Point the pick up to Red Earth, June 6–8, Cox Convention Center, Oklahoma City, OK. Events kick off with a downtown parade on Friday morning with participants from more than 100 tribes. The art market opens at 11 a.m., featuring about 250 juried artists working in diverse media. Some 800 dancers are expected to compete in the powwow, with grand entries at noon and 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and at noon on Sunday. A varied slate of entertainment is scheduled throughout the weekend, as well as in free performances on Friday at the adjoining botanical garden’s Water Stage. 405/427-5228 or redearth.org

Spend a day at the 2nd annual Strawberry Moon Festival, June 7, Washington, CT, hosted by the nonprofit group the Institute for American Indian Studies. Join noted food author Dale Carson (Abenaki) and spiritual leader Terri Delahanty (Cree) as they share their knowledge of traditional cooking techniques and recipes involving strawberries from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. 860/868-0518

Plan on attending the 18th annual First Peoples’ Festival, June 10–22, Montréal, Canada, one of the continent’s major Native gatherings. Includes an important film festival (including this year’s world premiere of Club Native and a series by Venezuelan Native filmmakers), an arts and crafts “encampment” focused on Québec provincial Native arts (June 21–22), fine art exhibitions (this year a “Dialogue of Cultures” at the main library), music (including an outdoor concert on June 21 featuring Katia Rock (Innu) and Richard Desjardins), and other activities. 514/278-4224 or nativelynx.qc.ca

Round ’em up for the Crazy Horse Stampede, June 13–15, Crazy Horse Memorial, SD (about 35 miles southwest of Rapid City in the Black Hills). Featuring a Great Plains Indian Rodeo Association event on Friday, a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) rodeo on Saturday and Sunday, a fashion show and sale, and a 30-person arts and crafts show. 605/673-4681 or crazyhorse.org

Go west to the 27th annual Plains Indian Museum Powwow, June 21–22, hosted by the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Sheridan, WY, with some 200 dancers, 10 drum groups (led this year by Red Cedar, a largely Arapaho group based on the Wind River Reservation), an arts and crafts fair with 40 vendors selling authentic Native arts, and food. Grand entries will be held at noon and 6 p.m. on Saturday and noon on Sunday. Admission: $3 for youth (ages 7–17), $6 for adults. 307/578-4049 or bbhc.org

Mush north to the 4th annual Alianait Arts Festival, June 21–July 1, Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada, with traditional and contemporary art, music, film, storytelling, dance and theater by artists from Nunavut, across Canada and the circumpolar region. alianait.ca