Sunday, May 23, 2010

Native Treasures: Indian Arts Festival 2010

photo by Carol Franco
Today Sandy and I experienced the joy of attending Santa Fe's only museum-quality Indian Arts Festival. More than 180 of the best in the Native American Art world were gathered in the comfort of the Santa Fe Convention Center. The work was simply stellar throughout the exhibit room. It would have taken at least a couple of hundred thousand dollars to satisfy my inventory acquisition desire. I had to settle for much less, but the satisfaction of meeting new artists and seeing new creations kept things in balance. This show was the 6th since inception. The show benefits the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture; 25% of each sale goes to the Museum’s programs. I had a particular focus on the pottery-jewelry connection and I will have more to write on the subject, but for now I'd like to bring reader's attention to the work of Laguna Pueblo silversmith Mark Stevens. He honors the art of the past through his contemporary jewelry creations. He collects local Anasazi pottery shards which he then uses to create replica silver jewelry pieces before returning the shards to their place of ancient rest.