Announcing Beyond Buckskin... for the Home!

I am very excited to announce Beyond Buckskin's latest venture: creating a small section of our fashion boutique for some stylish items for the home!

While Beyond Buckskin will continue to focus on promoting and supporting a Native American fashion movement with creative Indigenous minds at the core, this new project keeps our smart and stylish artists on center stage while highlighting their other artforms, such as colorful prints for your walls or earthy dishware for your tables.

Artist Profile | David Sloan

Street fashion, cartoon-like animal characters, and the visual qualities of the Navajo language fuse with neon candy colors, moccasin leather, and silver chunky jewelry to create David Sloan's unique and infectious aesthetic. Sloan began making jewelry about 5 years ago, and began transferring his two-dimensional paintings into wearable silkscreen art around 3 years ago.

The Todichiinii Rudeboy was one of Beyond Buckskin's first Boutique artists, and his Diné Bizaad Bandanas have been a top-seller since they launched. We caught up with David to learn more about the man behind the images. Scroll down to read more.

Santa Fe Indian Market 2013 Fashion, Style, and Art Events

It's August. It's one of my favorite months of the year. Summer is in full swing, the sun is high, the days are long, and I'm blasting that Don Henley track an awful lot.

Another reason why I adore August is the fact that the largest gathering of Native American artists occurs during this magical month.

The annual Santa Fe Indian Market, organized by the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, brings thousands of artists together for one fabulous and inspiring weekend.

Avis O'Brien | The Frog Print Project

I always get very excited when one of the Beyond Buckskin Boutique artists spreads their wings both artistically and professionally, and so it gives me great honor to highlight the work of Avis O'Brien and her current project.

While we know her through Beyond Buckskin for her beautiful hand-woven cedar bark bracelets and earrings, she also creates other work and has apprenticed under notable artists such as master Haida carver Jay Simeon.

Beading, Honoring, and Walking With Our Sisters

I just got home from the post office not long ago. I carried a very special package - a small brown envelope, actually - to the counter and shipped it off to Christi Belcourt in Ontario.

Christi is not only an extraordinary Metis artist, but she is also an extraordinary person with visionary ideas. One of her latest endeavors has hundreds of people willingly participating in a very important and powerful project. That project is called Walking With Our Sisters.

A year ago, Christi sent me a message detailing the basic concept - she wanted to create an art installation to honor and raise awareness for the 600+ missing and murdered Indigenous women of Canada and the US.

Building (and Funding) a Native-Run Native Arts Publication

Last fall, I was approached by Cherokee artist America Meredith to be a part of an exciting new project to produce an arts magazine. This publication would be unlike any other in that it would be dedicated to covering the Indigenous arts of the Americas from an Indigenous perspective. It would be called First American Art Magazine.

But running a magazine is no easy task. The costs of printing are high, and publishing relevant and quality content requires constant work. But a publication with this mission is necessary.

Video | Mni Sota

It's the weekend! I know you should be out frolicking, but in case you are not, watch a video! Check out this great video interview with Dyani Reynolds-White Hawk, one of the curators of the art show, Mni Sota: Reflections of Time and Place. The exhibit showcases the skill and beauty of over a dozen artists whose creativity promotes cultural continuity.

"The artists of Mni Sota provide stunning examples of ways in which Native Artists of the Minnesota region continue to embrace the contemporary while supporting tradition."


Click here to read more about Mni Sota.

SWAIA: A Call for New Directions (Again)

Alright, let's get serious here for a second.

Last weekend I attended the 91st anniversary of the Santa Fe Indian Market, hosted by the infamous Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (I like calling them 'infamous' because this title has a dark ominous feel to it, which I think is appropriate.)

Mirroring

This tiny beaded bag - which accompanies a 'doll', or, more accurately, a small 'soft sculpture' - is decorated with double cones that symbolizes the concept of mirroring: what is above is below. 

Award-winning Assiniboine-Sioux artist Juanita Growing Thunder explains, "The reflected doubles symbolize the earth world and the spirit world." Mirrored images often reference the meeting of the sky world (or the spiritual) and the earth world (or the daily) and the intermixing of these two worlds.

Growing Thunder stated that these images are "a reminder that you are supposed to live within both."

Images and quotes from: Grand Procession: Contemporary Artistic Visions of American Indians. By Lois Sherr Dubin. Denver: Denver Museum of Art, 2010. 64 pp. Photographs, notes, bibliography, index. $19.95 cloth.

Faster than a Speeding Bullet

Below is an edited version of an article written about Virgil Ortiz's recent pottery show held at King Galleries in Scottsdale in March. In his latest projects, Ortiz takes the Pueblo Revolt and throws it into the future: imagining a futuristic battle and a resistance that never ended. The review looks at his installation, pottery and video associated with the Velocity show.

Exhibit | Red Runners

Moccasins or sneakers? Sneakers or moccasins? How about both?

Red Runners: The New Objectification of Native Art and Identity is an exhibit that features the work of over a dozen contemporary First Nations artists who were challenged by the curators to deconstruct, decorate, and reinterpret a pair of white Vans sneakers.

The artists come from diverse backgrounds, and work in a variety of media. Some of the artists were chosen for their traditional-based work and others for their contemporary outlook, though no limits were placed on what they could submit. All the works in the show are new but with reverence to the old ways. Curators of the show were Jason Jenkins and Luke Parnell.

Adornment Wins at Heard Indian Market - Part I

Last night I had the great opportunity to check out the 54th Annual Heard Indian Fair & Market Best of Show event, held in Phoenix at the Heard Museum (many thanks to Sarah Sense and Andrea Hanley).

It is so cool to see all of the Market winners in one room. It's like the best of the best, and sometimes it can be overwhelming!

I love to run around the winners showcase room and check out all the clothing and accessories that won awards. And what I found is that a lot of objects of adornment are big winners at the Heard. It's exciting to see the beadwork, the patterns, the cool ideas, the new styles. Click below to peep images of a few of them.

Before y'all Heard about it

Guest blogger I.D.K. returns for his second post on Beyond Buckskin: “Before y'all Heard about it.”

With the Heard Indian Market mania just around the corner, I wanted to take a few moments (paragraphs) to address the timeless topic of financial value in the art marketplace. No doubt, there are many distinguished artists who command a premium for their work. They've honed their craft, developed a consistent fan-base, and can stand alone in any situation that is required of them.

Beat Nation and Maria Hupfield

One of my favorite artists is Maria Hupfield. I first came to know of Hupfield's work when my friend Amber-Dawn Bear Robe lassoed Hupfield into submitting some art for Red Ink Magazine back in 2005.

Hupfield is of Anishnaabe (Ojibway) heritage, and a member of Wasauksing First Nation, in Ontario. She works with photography, sculpture, installation and performance art. Last August, a group of us were participants in Vestige Vagabond - a public art performance by Hupfield and Charlene Vickers held during the annual Santa Fe Indian Market (left).

Intermission: The Brutal Reality

For the past several days, I've been highlighting Native American and First Nations artists and small businesses, in hopes that people will buy directly from Native artists this holiday season. And I love focusing this blog on talented individuals (and their creativity and awesomeness), but sometimes I need to post about issues of misappropriation, misuse, and misrepresentation.

I'd rather have this entire blog focus on 'Native-produced fashion,' but in our crazy world, unacceptable things occur, and I have to post about completely ridiculous things, because completely ridiculous things occur. And, unfortunately, they occur more often than we'd like to know about.

So here's an intermission post, where I write about the ridiculousness.

fashion STATEMENT: Native Artists Against Pebble Mine

fashion STATEMENT: Native Artists Against Pebble Mine is a traveling exhibit of wearable art that highlights a rural Alaskan community's opposition to foreign mining investors attempting to build North America's largest open pit mine at the headwaters of their fragile salmon spawning grounds.

Native Alaskan fisherwoman and artist Anna Hoover curated the exhibit as her Master's Degree project for the University of Washington.

The show, comprised of artwork created by internationally celebrated Native artists reproduced on t-shirts and limited edition prints, will be exhibited and made available online for purchase to raise awareness for this movement.

In August the exhibit premiered at the International Gallery in Anchorage, and on November 3rd, it opened at the Burke Museum in Seattle. It will continue to travel to a series of venues around the US, Canada and New Zealand.

The Natural Resources Defense Council has stated, “If the Pebble Mine is allowed to go forward, it will inflict irreversible damage on Bristol Bay -- including the permanent destruction of sixty miles of salmon habitat.”

The show features designs by esteemed Native artists such as Joe David, James Luna and Larry McNeil, all of whom have asserted the centuries long relationships that Native peoples have created with their environments, through Native art activism.

To view and purchase the T-shirts designed by the artists in the show, visit: www.nativeartistsagainstpebblemine.com

Click here to listen to an interview with Anna Hoover.

Apache Chronicle

Need some mid-week badass inspiration?

Check out this upcoming experimental documentary about the life and art of five strong Native women, who are also talented artists and skateboarders affiliated with Apache Skateboards.

Starring Melissa Cody, Razelle Benally, Rebekah Miles, Lynnette Haozous, and Tasha Hastings, this doc is produced and directed By Nanna Dalunde in collaboration with Douglas Miles of Apache Skateboards.

(Left: Lynnette Haozous as Lozen in: "Apache Chronicle")

Virgil Ortiz's Vertigo

Virgil Ortiz's latest exhibit, Vertigo, opened last week at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe (just fyi, I'm no longer living in Santa Fe, and I'm crushed that I can't attend every opening! Sadtimes. BUT, since I will be in Santa Fe for their annual Indian Market, I will still get to check out the show. Awesome.).

About Vertigo (Ortiz always has the best one-word show names, I swear), the Museum press release explained,

The past receives a current voice with the newest figurative work of Virgil Ortiz. With pieces whose scale and style are both unprecedented, the Vertigo series infuses cultural understanding and historic research. Just as his ancestors used clay to comment on their lives and experiences; Ortiz does the same and adds a fresh element and spin by enlisting family members to contribute their respective works in this spectacular series.

Inspired by Ben Wittick’s famous photograph, circa 1880, Ortiz recreates the scene using a photograph of the Charles Bridge he took during a visit to Prague, Czech Republic in 1999.

“When I walked up to the Charles Bridge, it reminded me of that photo from the Clay People book and I knew someday I would recreate it.” – Virgil Ortiz

The original Wittick photo, and Virgil Ortiz's version.

So if you plan on checking it out, here's the dish:

WHAT: “Vertigo: A Spin on Tradition ~ Reviving the Past” with Virgil Ortiz and family members

WHEN: Monday August 1st through September 5th, 2011

WHERE: Museum of Indian Arts & Culture | 710 Camino Lejo, Museum Hill off Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe New Mexico. Phone: 505.476.1250

“There is no better illustration from an artist who constantly challenges his abilities to mold clay into forms never imagined. The Vertigo series comes full circle and ends with the traditional “Mono” at this point in time.” – Robert Gallegos, Art Dealer - Historian


ALSO: Keep your eyes open for Ortiz's collaboration with Aqua Hospitality Carpets.

Fashion Leaders Bridge Cultural Divides at NOMAD Two Worlds

(Fashion designer Donna Karan, Australian Nyungar elder Dr. Richard Walley, and photographer Russell James pose on the red carpet during the NOMAD Two Worlds gallery premiere. James collaborated with many Australian, Native American, and Haitian artists to bring the L.A. collection to reality.)

Fashion Leaders Bridge Cultural Divides at NOMAD Two Worlds
(Adapted from an article by Katherine Peach/Special to LAist)

The fashion world merged with the deep cultural background of Australia's Indigenous heritage to create a show of modern music, art and fashion. The politically charged exhibit NOMAD: Two Worlds embodied the positive message of Reconciliation from the ashes of a tragic cultural devastation.

The collaborative exhibition focused on the cultural divide experienced by Australia’s Indigenous people, a reality witnessed by fashion photographer and Australian native Russell James. The exhibit featured art, music and film that James has worked with for more than a decade.

Patricia Michaels at SWAIA/Legends Show

Changing the Face: Celebrated Female Fashion Designers and Textiles Artists

The fifth and final show of the collaboration between Legends Santa Fe and Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA) featured celebrated female fashion designers and textile artists including Patricia Michaels (Taos Pueblo).

Michaels was the unanimous 2010 winner of the Santa Fe Indian Market's Textiles Classification. Competing against traditional Native textiles, her winning piece signals the ever-expanding possibilities of the ancient art of adornment.

Michaels explained, “Every garment that I make, the fabric and the cut of the garment tells a story. And that’s how I feel Native people can give back to the rest of the world… to share their stories with people in the outside world. Some people do it through pottery, or painting, or jewelry. For me, I just thought, well, somebody can wear it. They can feel [these stories] on their skin.”

(All images below are of Patricia Michaels' fashion designs shot during the Legends/SWAIA event, and are courtesy of Jessica R. Metcalfe and Keith Grosbeck, with special thanks to Michaels and her models):






To read more about Patricia Michaels, check out my designer profile on her, and visit her website.

Also, if you're in the neighborhood, be sure to check out the upcoming Legends show featuring the jewelry of Colin Coonsis (Zuni/Navajo), which opens on November 26, 2010: