Weekend of events to showcase creativity, innovation in Indigenous arts

Aug. 15—Apprenticing as a medicine man, jewelry maker Cheyenne Grabiec has cultivated a style of artwork guided by healing practices.

“Those teachings are what guide a lot of my projects, like a lot of the songs we sing, a lot of the prayers. A lot of my jewelry reflects those things,” said Grabiec, 27, a member of the Navajo Nation who lives in Flagstaff, Ariz.

He added, “The ideas are already out there. We can’t say, ‘This is mine and I own this.’ Our holy people put those ideas in our head. I got my inspiration from the colors of those trees or these flowers. Even in our work, we can’t claim ownership.”

He and Tyler Lansing, a Navajo artist from Peña Blanca, were among a few dozen Native artists and family members mingling in the courtyard of the Santa Fe Community Convention Center during a Wednesday evening reception that kicked off the 102nd annual Santa Fe Indian Market.

Lansing, 36, will be selling intricate, hand-carved pottery this weekend at the high-profile, juried art market, staged on the Plaza and surrounding downtown streets. Grabiec, who likes to explore color theory as he wades into bead design, mixing traditional styles with contemporary stones, also will show his work.

Often called the largest juried Native American art show in the world, the long-running Indian Market, presented by the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, has created an opportunity for Indigenous artists from numerous tribes to sell their work for more than a century. The show, which draws at least 100,000 people to the City Different each year, has inspired a full weekend of related events showcasing and celebrating an array of Indigenous arts — from jewelry, paintings, sculptures and textiles to films, fashion and live performances.

Indian Market — the main event, featuring over 1,000 artists from more than 200 tribes — will open Saturday and Sunday, with an awards ceremony and “sneak peak” of award-winning art Friday and a fashion show Sunday, both at the convention center.

Returning this year are two other growing Indigenous art shows — the Pathways Indigenous Arts Festival at the Hilton Santa Fe Buffalo Thunder in Pojoaque and the Free Indian Market in downtown Santa Fe.

About two blocks north of the Plaza, the breakaway Free Indian Market will be held in Federal Park.

“Where Indian Market ends, the Free Indian Market begins,” said Gregory Schaaf, the founder of the event, which was launched in 2018 to provide booth spaces to older Native artists and their families.

In its first year, the event featured 68 artists, mostly from the Southwest, and by 2022 the market had grown to almost 600 artists, Schaaf said.

“The secret of our success is diplomacy. We negotiated with the city of Santa Fe, the state of New Mexico, with the federal government,” he added, describing how the market received permission to use the park for the event several years ago. “Our purpose was to help these Native American elders who were displaced and no longer allowed to show at Indian Market.”

Meantime, the Pathways Indigenous Arts Festival at Buffalo Thunder will feature about 380 artists Friday through Sunday as well as 46 films, 26 outdoor stage performances and a fashion show Friday. This will be the fourth year of Pathways, organized by the Poeh Cultural Center.

“Pathways, it’s for the community here and the area of the pueblos and surrounding areas,” said Jacob Shije, a marketing official at the Poeh Cultural Center. “It’s kind of a nice thing for people in the area because they can come for traditional regalia. But it’s always nice for visitors from outside of New Mexico and non-Natives because they can come shop here, and we have award-winning artists.”

Santa Fe Indian Market organizers also are expecting another successful show.

“After 102 years [of the Indian Market], the creativity, innovation and residency of Native peoples in this country and in Canada is just profound, and we are going to see the best of best showcased at this market,” said Jamie Schulze, executive director of Southwestern Association for Indian Arts.

“We are really trying to do the best market we can possibly do and, of course, keep the footprint as available to the artist as possible,” Schulze said. “I think you are going to see a full and robust market.”

David Lonebear Sanipass of Maine, seated on a bench during Wednesday night’s Indian Market reception at the convention center, said he is not an artist but he is many other things, including a historian. A member of Mi’kmaq Nation, Sanipass will be selling his traditional flutes this year.

“I learned how to make [the flutes] from my grandfather at a very early age and I haven’t really changed them since then. I make flutes, but I’m also a jeweler, a basket maker, a painter. I’m a storyteller, and a good liar sometimes,” he said.

“I lost my family … I lost millions of dollars. How’s that for a story?” Sanipass said.

He lamented some of the pressures of modernity, cellphones for one thing, and expressed his desire to see more community in today’s society. He noted high death rates from drugs and alcohol among Native people.

“We don’t share enough in our community,” he said.

Aydrian Day, one of the younger artists preparing for Indian Market this week, said he is known for his beadwork but is also a budding ledger artist as his work continues to evolve. The 14-year-old from Suttons Bay, Mich., has been coming to the Santa Fe show for about half his life, and he’s won awards, he said.

“I try to keep bettering myself I guess. I try to make my pieces better than they were the year past,” Day said. “I think I’m doing more intricate or bigger pieces, just making that step up, I guess.”