Author: FAAM Staff

By Andrea L. Ferber, PhD In 1947 the Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) purchased 44 sketches by 19th-century German-American artist Charles Ferdinand Wimar, as well as 31 photographs, from St. Louis resident Claire Becker. Six of the photographs, portraits of Diné individuals, are especially rare. The photographer was Valentin Wolfenstein, a Swedish-American who visited Bosque Redondo Reservation. The US Army imprisoned approximately 10,000 Diné and Apache people at this camp in New Mexico between 1863 and 1868. Settler-colonial photographers visiting Bosque Redondo typically posed their subjects against painted backdrops and often with an ornately carved wooden chair: tropes that had…

January 28–July 18, 2021 IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts 108 Cathedral Place, Santa Fe, NM The long-anticipated retrospective of Linda Lomahaftewa (Hopi/Choctaw), painter, printmaker, and mixed-media artist, opened at the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts on January 28 and will remain on view until July 18, 2021. Lomahaftewa was one of the first waves of students at the newly established Institute of American Indian Arts founded in 1962. Along with Kevin Red Star (Cross), Earl Biss (Crow), Bill Prokopiof (Unangax̂), and T. C. Cannon (Kiowa/Caddo), Lomahaftewa entered the San Francisco Art Institute but was the only one of…

Issue No. 28, Fall 2020 Click here to purchase a digital copy for $7 from Issuu. To purchase a print copy, select your location: Locations US, New Mexico $9.74 USD US, other than NM $8.99 USD Canada $9.99 USD International $15.92 USD Features Paragons of the Virtual: 2020 SWAIA Virtual Indian Market Winners by RoseMary Diaz (Santa Clara Pueblo), 16–22 Prairie Dog Glass: The Rise of Southwest Native Glass Art by Cathy Short (Citizen Potawatomi), 23–29 BACA 2020—Contemporary Native Art Biennial/Biennale d’art contemporain autochtone, Fifth Edition: Honouring Kinship by Lori Beavis, PhD (Michi Saagiig Anishinaabe), 30–35 Ancient Teotihuacán: A Painted City…

Now that 2020 is safely behind us, we can reflect back on the year that was defined by a global pandemic, devastating fires and storms, and racial tensions. Amid all of the sorrow and challenges, however, Native artists and arts organizations met the challenges of the year head-on, giving us several shining moments to celebrate as we look back. 1. Virtual Pivot As the gravity of the COVID-19 pandemic hit in mid-March, and art event after event was canceled and museums and galleries shuttered, artists and organizations quickly developed new means of connecting online. Racing Magpie in Rapid City hosted…

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Native American Community Development Institute (NACDI) announced the virtual opening of Bring Her Home: Sacred Womxn of Resistance. This year’s exhibition is the third installment of the Bring Her Home exhibition series organized by All My Relations Art gallery and will be exhibited from December 2020 – February 2021. All My Relations Arts is an initiative of NACDI, who organized this third exhibition of this series in partnership with the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center, and Minnesota Indian Sexual Assault Coalition curated by Reyna Hernandez (Ihanktonwan Dakota). “My hope for this exhibit is to highlight empowered work…

Northern Paiute Painter and Draftsman Interview by Melissa Melero-Moose (Northern Paiute/Modoc) This interview appeared in FAAM No. 2, Spring 2014 PYRAMID LAKE, 40 miles northeast of Reno, Nevada, is home to the ancient cui-ui fish, the oldest reliably dated petroglyphs in North America, and the Pyramid Lake Paiute tribe. Pyramid Lake is also home to its very own Ben Aleck, a Pyramid Lake Paiute tribal member and a lifelong artist. Proficient in both drawing and painting, Ben creates works inspired by the beautiful landscape of his home and his people, the Paiutes of Northern Nevada. Ben attended the California College…

Issue No. 27, Summer 2020 Click here to purchase a digital copy for $7 from Issuu. To purchase a print copy, select your location: Locations US, New Mexico $9.74 USD US, other than NM $8.99 USD Canada $9.99 USD International $15.92 USD Features Native Art World Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic by various authors, 18–33 Point of Contact: The Art of Quillwork Then and Now by Matthew Ryan Smith, PhD, 34–39 Returning Home: Comanche Homecoming at Sultan Park Photo essay by Ben Norberto III (Comanche) Text by Juanita Pahdopony (Comanche), 40–45 SWAIA Selects Kim Peone to Be Executive Director: A New…

By MaryAnn Guoladdle Parker (Kiowa) We have seen those photos being passed around on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter about people creating beautiful beadwork imagining their state or providence where they live or where their people are from. This trend was started by CeeJay Johnson (Dakota/Tlingit) of Kooteen Creations, who wanted to create something that would help our Native community pass the time while we are all in quarantine. My friend Chelsea Herr (Choctaw Nation) participated in this challenge. Chelsea recently earned her doctoral degree in Native American art history and joined the Gilcrease Museum team as their curator of Indigenous…

Creating During a Planetary Pandemic By Staci Golar Janie Reano (Kewa Pueblo) represents the fourth generation of her family to participate in the annual Santa Fe Indian Market. She follows in the footsteps of her mother Rose Reano, grandmother Clara Lovato Reano, and great-grandmother Monica Silva Lovato. Janie’s mother has participated in the Indian Market for more than 50 years and Janie is going on more than 30 years as an Indian Market artist, herself. Both create jewelry using time-honored materials and techniques such as intricate heishi (small hand-carved beads, usually made from shell or stone) and mosaic inlay. Janie’s Indian…

All images courtesy of SWAIA. Grand Award Winner  Glenda McKay (Ingalik Athabascan), Harpoon Head with Sheath and Emergency Whistle Classification I. Jewelry Farrell Pacheco (Kewa Pueblo), The Daughters of Mother Earth Classification II. Pottery Shirley M. Brauker (Little River Ottawa), Missing Sisters Classification III. Paintings/Drawings/Graphics/Photography Everton Tsosie (Navajo), The Last of the Pure Classification IV. Pueblo Wooden Carvings Ronald Honyumptewa (Hopi), The Message from a Butterfly Classification V. Sculpture Ira Lujan (Taos Pueblo), Parrot Classification VI. Diverse Arts Glenda McKay (Ingalik Athabascan), Harpoon Head with Sheath and Emergency Whistle Classification VII. Textiles Lola Cody (Navajo), Two Gray Hills Navajo Rug…