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westernartgirlVerma Nequatewa Looks to Her Teacher, Charles Loloma, for Inspiration
Jewelry artist Verma Nequatewa‘s interest in making jewelry comes from a family connection. Her very first teacher was the famed Hopi artist Charles Loloma (1921-1991), who is credited with single-handedly changing the look of Hopi jewelry in the seventies with his innovative “stacking” of slabs of semi-precious stones like lapis, turquoise and coral. “I started … Read more
A Window Into the Hopi Worldview
For Susan Secakuku, Katsina in Hopi Life,the new Autry exhibition about Hopi spiritual gift-bringers that opened June 29, 2012, is the result of long, loving labor, interrupted at times but never abandoned or given up. Secakuku, who is Hopi and a member of Sipaulovi village on Second Mesa in Arizona’s Hopi territory, is the guest … Read more
John Bradley on American Indian Culture: Learn Everything
Updated Mar. 7 — Native American elders and artists often pick one tradition to focus on in their ongoing efforts to preserve and promote their tribal heritage. Learning and mastering that skill usually takes such dedication that it’s difficult to branch out. So these culture bearers dance, say, or do beadwork, or tell stories, or … Read more
A Showcase for Native American Art — by Kids!
In keeping with the Autry’s apparent mission to turn little-used spaces into destinations within the museum, the Overlook Gallery, a covered balcony directly above the Trails West activity area, is now Our West, a space dedicated to showcasing art by Southern California students. Collectors, by the way, are welcome. Right now, Our West is showing … Read more
In Conservation Cause, Not Just Shedding a Tear
One of the most memorable commercials in advertising history is a 1971 public service announcement by the Keep America Beautiful campaign in which a Native American — actor Iron Eyes Cody, actually of Italian descent — makes his way through an increasingly polluted landscape. As he reaches the edge of a highway, a passerby throws … Read more
Adrian Wall Explores the Soul of Rocks
Stone sculpture doesn’t much come to mind in your average conversation about Native American arts and crafts. It’s just not a medium Native Americans traditionally have used very much, except perhaps in the carving of fetishes. For Jemez Pueblo artist Adrian Wall and his fellow sculptors, that’s precisely the point. “It’s a medium that is … Read more
Shelley Morningsong Reclaims her Tribal Heritage
Shelley Morningsong, a Native American contemporary singer and flute player scheduled to perform at the Autry’s American Indian Arts Marketplace on Nov. 6 and 7, grew up in a musical family: her grandfather played the banjo, her grandmother taught piano, her mother played piano and accordion, and her uncle played the trumpet. But it took … Read more
The Marketing of an Ancient Culture
Is it fair game for a person to trade on his/her cultural traditions by selling them as art to outsiders? Does the label “art” ever depend on a person’s ethnicity? Native American artists wrestle with these questions all the time. And they are worth examining as the Autry’s American Indian Arts Marketplace 2010, the largest … Read more
Basketweaving Collaborative at the Autry
Updated Mar. 15, 2011: Shirley Slee and Rachel Hess, Native American sisters of Miwok and Paiute descent who have been weaving baskets since childhood, in 2010 led the Autry’s Basketweaving Collaborative, an ongoing program that showcases their artistry and gives audience members a hands-on demonstration of this ancient tradition. The Community Basket program returns to … Read more
