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westernartgirlKateri Tekakwitha Canonization Confirms a Longstanding Indigenous Tradition
Native American Christians have a special reason to celebrate this holiday season. One among them who lived in the 17th century was canonized as a saint by Pope Benedict XVI in October. Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, in life a young Mohawk/Algonquin woman who began Catholic instruction in secret because of her family’s opposition to the teachings, … Read more
Repackaging a Delicate Treasure
Sophie Hunter, collections associate for the Autry’s Southwest Museum Project, looks over a worn cardboard box marked “Mojave” to figure out how to unpack it. Inside is a confused mass of tissue, packing peanuts and bubble wrap, and inside that is an ancient-looking ceramic urn with designs painted in red. Hunter knows it is not … 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
Drumming at the Mall
Shoppers at the Westfield Santa Anita Mall might have been forgiven last Sunday afternoon for raising an eyebrow at the pounding drums that drowned out the usual mall pop Muzak. The Wild Horse Singers and Dancers were in the house. The group, organized in 1989, teaches at-risk urban Native American young people in the Los … 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
Ryerson at the Autry Store
Scott Ryerson, a trader in Zuni fetish carvings, unpacked his treasures at the Zuni carving event in the Autry Museum Store this weekend, and collectors thronged the store to see what he had brought. Ryerson, who has been traveling the reservation circuit for decades, brought along beautiful silver Zuni jewelry, but his specialty is Zuni … Read more
