Legacy 2025

2025

Northern New Mexico Guide to Native American Arts & Culture

Uncoiling Inspiration

Contemporary potters working today

Jessica Matten of Dark Winds Sugarcane’s Julian Brave NoiseCat Cara and Diego Romero’s Creative Partnership

IN STYLE

Indigenous-designed haute couture, ready to wear, and accessories

DON SMALLEY

MONUMENTAL RED

mixed media 8’ x 12’ x 5½’ e: smalleysculpture@comcast.net

www.DonSmalleySculptor.com text: 505-660-1297

C H R I S T U S S T. V I N C E N T A N D M AYO C L I N I C

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7th Annual

FREE INDIAN MARKET

8-5, SATURDAY-SUNDAY, AUGUST 16-17 FEDERAL PARK, Santa Fe (2 blocks from Plaza)

FREE INDIAN MARKET FEAST 6-9 pm, FRIDAY, AUGUST 15 HOTEL SANTA FE

Free Indian Market • PO Box 2626, Santa Fe, NM 87504-2626 505-473-5375 • 505-670-5918 • gregoryschaaf1@icloud.com www.FreeIndianMarket.org Clockwise: Robert Dale Tsosie, photo by Carl J. Sutter; Cavan Gonzales; Shonto Begay, photo by Tom Alexander; Photo by Arland Ben; Redwing Nez; Maria & Julian Martinez; and Mike Bird-Romero.

Order Tickets for Feast:

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photo: Eric Swanson

Scott Diffrient modern artifacts

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YAZZIE JOHNSON & GAIL BIRD

SUMMER 2025 August 14 - September 6, 2025 Opening Reception with the Artists Thursday, August 14, 2025 from 4 to 6pm

The Owings Gallery East Marcy Street & 100 East Palace Avenue | Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 505.982.6244 phone | info@owingsgallery.com | www.owingsgallery.com

TONY ABEYTA

NEW WORKS

August 15 - September 6, 2025 Opening Reception with the Artist Friday, August 15, 2025 from 5 to 7pm

The Owings Gallery

East Marcy Street & 100 East Palace Avenue | Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 505.982.6244 phone | info@owingsgallery.com | www.owingsgallery.com

TRUE WWEST THE TRUSTED SOURCE

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FERLO НОМЕ OF AUTHENTIC NATIVE AMERICAN

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TAKE HOME A TREASURE FROM INDIAN COUNTRY

BUY WORKS PRODUCED BY MEMBERS OF FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED TRIBES The Indian Arts and Crafts Board offers a Source Directory of American Indian and Alaska Native Businesses that sell authentic Indian art and craftwork, available at www.doi.gov/iacb.

Under the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, it is unlawful to offer or display for sale, or sell, any art or craftwork in a manner that falsely suggests it is Indian made.

For a free brochure on the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, including how to file a complaint, please contact: U.S. Department of the Interior | Indian Arts and Crafts Board Toll Free: 1-888-278-3253 | Email: iacb@ios.doi.gov

WWW.DOI.GOV/IACB Denise Wallace, Chugach Sugpiaq, Belt Buckle, Sedna and the Shaman, ©1994

FOLLOW US

AUGUST 15,16 & 17, 2025

BUFFALO THUNDER RESORT & CASINO NATIVE ARTS MARKET LIVE MUSIC TRADITIONAL DANCES REGALIA SHOWCASE FOOD TRUCKS INDIGENOUS FILM FESTIVAL PATHWAYS IS ORGANIZED BY THE POEH CULTURAL CENTER, A TRIBALLY LED VALUE BASED ENTITY OF THE PUEBLO OF POJOAQUE.

BuffaloThunderResort.com

PoehCenter.org

(1940–2025)

Summer Exhibition

Above: Arlee Ledger Pony, 2015, mixed media on canvas, 40" x 60"; Below from left: Spam, 1994, mixed media and collage on paper, 15" x 11"; Indian Art History, 1993, monotype, 21" x 18"; Horse Sense (Ed. 13/30), 1994, original lithograph on paper, 30" x 22"

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith is a groundbreaking Native American artist and activist whose powerful mixed-media artwork blends contemporary abstraction with Indigenous imagery.

LewAllenGalleries Railyard Arts District I 1613 Paseo de Peralta I 505.988.3250 contact@lewallengalleries.com I lewallengalleries.com

PATRICK DEAN HUBBELL

You Showed Us How To Keep Going Past Failed Attempts (detail), 2025

When It Seems Impossible, You Hold It All Together For Us (detail), 2025

Opening Reception: Thursday, August 14 from 5–8pm 1011 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe gpgallery.com

OWNER Robin Martin PUBLISHER Patrick Dorsey EXECUTIVE EDITOR Bill Church

Here in New Mexico, Native American

EDITORIAL Magazine Editor, Ashley M. Biggers abiggers@sfnewmexican.com

arts and culture are an integral part of our state’s tapestry. That is why AARP

Contributing Editor, Ungelbah Dávila Designer, Linda M. Peters linda@swelldesign.net

New Mexico is a proud sponsor of this year’s Santa Fe Indian Market. We live

Copy Editor, Peg Goldstein CONTRIBUTORS Gabriela Campos, Tira Howard, Devon Jackson, Jennifer Levin, Gabriella Marks, Elizabeth Miller, Adele Oliveira, Michael G. Seamans, Jim Weber, and Emily Withnall

here too and understand how our diverse culture makes this a great place to call home.

At AARP, we offer resources for fami-

ADVERTISING Chief Advertising and Marketing Director Wendy Ortega

ly caregivers, ways to prevent identity

Classified Advertising Manager Laura Harding ADVERTISING SALES Mayra Aldaz Maria Lopez Garcia Deb Meyers Veronica Rigales Vanessa Ruedeman Trina Thomas

theft and fraud, opportunities to give back to our community, and fight to protect Social Security, all to help you achieve your goals and stay connected.

ADVERTISING ART DEPARTMENT Designers, Elspeth Hilbert, Rick Artiaga, Justin Bixler

2025 Northern New Mexico Guide to Native American Arts & Culture

PRODUCTION Operations Director, Tim Cramer Prepress Manager, Anthony Welch Assistant Production Director, Brenda Shaffer Packaging Manager, Josh Harris DISTRIBUTION Circulation Director, Michael Reichard TECHNOLOGY Technology Director, Michael Campbell

ON THE COVER

Than Povi Martinez reaches new heights in a garment by Sage Mountainflower.

Read more about Martinez on page 26 and Mountainflower on page 92.

COVER PHOTO

By Gabriella Marks

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LEGACY 2025

WEB santafenewmexican.com Office: 150 Washington Ave. #105

Hours: 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Monday–Friday

Advertising Information: 505-995-3852 Delivery: 505-986-3010, 800-873-3372 For copies of this magazine, call 505-986-3010 or email circulation@sfnewmexican.com.

NATIVE AMERICAN ARTS & CULTURE

19

Indigenous arts, cultures, and traditions Tribal collaborations Culturally-based education programs Library, archives, and research collections Archaeological research

Published August 8, 2025

13 1 Daniel McCoy: Falltime Rays

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Departments

43

26 On the Cover

119 Shop

With Indigenous owners, these new shops in Santa Fe and Albuquerque are helping change the gallery scene.

123 Eat & Drink

Meet the 2025 Legacy cover model

Bow & Arrow Brewing Co. pays homage to the region and its first people.

29 Calendar

Photos (clockwise from top): Courtesy Hecho a Mano, courtesy Bow & Arrow Brewing Co.,

by Gabriela Campos/The New Mexican, by Jim Weber/The New Mexican

Art markets, museum exhibitions, concerts, and more — during Santa Fe Indian Market weekend and throughout August

127 Maker

Kiyani Botanics uses plant medicine in body products that are healing for people and gentle on the earth.

39 Q&A

131 Gallery Guide

Danyelle Means, executive director of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, reflects on Indigenous leadership in museums.

Ten galleries showcasing Native and non-Native artists this month

138 Artist Lists

43 Listen

IndigenousWays community music festival hits a note beyond the stage.

Meet the presenting artists at Santa Fe Indian Market, Free Indian Market, and Pathways Indigenous Arts Festival

46 Watch

Dark Winds actress Jessica Matten on screen and on the runway

51

Create

Julian Brave NoiseCat reflects on the making of his documentary Sugarcane and looks ahead to his memoir.

55 Draw

Caldecott Medal winner Rebecca Lee Kunz brings Cherokee heritage and a handmade feel to her work.

59 Go 39

Taos Pueblo offers a (nearly) yearround destination to shop for Native arts and meet the creatives behind jewelry, pottery, and more.

123 NATIVE AMERICAN ARTS & CULTURE

21

INSIDE THIS ISSUE Features 62 On Point

2024 Santa Fe Indian Market Best of Show winner Dan Vallo’s creation showcases artistry — and the legacy of revolution.

Story and photography by Ungelbah Dávila

65 The Uprising Today

Indigenous artists respond to and reimagine the Pueblo Revolt.

By Ungelbah Dávila

68 Just the Messenger

As two museums showcase Bob Haozous’s sculptures, paintings, and metalworking, the artist hopes people look past the materials to their meanings.

By Elizabeth Miller Portraits by Michael G. Seamans

73 Stone Giants

The only competition that motivates sculptor Ryan Benally is outdoing himself.

By Elizabeth Miller Portraits by Gabriela Campos

76 Romero & Romero

82 In the Now

Four contemporary potters define their styles.

By Jennifer Levin

87 Coloring Outside the Lines

Dolores Purdy makes ledger art her own.

By Ashley M. Biggers Photography by Michael G. Seamans

110

92 In Fine Style

Native regalia stands as the country’s first haute couture. Today, Native designers draw inspiration from varied sources — everything from ceremonial and traditional wear to the latest episode of Bridgerton — to create clothing and accessories both regal and ready to wear. Go behind the designs with Sage Morningflower, House of Sutai, Towering Stone, Michelle Tsosie Sisneros, Sleep Rock Company, Zefren-M, and Jolene Bird.

By Ashley M. Biggers Photography by Gabriella Marks

110 Silver & Gold

Four jewelers create glittering, wearable art.

By Emily Withnall

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LEGACY 2025

65

82

Photos (clockwise from top): Courtesy Sorrel Sky Gallery, courtesy King Galleries, courtesy Virgil Ortiz

Cara and Diego Romero hit the high points — together.

By Devon Jackson

Modern Pueblo Pottery

Blending Tradition with Modern Vision 221 Canyon Road, Santa Fe

www.adobegallery.com

Building Quality Collections for 50 Years

505.955.0550

The Marriage of Figaro Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

LA BOHÈME

August 9, 12, 16, 22

Puccini

THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO Mozart

RIGOLETTO Verdi

THE TURN OF THE SCREW Britten

DIE WALKÜRE Wagner

#OpenAirOpera

Explore the Season

First-time NM Buyers

SAVE 40% Call for details!

For tickets and more information visit santafeopera.org or call 505-986-5900 The Marriage of Figaro Illustration

by Benedetto Cristofani

ON THE COVER

REACHING HIGH Than Povi Martinez blends dance and modeling.

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LEGACY 2025

Than Povi Martinez performs at Circles: Honoring Indigenous Santa Fe. The multimedia experience blending song, dance, and spoken word takes place November 15 at 7:30 p.m. at the Lensic Performing Arts Center.

For tickets and information, visit lensic.org.

Than Povi Martinez in a garment by Sage Mountainflower

Photo: By Gabriella Marks

F

rom the time she could walk, Than Povi Martinez was stepping traditional dances at San Ildefonso Pueblo beneath Black Mesa along the waters of the Rio Grande. Soon she was moving to different beats at Moving Arts Española, a nonprofit that fosters youth empowerment via arts education, where she learned gymnastics, circus arts, and hip-hop.

Under the mentorship of founders Roger Montoya and Salvador Ruiz, she spun into ballet, and as her career has grown, she’s added modeling to her movement repertoire.

A video for the Moving Arts Española’s CNN Heroes nomination chronicles Martinez’s ballet journey, which began with classes with the organization at age 5 and then grew into studies at Dance Arts Los Alamos and the New Mexico School for the Arts. After high school graduation and a nine-month stint at a preprofessional program at Ballet Chicago, she entered college at Loyola Marymount University — always with her toe shoes in tow.

Beyond her girlhood dreams of becoming the Sugar Plum Fairy, she says ballet gave her stability. Her childhood “wasn’t necessarily the most organized at some times. . . . I could depend on [ballet] giving me structure.

I could work in between the rules to find the freedom.”

Her identity often contrasted with that of the stereotypical ballerina.

“Within the set of limitations and rules that are presented within ballet, I feel I was able to really find my voice and my groove. I found what it means to be in a brown, Native body within a very Westernized, Eurocentric art form.” She found reassurance in the career of Osage ballerina Maria Tallchief, the country’s first major prima ballerina and the first Native American to achieve that acclaim.

For Martinez, her Pueblo and ballerina identities have intersected “in the way I view my body as a vessel, in a traditional sense and a choreographic sense. . . . When I’m in my traditional dances, I’m a voice. I’m a vessel for the prayers we’re putting out into the dances we’re doing. We’re calling our spirits to come down to us, to watch over us. When I’m in the studio, I’m a vessel for the choreographer’s dream, their idea, their voice. I’m their paintbrush and their canvas.”

She worried that a pop in her right knee during an audition in her senior year in college would spell the end of her career. Instead, the meniscus tear gave her time to strengthen her body and her mind. “I found power in the way that my bone structure is. It may not be the same as a lot of ballerina friends that I looked up to, but it has a beautiful power in its own way, and it’s taken me a really long time to get to this point,” Martinez says.

She’s also turned her attention to moving her body in a new way.

She first modeled for friend Nathaniel Fuentes, CEO of He Kha Productions at Santa Clara Pueblo, in his Indigenous Sisterhood Series, donning a garment by Taos Pueblo designer Patricia Michaels. She’s since modeled for Sage Mountainflower and for Amy Denet Deal’s 4KINSHIP. During the May 2025 SWAIA Native Fashion Week, she walked the runway for multiple designers, including Sage Mountainflower, Peshawn Bread’s House of Sutai, Patricia Michaels, Jeremy Arviso, and Yolonda Skelton. Martinez says this new creative pursuit echoes ballet. Here too she’s found her voice and her own ways of expression within the standard runway gait and traditional static poses. She now considers herself a multi-hyphenate, with aims to pursue both careers but with a new grounded perspective.

Two years after her injury, her knee is mostly healed. “I’m being very careful about how I place my weight now. I have an intention of movement and an intention of my spirit too,” she says. “When it comes to modeling and dancing, I’m being very intentional with coming with a good heart and mind.” She says the messages of friends, family, and fellow dancers, who have long told her that she’s not only enough but an inspiration, are finally starting to sink in. — AMB

NATIVE MARKET SALE Live Online, August 12 – 14

View all lots online and at our Baca Railyard Showroom

MERINA [POP CHALEE] LUJAN (Taos, 1906 - 1993), Yellow Horse, gouache on paper, 13 1⁄8 x 18 1⁄8 in.

UPCOMING CALENDAR September 2025 November 2025 December 2025 February 2026 March 2026

Contemporary Art, Design + Photography The Signature Sale Etcetera Holiday Sale Native Arts Prints, Multiples + Works on Paper

WELCOMING CONSIGNMENTS YEAR-ROUND CONSIGN@SANTAFEARTAUCTION.COM

932 Railfan Road, Santa Fe, NM 505.954.5858 @santafeartauction

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LEGACY 2025

CALENDAR

HAPPENINGS

Photo: By Haiden Renae Gould, courtesy Museum of Contemporary Native Arts

Your guide to art markets, museum exhibitions, concerts, and more — during Indian Market weekend and beyond.

Always & Forever: Douglas Miles & Apache Skateboards at the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts showcases works by the San Carlos Apache artist, including Wrapped in Love.

NATIVE AMERICAN ARTS & CULTURE

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CALENDAR SANTA FE INDIAN MARKET Friday, August 15 1 1:30 a.m.–2 p.m.

Best of Show Ceremony and Luncheon The top artists of the year are celebrated at this exclusive event and awards ceremony, with a luncheon afterward for Best of Show and best of classification winners, their guests, and ticket-holders.

Tickets: $258.70.

Santa Fe Community Convention Center Ballroom 201 W. Marcy St., swaia.org 2–4 p.m.

Members-Only Sneak Peek of Award-Winning Art Advance preview of artwork from the 102nd Santa Fe Indian Market, including Best of Show and best of classification winners. Tickets: $104.20.

Santa Fe Community Convention Center Ballroom 201 W. Marcy St., swaia.org 4:30–6 p.m.

General Preview of Award-Winning Art Public preview of Indian Market artwork, including Best of Show and best of classification winners, before the weekend market opens. Tickets: $52.70.

Santa Fe Community Convention Center Ballroom 201 W. Marcy St., swaia.org

Saturday, August 16– Sunday, August 17 8 a.m.–5 p.m.

Santa Fe Indian Market Santa Fe Indian Market features more than 1,000 artists from 200-plus tribes showcasing a vast array of traditional and contemporary Native American artwork, including jewelry, pottery, textiles, paintings, beadwork, and sculptures. Plus: Indigenous

performers take the Plaza stage and the stage at Cathedral Park throughout the day. Free.

Santa Fe Plaza and downtown

Saturday, August 16 5–9 p.m.

SWAIA Gala Benefiting the education and advocacy work of the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, this event celebrates Native American art and culture with a lavish cocktail reception and includes a live art auction. Tickets: $361.70.

Vladem Contemporary 404 Montezuma Ave., swaia.org

Sunday, August 17

9–1 1 a.m.

Native American Regalia Showcase Participants of all ages share beautiful and culturally significant traditional clothing, dance regalia, and family heirlooms. Free.

Santa Fe Plaza Stage 3–4 p.m.

Native Fashion Show New work from premier Indigenous designers is on display at SWAIA’s 2025 runway show of cutting-edge fashion. VIP guests are treated to a fashion show pre-party in the SFCCC lobby. Tickets: from $26.95.

Santa Fe Community Convention Center Ballroom 201 W. Marcy St., swaia.org

OTHER MARKETS AND FESTIVALS Friday, August 8–Monday, August 11 Whitehawk Antique Indian and Ethnographic Art Show 6–9 p.m. Friday (preview opening), 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Monday For more than 45 years, this event has brought together experts showcasing

The Free Indian Market displays works such as Free Market Monarch by Shonto Begay thousands of historic and contempo-

Tuesday, August 12– Wednesday, August 13

and Canadian First Nations cultures,

Santa Fe Art Auction Native Market Presented by a leading Southwest art auction house, the sale features Native American works in a variety of mediums, from paintings and textiles to works on paper and baskets.

The auction includes pieces by Native artists practicing today and historic Pueblo objects.

Santa Fe Art Auction 932 Railfan Road santafeartauction.com

rary art objects from Native American as well as ethnographic pieces from around the world. Displays highlight textiles, pottery, jewelry, basketry,

and beadwork revealing the artistry and tribal traditions of little-known

artisans. The textiles include German-

town and chief’s blankets, Two Grey Hills rugs, and other select regional weavings. This year’s show includes two special exhibitions. Spirit Beings in Wood: The Vibrant Tradition of Hopi Katsina Carvings, 1880 to Present focuses on a range of subjects, from late 19th-century putsqatihu (cradle katsinas) to the first masters of the

form (such as Wilson Tawaquaptewa,

Jeremiah Ringleb (right) and Amber Fragua with the Oak Canyon Dancers perform on San Francisco Street during the 2024 Santa Fe Indian Market.

30

LEGACY 2025

Otto Pentewa, and Jimmy Kewanwytewa) to contemporary examples.

The Living Tradition of Chimayo Weaving pulls from the Nuevo Mexicano Heritage Arts Museum vault to represent the region’s long and fascinating weaving history.

Preview ticket: $125; day show ticket: $18; run of show: $20.

Santa Fe Community Convention Center 201 W. Marcy St., whitehawkshows.com

Friday, August 15–Saturday, August 16 8 a.m.–4 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Saturday Artists’ Market The Wheelwright Museum hosts its fifth annual outdoor Artists’ Market, featuring select artists in a variety of mediums. Confirmed participants include Janice Black Elk Jim(Rosebud Lakota), Deanna Tenorio (Santo Domingo/Pomo), Robert Tenorio (Santo Domingo), Yazzie Johnson (Navajo), and Gail Bird (Santo Domingo/ Laguna).

Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian 704 Camino Lejo, wheelwright.org

Friday, August 15–Sunday, August 17 9 a.m.–4 p.m.

Pathways Indigenous Arts Festival Organized by the Poeh Cultural Center and operated on tribal land, this annual festival features more than 400 Indigenous artists showcasing a range of mediums, from traditional Pueblo pottery to contemporary works.

The festival includes youth activities, live music, art demonstrations, film screenings, artist panels, food trucks, and a fashion showcase. Free.

Buffalo Thunder Resort and Casino 30 Buffalo Thunder Trail poehcenter.org/pathways

Photos (left to right): By Jim Weber/The New Mexican, photo by Tom Alexander, courtesy Free Indian Market, by Jim Weber/The New Mexican

Friday, August 15, and Saturday, August 16 7–9 p.m.

Uplift: The Indigenous Fashion Renaissance Sky-Eagle Collection hosts a two-day fashion event honoring Indigenous creativity, particularly designers, models, and crew members who have not previously had a platform in Santa Fe during the Indian Market season.

The first night features rrr.raid, SACRD THNDR, Breezy Designs, ALTRN8V, and House of Sutai. The second night features Inspired by LCR, RedWing Collection, Auntie Creations, Bonnie Woodie, She Holds the Sky Designs, Oh Kiyo, Rebekah Jarvey, and Sage Mountainflower. Conceived by Dante Biss-Grayson, an Osage artist, U.S. military veteran, and founder of Sky-Eagle Collection, the event gives a portion of its proceeds to the Wounded Warrior Project.

Vladem Contemporary 404 Montezuma Ave. skyeaglecollection.com

Friday, August 15–Sunday, August 17 10 a.m.–7 p.m.

Sovereign Santa Fe 2025 Organized by FaraHNHeight Fine Art, Sovereign Santa Fe is a free contemporary Native American arts event showcasing cutting-edge Indigenous creativity. The marketplace highlights

“new school” Indigenous art and artists. Exhibiting artists include Jesse Raine Littlebird (Laguna/Kewa Pueblos), Nicholas Galanin (Sitka Tlingit), Piersten Doctor (Diné), Kristin Gentry (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma), and Craig George (Diné). The market also includes Keepers of the Land, a free multimedia exhibit organized and curated by Tvlse Studios and fine artist Carly Treece (Mvskoke/Cherokee).

In this show, contemporary Native American artists from Oklahoma explore the deep-rooted connection between Indigenous peoples and the land. Sovereign Santa Fe also includes Sovereignly Fit, a ticketed two-night contemporary Native fashion event produced and organized by Towering Stone, a luxury men’s fashion and lifestyle brand founded by Loren Aragon (Acoma Pueblo). Doors open at 6:30 p.m.; runway show begins at 8:30. Marketplace: free; Sovereignly Fit tickets: TBA. La Fonda on the Plaza (Lumpkins Ballroom and second-floor mezzanine) 100 E. San Francisco St. lafondasantafe.com

Market Events 2025

Dancing Maiden

by Ray Tsalate

Friday, August 15 Saturday, August 16–Sunday, August 17 6–9 p.m. (Friday feast) 8 a.m.–5 p.m. (weekend market) Free Indian Market The annual Free Indian Market showcases Native art and culture via free booth spaces for elders and their families. It hosts more than 500 Native artists representing some 50 Native American nations and Indigenous communities from around the world.

Artists work in a variety of mediums, including pottery, jewelry, painting, sculpture, textiles, basketry, beadwork, carving, fashion, photography, and graphic arts. The event opens for the first time this year with the Free Indian Market Feast, honoring the Maria and Julian Martinez family, at Hotel Santa Fe. Feast tickets: $100 (order at 505-473-5375). Market: Free.

Federal Park 106 S. Federal Place freeindianmarket.org

Friday, August 15, 3–5pm

Sandra Quandelacy Kateri Quandelacy Sanchez Jewelry & Zuni Fetish Carvings Corn Maidens by Sandra Quandelacy and Kateri Quandelacy Sanchez

Saturday & Sunday, August 16 & 17, 10am–5pm

Ray Tsalate Zuni Fetish Carvings ZYEP Artists Apprenticeship Participants The Nahohai Family Pottery

Prayer Bowl by Milford Nahohai Kiowa Taryole from Mountain View, Oklahoma, arranges his beaded necklaces while setting up for the 2024 Pathways Indigenous Arts Festival at Buffalo Thunder Resort and Casino.

Since 1981 Jewelry Carvings Pottery 227 Don Gaspar, Santa Fe Keshi.com 505.989.8728 All proceeds go to the artist.

NATIVE AMERICAN ARTS & CULTURE

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CALENDAR Dillon Christopher Chitto’s

Pueblo Revolt

S a ve w it h c o1 5 % de

R E VO LT

Directed by Tara Moses

Aug 14 - 31, 2025 An Indigifuturist comedy about two Indigenous brothers living under Colonial Spanish rule in New Mexico.

15

SANTA FE PLAYHOUSE

NEW MEXICO PREMIERE PLAY

TICKETS: $15 - $75

505-988-4262 s a n t a f e p l a y h o u s e . o r g 142 East De Vargas St., Santa Fe, NM 87501 Partially funded by the County of Santa Fe Lodgers’ Tax

MUSEUM EVENTS Wednesday, August 13– Friday, August 15 3–6 p.m. Wednesday, 8 a.m.–4 p.m. Thursday and Friday Wheelwright Museum’s Annual Benefit Sale This year’s edition of the museum’s largest fundraising event features hundreds of one-of-a-kind works for purchase, including Native American jewelry, pottery, textiles, baskets, paintings, and folk art.

Tickets for the early bird event on Wednesday: $35–$50.

Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian 704 Camino Lejo, wheelwright.org

Thursday, August 14

10–11 a.m.

Judging Native Art: Challenges and Rewards How do you evaluate Native art?

How can the judging process be improved? Join us in a lively discussion with gallerist Mark Bahti, appraiser Scott C. Hale, and Native artists Linda Lomahaftewa (Hopi/Choctaw), Karita Coffey (Comanche), and America Meredith (Cherokee Nation).

Moderated by Rachel Wixom; hosted by the Coe Center and First American Art magazine.

Ralph T. Coe Center for the Arts 1590-B Pacheco St. firstamericanartmagazine.com/judging

Friday, August 15, and Friday, August 22 5–7 p.m.

Late Night Friday The New Mexico History Museum extends its Friday hours so visitors can peruse exhibits later in the evening.

Free to New Mexico residents.

New Mexico History Museum 113 Lincoln Ave., nmhistorymuseum.org

Saturday, August 16– Sunday, August 17 9 a.m.–4 p.m.

Native American Artisans Portal Program — Sales in the Courtyard Native American portal artisans from 23 federally recognized tribes, pueblos, and nations in New Mexico offer music, handcrafted art, and traditional Native dances in the New Mexico History Museum courtyard.

Free admission to the museum and courtyard sale.

Palace of the Governors New Mexico History Museum 113 Lincoln Ave., nmhistorymuseum.org

MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS Through August 17, 2025 Printing the Pueblo World: Juan Pino of Tay Tsu’geh Oweenge Juan Pino depicted intimate moments of Pueblo life and culture in the 1920s, including agricultural work and ceremonial dances. The exhibition highlights

Makowa: The Worlds Above Us at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture exhibits works such as Evening Star by Kathleen Wall (Jemez Pueblo).

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LEGACY 2025

Nyla Nyla Sahmie: Sahmie: The The Last Nampeyo Nampeyo

Photos (left to right): Courtesy Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, courtesy Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian

An AnAncient Ancient Lineage Lineage Of Artistic Artistic Excellence Excellence

Diné artist Marwin Begaye’s Sky is seen in Visualizing K’é: New Works by Marwin Begaye at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian. his unfiltered, respectful portrayals.

Museum of Indian Arts and Culture 710 Camino Lejo indianartsandculture.org

Through September 1, 2025 Engaging the Future: The Goodman Fellowship Artists This exhibition highlights 2025 Goodman Fellow Auri Poseyesva (Hopi), alongside past recipients such as Rapheal Begay (Diné), Carly Feddersen (Colville Confederated Tribes), and Cree LaRance (Ohkay Owingeh/Hopi/Navajo).

Museum of Indian Arts and Culture 710 Camino Lejo, indianartsandculture.org

Through January 10, 2026 Memo to the Mother: Bob Haozous’s Messages to Mother Earth This exhibition brings together sculptures, monoprints, and wearable sculpture representing Bob Haozous’s decades-long thinking about the environment.

Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian 704 Camino Lejo, wheelwright.org

January 11, 2026 Once Within a Time: SITE Santa Fe 12th International SITE Santa Fe extends its biennial programming to institutions across

Santa Fe. The Wheelwright Museum features the work of Raven Halfmoon (Caddo Nation), Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation/Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians), Cristina Flores Pescorán (from Peru), and Emmi Whitehorse (Diné) and a central installation by Nora Naranjo Morse (Santa Clara Pueblo).

Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian 704 Camino Lejo, wheelwright.org

Through January 13, 2026 Once Within a Time: SITE Santa Fe 12th International Drawing on the film Once Within a Time

by Santa Fe filmmaker Godfrey Reggio for inspiration, SITE Santa Fe’s 12th International brings figures both historical and current, real and imagined, into dialogue with works of contemporary art.

SITE Santa Fe 1606 Paseo de Peralta, sitesantafe.org

Through February 8, 2026 Douglas Miles & Apache Skateboards Douglas Miles (White Mountain Apache/ San Carlos Apache/Akimel O’odham), a painter, printmaker, and photographer from Arizona, founded Apache Skateboards and the Apache Skate Team. Miles sees skateboards as moving canvases, reasserting the sovereignty of motion and showing

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CALENDAR

King Galleries highlights works by Nancy Youngblood (Santa Clara Pueblo) in Pueblo Prime.

Native American cultures as dynamic and contemporary. The exhibition features Miles’s installation You’re Skating on Native Land (2022) and his skateboard designs.

IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts 108 Cathedral Place, iaia.edu/mocna

Through February 8, 2026 Maggie Thompson: Interactions Textile artist and designer Maggie Thompson (Fond du Lac Ojibwe) derives inspiration from her Ojibwe heritage, family history, and the contemporary Native American experience. In this exhibition and her works in general, Thompson pushes the viewer’s understanding of textile art by combining photographs, found objects, stockings, beadwork, and more. Through largescale work and installations, she brings form to emotional experiences and creates a visual way to process complex topics.

IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts 108 Cathedral Place, iaia.edu/mocna

Through March 28, 2026 Visualizing K’é: New Works by Marwin Begaye This exhibition features 15 drawings and prints by master printmaker Marwin Begaye (Diné). Inspired by historic voice recordings from the Wheelwright Museum’s permanent collection, in 2024–2025 Begaye created a series of abstract works that visualize the Diné philosophy and practice of maintaining kinship (k’é). These images, and Begaye’s work in general, reflect on questions of identity, storytelling, and language.

The exhibition features tours and artist talks; check the museum’s website for details.

Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian Museum Hill, 704 Camino Lejo wheelwright.org

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Through September 2026 Makowa: The Worlds Above Us Exploring Indigenous relationships with the sky, this exhibition connects the ancient and modern. It presents artistic renderings of celestial events alongside cutting-edge telescopic imaging. The show features night photography, pottery, textiles, and more. Interviews highlight Indigenous astrophysicists, skywatchers, and artists.

Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian 704 Camino Lejo, wheelwright.org

Through July 2, 2028 Here, Now and Always This groundbreaking exhibition centers the voices and perspectives of the Indigenous people of the American Southwest and features more than 600 objects from the museum’s collection of ceramics, jewelry, and other creations.

Museum of Indian Arts and Culture Museum Hill, 710 Camino Lejo indianartsandculture.org

August 10–January 11, 2026 Gestural in Form Marking the anniversary of the 1680 Pueblo Revolt, Gestural in Form showcases Virgil Ortiz’s sculptural works dating from the 1980s to the early 2000s, along with works from others in his family. The pieces are part of the museum’s Charlotte Mittler Collection.

Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian 704 Camino Lejo, wheelwright.org

August 15–January 4, 2026 Breaking Ground: Art & Activism in Indigenous Taiwan Bringing together works of contemporary Indigenous artists from Taiwan, this exhibition speaks to the environmental and cultural consequences

of colonization. Through themes of identity, self-representation, and resistance, the artists confront the impact of assimilationist policies, including the loss of Indigenous rights, homelands, language, and cultural knowledge — concerns echoed by Native communities in the United States.

IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts 108 Cathedral Place, iaia.edu/mocna

GALLERIES Ongoing Thursdays and Saturdays Sculpture Garden Guided Tours The Allan Houser Sculpture Garden features 70 monumental outdoor works plus a dozen steel sculptures in the Bob Haozous Walkabout.

The indoor gallery exhibits small and medium-size sculptures and charcoal drawings by the prestigious Chiricahua Apache sculptor and painter. By appointment only; call to reserve 14 days in advance.

Tickets: $35.

Allan Houser Sculpture Gardens and Gallery at Haozous Place 26 Haozous Road, allanhouser.com

Friday, August 8 5–7 p.m.

Artist Reception for Forever West Legacy Galleries brings together 10 talented artists, each with a unique style and approach to western art. Through their paintings, they capture the spirit and essence of the American West, showcasing its natural beauty, rich history, and diverse cultures. Artists include John Moyers, Terri Kelly Moyers, Bill Anton, and Rachel Brownlee.

Legacy Gallery Santa Fe 225 Canyon Road, Suite 11 legacygallery.com

Photos: Courtesy King Galleries and Sorrel Sky Gallery

Wednesday, August 13

1 1 a.m.

Podcast Panel Discussion Jesse Littlebird, Thomas Breeze Marcus, and Chris Pappan gather for a recorded discussion of their work, hosted by Leroy Garcia.

Blue Rain Gallery 544 S. Guadalupe St. blueraingallery.com

Thursday, August 14 Sunday, August 17

3–4 p.m. Thursday 1–2 p.m. Sunday Navajo Weaving Talks with Jackson Clark II Drawing from more than four decades of expertise, Navajo weaving authority Jackson Clark shares his knowledge of Native artisans and their distinctive designs, illuminating the beauty and cultural significance of traditional weaving. Thursday’s talk is titled “A Weave Through Time: The History of Navajo Weaving and the Navajo People.” Sunday brings “Early Navajo Traders and Their Influence on Navajo Weaving.”

Sorrel Sky Gallery 125 W. Palace Ave., sorrelsky.com

Thursday, August 14

5–7 p.m.

Artist Reception for Places of Power Experience an evening inspired by Mateo Romero’s dynamic paintings, which blend traditional Pueblo culture with contemporary abstraction.

Manitou Galleries 123 W. Palace Ave. legacygallery.com/location/ manitou-galleries

Thursday, August 14

5–7:30 p.m.

Artist Reception for Native American Group Show Meet gallery artists as they showcase new works. Artists include Ben Nighthorse, Victoria Adams, Darryl Dean Begay, and Rebecca Begay.

Sorrel Sky Gallery 125 W. Palace Ave. sorrelsky.com

Thursday, August 14

5–8 p.m.

Artist Reception for Group Show Meet artists from Blue Rain Gallery as they present new works. Artists include Dan Friday, Ryan Singer, Jody Naranjo, Chris Pappan, Helen K. Tindel, Raven Skyriver, Hyrum Joe, Karen Clarkson, Spooner Marcus, Starr Hardridge, Ugly Pie, Thomas Breeze Marcus, Jesse Littlebird, Lisa Holt, Harlan Reano, and Leah Garcia.

Blue Rain Gallery 544 S. Guadalupe St. blueraingallery.com

Sorrel Sky displays works by jeweler Shane Hendren and others in its Santa Fe Indian Market weekend events.

NATIVE AMERICAN ARTS & CULTURE

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CALENDAR 11 a.m.– 3 p.m.

Painting Demonstrations Thomas Breeze Marcus and Hyrum Joe showcase their art and creative processes.

Blue Rain Gallery 544 S. Guadalupe St., blueraingallery.com

Friday, August 15–Saturday, August 16

11 a.m.– 3 p.m.

Glassblowing Demonstrations Watch glass artists create their works.

Artists include Preston Singletary, Dan Friday, Raven Skyriver, and Spooner Marcus.

Blue Rain Gallery 544 S. Guadalupe St., blueraingallery.com

(Santa Clara), Les Namingha (HopiTewa/Zuni), Autumn Borts-Medlock (Santa Clara), Stephanie Tafoya (Santa Clara), Jeff Suina (Cochiti), Jared Tso (Diné), Daniel Begay (Diné/ Santa Clara), Robert Patricio (Acoma), and Dolores Curran (Santa Clara).

King Galleries 130 Lincoln Ave., Suite D kinggalleries.com

stable of artists, including bronze sculptor Star Liana York, jeweler Nayla Shami, gourd artist Robert Rivera, and others.

Sorrel Sky Gallery 125 W. Palace Ave., sorrelsky.com

Friday, August 15

IndigenousWays Wisdom Circle The nonprofit hosts an evening featuring musicians and special guests.

Vital Spaces Theater 1600 St. Michaels Dr. indigenousways.org

5–7:30 p.m.

Artist Reception for All Artist Group Show Experience the full spectrum of art and meet members of Sorrel Sky’s

Friday, August 15

Wednesday, August 13

August 14–31

2–3 p.m.

Artist Reception for Pueblo Prime Meet the gallery artists as they present new works. Artists include Nancy Youngblood (Santa Clara), Chris Youngblood (Santa Clara), Jennifer Tafoya (Santa Clara), Sergio Lugo (Santa Clara), and Joseph Youngblood Lugo (Santa Clara).

King Galleries 130 Lincoln Ave., Suite D, kinggalleries.com

Friday, August 15

3–5 p.m.

Artist Reception for Santa Fe Indian Market 2025 Meet gallery artists as they present new work. Artists include Tammy Garcia

PERFORMING ARTS

Blue Rain Gallery showcases works by Jody Naranjo, such as Dancing Butterflies, this month.

Pueblo Revolt 7:30 p.m. Thursday– Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday Santa Fe Playhouse presents a historic/Indigifuturist play by Indigenous playwright Dillon Chitto.

The script-in-hand staged workshop is a comedy about two Indigenous brothers living under Spanish colonial rule in New Mexico.

One is an inexperienced revolutionary. The other is a gay idealist.

Tickets: from $15.

Santa Fe Playhouse 142 E. De Vargas St. santafeplayhouse.org

Friday, August 15 5–10 p.m.

IndigenousWays Festival Nonprofit IndigenousWays promotes music, arts, outreach, and events to enhance survival and sustainability among Indigenous communities.

In collaboration with Lensic360, the festival presents an evening of stage and cultural celebrations.

Railyard Water Tower 332 Read St., indigenousways.org

Saturday, September 27

10 a.m.– 9 p.m.

IndigenousWays Festival Nonprofit IndigenousWays promotes music, arts, outreach, and events to enhance survival and sustainability among Indigenous communities.

It presents food, artist vendors, and engaging workshops.

Railyard Park Performance Green 740 Cerrillos Road indigenousways.org

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LEGACY 2025

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Q&A

DANYELLE MEANS

The executive director of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture reflects on Indigenous leadership in museums.

AS TOLD TO ADELE OLIVEIRA PHOTOGRAPHY BY GABRIELA CAMPOS The new director of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Danyelle Means (Oglala Lakota), hopes to elevate contemporary Indigenous culture while reconciling the institution’s sometimes extractive anthropological past.

This will happen, in part, via her efforts alongside tribal historic preservation officers to repatriate the remains of Indigenous ancestors to their rightful resting places around the New Mexico. Means arrived at MIAC as interim director in January 2024 before formally accepting the position in September of last year. She brings decades of experience in museums, academia, and nonprofits, including the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, the Institute of American Indian Arts, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. She completed her museum studies master’s coursework in a partnership program between Marist University in Poughkeepsie, New York, and Istituto Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence, Italy. She was also the first person of Indigenous heritage to lead Santa Fe’s Center for Contemporary Arts.

Means describes the post-COVID museum landscape as less competitive than in the past, even in the face of strained financial resources, and more cooperative in terms of sharing ideas and collaborating on projects.

She looks forward to forging relationships with people and institutions across New Mexico. The museum mounted Makowa: The Worlds Above Us (through August 17), exploring astronomy and celestial observation through an Indigenous lens. That exhibition brought programming, such as star parties, across other state museums and historic sites, including the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo. “You may not equate that [museum] with having Native American programming,” she says. “Museums should know who their Native community members are, and there should be a relationship.”

Here, Means considers how museums are changing and why she’s remained an optimist.

Danyelle Means poses for a portrait in an exhibit under construction at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture.

NATIVE AMERICAN ARTS & CULTURE

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Q&A Courtesy of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, 51375, Dorothy Dunn Collection

Did you always want to work in museums?

No. I thought I wanted to be a surgeon, but then I did a gap year at an English boarding school. On Tuesdays, all of the London museums were free for students, so I’d take the train down and just completely immerse myself. I came back to the University of South Dakota, took an anthropology course, and completely shifted my focus. In the anthropology I’d grown up with, anthropologists stole our stories, wrote them down; other people were talking about us. I never wanted my anthropology to do that. I began my museum career in 1992 at the National Museum of the American Indian, which employed only Native staff. I cut my teeth on the idea that Native people can tell their stories; Native museum employees can make sure the stories are told from our perspectives. This is in no way implying that non-Native curators can’t curate Native art; there have been fantastic exhibitions that include Native voices through advisory groups. . . . But I wanted to be a part of the change to highlight Native voices. I was so bolstered by the update to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) in January 2024, which focused on involving Native people in the interpretation of their material culture — that’s a new part of the law and a necessary step in making sure that museums [receive] input from Native community members.

What’s new at MIAC since you arrived?

A lot! We opened the JoAnn and Bob Balzer Native Market and Contemporary Art Gallery, which was in progress when I got here. We have our second exhibition in that gallery, Engaging the Future: The Goodman Fellowship Artists [on view through September 1]. [The program] awards one or two fellowships per year for emerging artists [and pays for] supplies or rent for studio space or just a boost, up to about $5,000. This exhibition is the first time since 2016, when we started the fellowship, that we’ve exhibited all 19 artist fellows. Auri Poseyesva is our 2025 awardee. Auri is a Hopi Yungyapu basketmaker whose tradition almost stopped with her grandmother’s visual impairment. Auri took it upon herself to learn the basketmaking process. The fellowship [will] help her create a studio space at her home. In the gallery, you get to see everything from jewelry to paper making to painting to fashion to film. It’s a real variety showing the breadth and depth of contemporary Native art.

What’s your curatorial vision/philosophy?

My vision is shared with our longtime curator of ethnology, Antonio Chavarria. Tony has been at the museum for 28 years and for the past 17 has worked with our Indian advisory panel, made up of members of Native communities from around New Mexico. Tony and our head of curatorial affairs,

Allan Houser’s painting Apache Devil Dancer, 1934, appears in Makowa: The Worlds Above Us, on view through August 17.

Elisa Phelps, bring [topics] to the advisory group and ask for their thoughts: Does this represent your communities in a way you feel good about? I myself being Oglala Lakota, I don’t have particular knowledge, and I want to make sure we are working with communities to really represent them, not only in a historical sense but also a contemporary one.

How are you feeling about the state of the art world, locally and nationally?

In New Mexico, we’re lucky to have a state government on both sides that has been supportive of the arts, the state museums, and other cultural institutions. As for the current state of affairs, I have to see it as a challenge.

Foundations and donor support have to step up. We’ve seen these cycles before throughout global history, and we know that arts are targeted, so we have to be prepared to support one another and figure out ways to make that support real. There are going to be tough times in terms of funding. Museum directors have to get out there and find our donors, both individual and corporate. We have to be on our toes explaining why what we do is so important.

I’ve seen much more collaboration post-pandemic. Seeing relationships blossom is a part of that. [In the future] it would be interesting to be able to do something on petroglyphs or with the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum around any of our historic sites, like Forts Seldon and Stanton — there’s some hard things to talk about. How do we display the archaeology that we can talk about?

How can we continue to learn from what we have that isn’t covered by NAGPRA? How can we continue to educate the public on Native American archaeology and NAGPRA as a process? Having Native partners talk about those stories as part of the programming and exhibition is the opportunity we have to move the needle forward.

Adele Oliveira grew up in Santa Fe and lives here with her family.

Director Danyelle Means at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture

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LEGACY 2025

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FROM TWO TO MANY

IndigenousWays community music festival hits a note beyond the stage.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JIM WEBER

E

lena Higgins (Maori/Samoan) and Tash Terry (Navajo/ French/Irish) may be only two people, but they represent diverse ethnic traditions. They hail from New Zealand and the Navajo Nation, respectively, and have unified their voices successfully for nearly 20 years as the instrumental duo Indigie Femme. This collaboration inspired them to unify even more voices via the IndigenousWays festival.

Born in the pandemic and now in its fourth year, IndigenousWays’ festival occurs on two weekends in August and September this year and celebrates Indigenous, LGBTQIA2S+, and deaf and hard-of-hearing people — and welcomes everyone in the process.

Higgins and Terry began playing together in 2006 mostly through happenstance. But something quickly clicked between Higgins’s Southern Hemisphere sounds and Terry’s Northern ones. Though their homes were geographically distant, they shared a connection to Mother Earth via their Indigenous backgrounds, as songs such as “Grandmother Earth, Grandfather Sky” and “Blessid Rain” attest. The sound defies easy description. “As Indigie Femme, we’re in the music genres of folk, world, Americana, but we’re our own. We’re our own sound so to speak,” Higgins says. They found that their communityoriented songs and messages were healing for all Indigenous people, many of whom, regardless of the continent, have shared generational experiences such as relocation and disrupted families.

Although they discussed and even formed a nonprofit in the duo’s early years, “We focused on the music, and we did our music. And we won our awards,” Terry says.

And they won many. Most recently, Indigie Femme earned Best Vocal Performance at the 2024 New Mexico Music Awards for the album Just to Be — the fourth time it’s taken home honors from the state’s top music competition.

The two have recorded nine albums and toured widely.

Eventually, the drive to create space for musicians in Santa Fe grew, and the nonprofit’s purpose became clear. It began hosting house concerts in the mid-2010s, with community members arriving with shared potluck dishes in hand.

Eventually the events grew, and the duo took the concerts on the road to Navajo Nation, where plucky pro bono crews organized the shows. When the pandemic descended in April 2020, they gathered online for wisdom circles and entertainment to continue the musical connections.

Tash Terry (above left) and Elena Higgins tune up in the Railyard before this month’s IndigenousWays festival.

NATIVE AMERICAN ARTS & CULTURE

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LISTEN

Terry (left) and Higgins join voices as Indigie Femme.

The monthly wisdom circles, which have included recent guests such as hoop dancer ShanDien Sonwaii LaRance and jazz vocalist Julia Keefe, have remained online.

However, in 2021 they took their music performances outside once again, to Railyard Park and a 33-foot stage with an ADA-compliant ramp thanks to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. Since then, the festivals have featured performers such as Grammy-winning Native American flutist and Taos resident Robert Mirabal; Joy Harjo, the fi rst Indigenous U.S. poet laureate; Arizona reggae-rock band Tha ’Yoties; country family band WesternBoy; and Sierra Woosley, an activist who is blind and deaf. Terry, an ASL interpreter, ensures that interpretation is available at each festival. The events also include resources like domestic violence prevention.

The 2025 festivals are organized around the theme of family. “For some people, family is not so good a word,” Higgins says. “But family for us is everyone really seeing and valuing everyone.”

“I would hope what anyone gets out of any of the events . . . is just that [the music] makes the place better, because we all live on one planet, you know?” Higgins continues. And how do we contribute to that? All of the work we do is out of aroha, meaning love. It’s just out of pure love.” — AMB

IndigenousWays holds its 2025 festivals August 15 and September 27. On August 15, from 5 to 10 p.m. at the Santa Fe Railyard, it hosts Robert Mirabal (Taos Pueblo), reggae-rock fusion band Innastate, hip-hop artist meets activist G Precious (Ohkay Owingeh), rapper Def-I (Diné), and former Miss Navajo Nation Radmilla Cody. The events are free and include ASL interpreters. For more information, visit indigenousways.org.

SantaFeNewMexican_COOL-ol_9.0417x5.4833.indd 1

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6/30/25 4:06 PM

WATCH

ON SCREEN AND ON THE RUNWAY Actress Jessica Matten builds her multimedia New Mexico life.

AS TOLD TO ASHLEY M. BIGGERS As season three of the AMC thriller Dark Winds opens, Bernadette Manuelito is striking out on her own far from her homeland. The narrative echoes the life of lead actress Jessica Matten.

Edmonton, Alberta–born Matten (Métis-Cree/Chinese/British) has now spent years of her career in New Mexico, portraying the hard-charging tribal police sergeant first made famous in Tony Hillerman novels. Matten has also twice narrated audiobooks by Anne Hillerman as she has continued her father’s series. Matten also returned to the state to play high school basketball coach Heather Hobbs, who leads a Navajo basketball team after a player’s suicide in the 2024 film Rez Ball, available on Netflix.

Matten says she has connected to the Land of Enchantment, in part through modeling for local Indigenous designers, on the catwalk of SWAIA’s Native fashion show during Santa Fe Indian Market, and now via a role on the board of Native Fashion Week Santa Fe. In May she walked for Korina Emmerich and Himikalas Pamela Baker during the latter event.

Off set, she helms the 7Forward Entertainment production company and the Counting Coup Indigenous Film Academy, which provides First Nations, Métis, and Inuit artists film training, particularly in stunt combat. As season four of Dark Winds was filming this spring, she reflected on why Manuelito’s story is more relevant than ever and her growing connection to New Mexico.

How did you first begin modeling?

My mother, Theresa Ducharme, opened one of the first, if not the first, Native modeling agencies in Canada, back in the late ’80s, early ’90s. Back then, it was designed to help Native women coming off different reserves for the first time who were looking to get introduced into the fashion business.

Unbeknownst to all of us, it became this community within itself —a place that created a sense of belonging for women not only just coming off Native reserves but Native women who were born in cities as well. . . . It was really designed to help boost women’s confidence and self-esteem, because in our Native communities to this day, that’s still an issue. I actually don’t know any different. I was raised around Native fashion my whole life in Canada. I started modeling when I was 11 years old.

How did you get involved in modeling in New Mexico?

Amber-Dawn [Bear Robe, founder of Native Fashion Week Santa Fe and former producer of SWAIA’s Native fashion show] got me involved. She’s friends with one of our executive producers on Dark Winds, Chris Eyre. It became an ongoing friendship. She introduced me to so many Indigenous designers, jewelers, and artists. I felt like I got introduced to what this town is known for. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would ever spend so much time here.

I’ve been living out of my suitcase as an actor for 10 years now straight. I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve gone from series regular to series regular on different shows. Because of all the work in New Mexico, it’s been my most stable home. To be here four or five months out of the year, that’s the longest period of time I’m in any state or city or country out of the entire year. I really feel like this is my second home. I find the land, in particular around Santa Fe, very healing. Just driving to the studios, or driving to the Netflix Albuquerque studio as well, I’ve found very healing. I kind of do my prayers every morning on the way to the studio. I’m just really grateful for the mountains and the sky.

From top: Jessica Matten as Bernadette Manuelito in Dark Winds season three. Matten with fellow actor Kiowa Gordon as Jim Chee.

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LEGACY 2025

Why has Dark Winds resonated with today’s TV audience?

I think it’s a combination of factors, but I really believe in the right timing of things. I think we really hit the mark with the timing of this show. This version that Robert Redford, George R.R. Martin, and Chris Eyre have wanted to get off the ground for over 20 years — I think it was the time for it. There’s an interest for Indigenous shows. But also, if you move the Indigenous part aside, I just think, point blank, it’s a great show. It’s shot well, the writers know how to write, and they write very interesting storylines that the audience gravitates towards. And of course our incredible cast — we lucked out with a group of people that really can act. I think it’s just the combination — like a soup — that works this time around.

Photos (left to right): Courtesy AMC, by Tira Howard

Tell me about getting to know New Mexico and how it’s affected you.

Jessica Matten modeling garments

by Santa Fe–based designer Orlando Dugi (Diné) at Double DD Ranch.

Jewelry by Adrian Standing Elk Pinecoose. makeup by April Kateri Chavez and hair by Krista Perry.

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WATCH

How is having Indigenous talent at every level of the production shaping the show?

I personally feel very empowered by it. It shows that Indigenous people are just human beings, and they’re highly skilled and they know how to do their job.

I work cross-country between Canada and the States. It’s very fascinating how a lot of the crews across Canada are still very Caucasian. It’s very cool to see how AMC is inviting Indigenous members [to the set]. We had IAIA students on board last year, and we have some this year, not to be mentored by but to work with us.

Where do you get inspiration while you’re filming?

I like watching certain shows; they motivate me while I’m filming. I look at other actors’ performances who I think are brilliant, and they remind me, subconsciously, to up my game and not get lazy at any second. I’m a big fan of AMC’s Interview with the Vampire. I started rewatching The Handmaid’s Tale.

And of course Elizabeth Moss came from AMC’s Mad Men. Brilliant actors come from AMC. What resonates with you about Bernadette Manuelito’s character?

I’m definitely a blend of that traditional and modern. You know, being mixed Native too, I’ve lived between two worlds my whole life. My mother’s Native.

My father’s Chinese and white. I was raised quite traditional by my mom.

My dad has always been supportive of that, but I also have that Asian side, and so I’ve been able to live between two very abundant, strong, different cultures my whole life. That’s something that I have applied to all my characters.

I think it gives me deeper insight into what it feels like to have one foot in, one foot out or to have both feet in and both out at the same time.

Just being a woman of color and living this life, it’s so easy to draw upon that and apply it to Bernadette’s character. It’s still very much a man’s world.

Let’s be real. Women, we’re still fighting for equal rights. We’re even fighting for our rights just to be women in general. A lot of Bernadette lives on the surface of my personal life.

Through Bernadette, who is Diné, you’ve spent a lot of time living in a culture outside your own. How has that felt?

It’s been one of the coolest discoveries of my life. There’s a lot of commonalities between Native tribes. I think sometimes we forget that as similar as we are, we are very, very different. I’ve learned five other different Native languages for different TV shows. Even traditionally, the simplest thing of how you smudge with sage is different. . . . I came into this with the knowledge that the Navajo culture was going to be significantly different. I’ve got to say, it’s by far the most different [culture] that I’ve experienced but in the most beautiful way. Every season we get to delve deeper into Bernadette’s character and her spirituality. I’ve learned through our Navajo consultants on set, Jennifer and Manny Wheeler, just how intrinsically beautiful and complex the Navajo traditions are. While doing some filming yesterday, I had this moment between cuts of doing my own personal prayer to Creator, thanking Creator that I have this opportunity to learn so much about this beautiful culture.

Matten for Orlando Dugi

I started a Native wellness company with my family over 15 years ago. We historically are known in Canada to go to the most isolated Native reserves there to work on getting people’s fitness, health, and mental wellness back on track.

We help with suicide prevention, addictions counseling, and just overall mental wholeness. We train them, and they get certified as trainers so some of them can carry it on for their community and become leaders themselves.

The academy is another version of that.

I like to do the groundwork and be there myself. I turn down TV jobs to be and work with the youth, eight hours a day, five days a week, three months straight, to get them to a place where I feel like, when I leave them, they have a new appreciation for their own lives and see themselves in a different way. I like to take advantage of being in Hollywood and letting them know that someone who made it in Hollywood sees them. They’ve worked for WestJet commercials, web series. I’ve got some of their short films privately funded. I’m looking to expand the academy into the States, just to be able to give people opportunities.

Ashley M. Biggers serves as magazine editor for “The New Mexican.”

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LEGACY 2025

Photo: By Tira Howard

Tell me about your work with the Counting Coup Indigenous Film Academy.

mada.sfai.org

Midtown Arts and Design Alliance MADA is a project of the Santa Fe Art Institute

MADA is proud to collaborate with the Santa Fe Indigenous Center, MASS Design Group, Little Globe, and the Santa Fe Indigenous Community to provide arts education, programming, and spaces that bring our arts community together.

santafeindigenouscenter.org

massdesigngroup.org

littleglobe.org

We do our part, residential trash and recycling collection.

You do your part by REDUCING waste, REUSING what you can and RECYCLING the rest.

It’s always stylish to BRING YOUR OWN BAG too.

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LEGACY 2025

CREATE

REAL-LIFE STAKES

Julian Brave NoiseCat’s genre-crossing nonfiction

BY JENNIFER LEVIN

Photos: By Emily Kassie, courtesy Sugarcane Film, LLC

J

Journalist, activist, documentarian, and writer Julian Brave NoiseCat. Above: St. Joseph’s Mission Indian Residential School in summer, as featured in Sugarcane.

ulian Brave NoiseCat would rather be writing. “That’s what I’d be doing if I wasn’t doing this interview, and it’s what I’ll be doing later, after I take care of a few more things,” he says.

“Writing is the thing I like best.”

Though he doesn’t disclose what he’s working on now, NoiseCat’s first book, a memoir called We Survived the Night, publishes October 14. But if his name is familiar, it’s because he co-directed the Academy Award–nominated documentary Sugarcane, about the abuse of generations of First Nations children at a residential school in British Columbia.

“My medium is nonfiction,” he says. “In nonfiction, you don’t get to write a happy ending for your characters, even if they’re your relatives. There are consequences to nonfiction that fiction doesn’t have. Real-life stakes.”

NoiseCat started his writing career as a freelance journalist, penning pieces for Indian Country Today, The Guardian, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and The Paris Review after earning a master’s degree in global and imperial history from Oxford University. As his star rose with Sugarcane, press coverage often referred to him as an activist because he helped start a think tank, Data for Progress, where he was the first to suggest Deb Haaland for secretary of the interior under President Joe Biden.

“But I wouldn’t really call myself an activist,” he says. “At least not until the documentary came out.

What I wanted was to be a writer.”

Sugarcane came out in 2024, just as the international community was reckoning with residential school abuses in the United States and Canada. But NoiseCat (Secwépemc/St’at’imc/Ashkenazi) never dreamed the film’s resonance would land him at the White House when Biden issued a long-overdue apology to survivors or that he’d walk the red carpet at the 2025 Oscars with his estranged father by his side.

NATIVE AMERICAN ARTS & CULTURE

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CREATE

Left to right: Scenes from Sugarcane: Chief Willie Sellars digs a grave for community member Stan Wycotte, who took his life on the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada. NoiseCat competes at the Kamloopa Powwow, held on the campus of the former Indian residential school where the first suspected graves of students were discovered in Canada.

Above: In a scene from Sugarcane, NoiseCat visits with family on the Mount Currie Reserve during a road trip with his father, Ed Archie NoiseCat. The cover of NoiseCat’s forthcoming book.

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LEGACY 2025

NoiseCat and his co-director, Emily Kassie, met a decade ago as Huffington Post reporters. When she first asked him to collaborate on a documentary about abuse at residential schools, NoiseCat wasn’t sure he was ready for such a project. But a few weeks later, Kassie mentioned she’d found her focus: a Secwépemc community near Williams Lake, also known as the Sugarcane Reserve, that had discovered numerous unmarked graves.

“Part of the reason I was hesitant to tell a story like this is because I was genuinely concerned that it would harm my father, harm my grandmother,” NoiseCat says. “But out of all the Indian residential schools across Canada, Em happened to choose the school my family was taken away to and where my father’s life began — and she didn’t even know. So this was not something that I chose to do but something that chose me.”

To make the film, NoiseCat moved to Washington state for two years to live with his father, artist Ed Archie NoiseCat. “At the same time, I was also working on my memoir, which is a father–son narrative told in the form of a Coyote story. Coyote is a trickster,” he says. “Not everybody who is abandoned by their dad would choose to move in with him at age 28. But this is what I had to do to make the art I wanted to make. The time we spent together made us a lot closer and made [the art] a lot more possible.”

NoiseCat grew up in Oakland, California, with his mother, a New Yorker of Jewish and Irish Catholic stock, the daughter of a writer. Both struggled in the newspaper business, and his grandfather left a legacy of unfulfilled book contracts. Although he had the same natural affinity for writing that they did, NoiseCat says his mother, who regularly edits his work, didn’t have much faith in his career until he got the advance for his memoir.

His mother also kept him connected to Indigenous culture during his childhood. She provided him with Sherman Alexie books and took him to weekly powwow drum and dance classes. “Powwow dancing was my first art form,” he says.

She also took him to visit family in Canim Lake and Mount Currie, two remote First Nations reserves in British Columbia, where his dad once lived. Ed left the family

when his son was 7 years old and moved to Santa Fe, where he gained acclaim as a sculptor.

“He left to go be part of the whole Indian Market scene.

Indian art shows are so associated for me with ‘Did my dad make enough sales?’” NoiseCat says. “Santa Fe is complicated for me in general, but my dad was with me last year when we brought Sugarcane to [Indian] Market as part of the growing mecca of Native art in North America.”

AN INDIAN LIFE

NoiseCat doesn’t know if he’ll make another documentary.

After plunging headfirst into the Hollywood machine with the release of Sugarcane, he found he prefers the solitude that writing affords. Documentary film, however, has an immediacy and a reach that books can’t match. In the film, interviews with his father and grandmother contain long silences that at first seem like an unwillingness to talk.

As the story unspools, it’s clear that words aren’t enough.

The truth, when it comes out, is earth shattering, and listeners must endure the uncomfortable quiet to get there.

“Our people were deprived of the right to raise our kids for several generations. And when those kids were taken away, they were not just physically abused; they were raped. Some of them died,” he says. “And when they came back, there was violence, addiction. Parents didn’t know how to raise their kids, so they abandoned them. Children who were sexually abused became abusers themselves.

This is stuff no one wants to talk about. Those silences say more about the emotional truth of what we endured than any sort of reportage could ever convey.”

Although NoiseCat isn’t sure what’s ahead, he’s giving it thought.

“In nonfiction, the process of writing a book or making a film is essentially about what you choose to observe, who you choose to be with, and who you choose to be,” he says.

“When you’re telling a story like Sugarcane, or like my memoir, it’s about what we endured and how we might come back from it. From an Indigenous perspective, our entire way of life was nearly annihilated. Choosing to live an Indian life is in and of itself a very powerful thing.”

Jennifer Levin is a freelance communications professional and an arts and culture writer in Santa Fe.

Photos: By Emily Kassie, courtesy Sugarcane Film, LLC

THE TRICKSTER

Blue Rain Gallery’s Annual Celebration of Native American Art

Podcast Panel Discussion August 13, 2025 — 11 am Featuring Jesse Littlebird, Thomas Breeze Marcus, and Chris Pappan. Hosted by Leroy Garcia.

P R E S TO N S I N G L E TA R Y

GROUP EXHIBITION

Artist Lecture August 13, 2025 — 3 pm

Artist Reception: Thursday, August 14th from 5 – 8 pm

P R E S TO N S I N G L E TA R Y

Glass Blowing Demonstration August 15 – 16, 2025 from 11 am – 3 pm Live demos by Preston Singletary, Dan Friday, Raven Skyriver, Spooner Marcus, and Ira Lujan

H Y R U M J O E and

Banana Republic of Raven, August 15 – 30, 2025 Artist Reception: Friday, August 15th from 5 – 8 pm

THOMAS BREEZE MARCUS

Painting Demonstration August 15, 2025 from 11 am – 3 pm

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LEGACY 2025

DRAW

THE ART OF SLOWING DOWN

Caldecott Medal winner Rebecca Lee Kunz brings Cherokee heritage and a handmade feel to her work.

BY EMILY WITHNALL PHOTOGRAPHY BY GABRIELA CAMPOS

T

he sky is a soft blue streaked with orange. The setting sun turns the river into a glowing golden expanse.

Fireflies lend their light to the evening and two figures — one very small and one much bigger — stand in the water with long, pronged spears in their hands. The dreamy scene with soft, luminous colors captures the magic of crawdad hunting in Oklahoma. Santa Fe artist Rebecca Lee Kunz earned a 2024 Caldecott Medal for this illustration and the others that appear in the children’s book Chooch Helped, written by Andrea L. Rogers (Cherokee). The book gracefully describes a toddler trying to “help” and an older sibling making space for a him. The Caldecott honors the most distinguished children’s picture book of the year.

Collaborating with Rogers on Chooch Helped was the first time Kunz illustrated a book, but she’s been making art for decades. She graduated from the College of Santa Fe in 1998 and spent 10 years creating large abstract and figurative paintings. A smaller, more recent painting from 2018 demonstrates the continuity of her subject matter and aesthetic throughout her career even as the medium has evolved: A grass nest holding three blue eggs take up most of the canvas. A flock of birds flies above the nest in a red sky dappled by long leaf prints that stretch from the bottom of the painting to the top. As in the children’s book illustrations, the colors are warm and inviting.

Native to Oklahoma and an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation, Kunz was interested in art from an early age. Her parents supported her by enrolling her in art classes. Kunz describes her parents as deeply creative too; her father was a musician and her mother made beautiful floral arrangements. Though she was not raised in a Cherokee community, Kunz’s grandparents were Cherokee and encouraged her to be proud of her ancestry.

Left: Rebecca Lee Kunz, artist and recent Caldecott winner, poses for a portrait in her home in Santa Fe. Above: Art pieces by Kunz.

NATIVE AMERICAN ARTS & CULTURE

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“My grandmother’s home is a living museum of the Cherokee people, and she was a very hearty pioneer woman who housed many people in her home during the Dust Bowl times in Oklahoma during the Great Depression,” says Kunz. “She just was that kind of stock, and she was the great influence on me.”

The natural world and Cherokee cultural references and mythology are frequent themes in Kunz’s work. When the first of her three daughters was born, she transitioned from painting to printmaking and started her business, Tree of Life Studio. Making and selling notecards and prints allowed her to continue making art while meeting the demands of parenting.

“Becoming a mother transformed me more than anything. It has informed my work and made me into the artist that I am today. Becoming a mother just has this of way of stripping you down,” Kunz says. “It’s difficult to hold [my daughters] through what they’re living through right now with climate change and with technology moving so fast — I think these challenges truly shaped my work, though it wasn’t always easy or fun.”

Now that her daughters are 12, 14, and 17, Kunz has been reaching for her paintbrush again, but she’s always been partial to mixing media. Her technique often involves applying watercolor, pen and ink, and graphite to a monoprint. Kunz also does block printing and gouache and hopes to incorporate more lithography and etching into her work in the future.

Parenting and raising daughters are frequent themes in Kunz’s work, as are prints and paintings that reflect her personal relationship with the Cherokee creation myth.

She’s also passionate about depicting endangered plant species. A body of work focused on the Santa Fe cholla is featured in an exhibition at Santa Fe’s El Zaguán this fall, opening on September 5. Her work can also be found at Cielo Handcrafted on Canyon Road, at the shop at IAIA’s Museum of Contemporary Native Art, and on her website.

Kunz uses her website blog as a space for advocacy, drawing attention to endangered plants and providing resources and action items for readers.

“My mission is to carry my activism into my work and give people resources and action items so that they might be inspired to make their own change,” says Kunz. “This way, my work can live beyond a moment in a gallery.”

Kunz incorporated Cherokee culture on each page of Chooch Helped. “Every symbol has a relationship with what’s happening in the story, and I used a lot of traditional symbols that were found in Moundville, which is one of our Cherokee historical burial sites,” Kunz says. “I reuse those motifs found on pottery and basketry in a contemporary way.”

A happenstance meeting with Rogers, who had previously seen and admired her work, led to the partnership on Chooch Helped. The illustrations presented new challenges for Kunz. She taught herself to create digital paintings — a format publishers increasingly require to ease rounds of revisions — and combines these with hand-drawn illustrations. From the outset, however, Kunz was determined to ensure that her work retained the look and feel of being handmade.

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“Over 30 years I developed a dry brush kind of painterly style. I try to stay loose,” Kunz says. “When I made this book, that was my challenge: to create this work digitally but keep my hand in it.”

Between the warm, inviting colors of her illustrations, the softness of the paper selected for the book’s pages, the contemporary cultural references, and the Cherokee words, Kunz hopes the book offers Native kids a chance to slow down, experience awe, and see themselves in the story.

“I hope to move people. I hope for children to walk away feeling like they’ve related to the emotions one of the characters felt. I hope children feel validated when they read the story,” Kunz says. “And I hope they also walk away with a sense of the artistry that goes into this very slow craft of making a book.”

Kunz is now working on another book with her sister, writer Jennifer Loren. The book, Ruth Muskrat and the Indian Problem, tells the story of the sisters’ great-greataunt, who was a Cherokee activist and poet. The biography is for children ages 8 to 12, so it will have more text than Chooch Helped, but each page will also be illustrated.

The book is slated for publication in fall 2026 by Levine Querido, which also published Chooch Helped.

“It’s a very personal book, a passion project,” Kunz says.

Emily Withnall is from Las Vegas, New Mexico, and now works as a writer and editor in Santa Fe. Her work can be read at emilywithnall.com.

See more of Kunz’s work online at treeoflifestudio.net and follow her on Instagram @treeoflife.studio.

Kunz with her artwork and award-winning children’s book

Book image: Courtesy Rebecca Lee Kunz

DRAW

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Taos Pueblo offers a (nearly) year-round destination to shop for Native arts and meet the creatives behind jewelry, pottery, and more.

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY UNGELBAH DÁVILA

I

f you’ve ever felt connected to a stone, whether in a piece of jewelry or lying on the ground, then you’ve felt how much energy the earth can hold. I feel it at Taos Pueblo. The walls, the roofs, the floors, the entire community is made of Mother Earth. Only the darkest days require propane lanterns to illuminate the rooms of the stacked adobe residences outside the town of Taos, 70 miles north of Santa Fe. Otherwise they are lit with only sunlight.

When it rains at the pueblo, everything smells of life, and even the river that flows from Blue Lake through the pueblo is pure enough to drink from. It is a place where things are made by hand, slowly, and in rhythm with the landscape. Visitors will find many businesses at the pueblo — a center of trading for eons — but very few websites and even fewer phones, because electricity stops at the entrance. There are no addresses — likely because none are needed in a place where the same families have lived for more than 1,000 years.

For these reasons and more, Taos Pueblo is one of the most historically and culturally significant places in the United States. It is both a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a National Historic Landmark. While the pueblo brings in little from the outside world, it welcomes visitors.

Inside the pueblo, dozens of families have transformed parts of their homes into shops and galleries. Guests can step inside the enduring dwellings and shop for art that can be purchased only in this sacred location. The pueblo is known for handmade drums, flutes, and micaceous pottery.

The sales spaces range from small one-room shops to expansive multiroom galleries, and part of the adventure is not knowing what awaits you

once you walk in the door. Each space offers something unique, but from the outside, you can’t tell what you might find inside or know how far back the store reaches.

Most businesses inside the pueblo rely on the thousands of tourists who visit each year. Only a few shops line the plaza, but hand-painted signs direct you down alleyways to more. Unless a sign says “Restricted Area,” you may venture anywhere off the plaza. A business will always make itself known, so there’s no risk of accidentally entering a residence. As a rule, photography is not allowed unless permission is given by the business owner. Below are a handful of the galleries and shops found within the ancient pueblo’s adobe walls.

MORNING TALK INDIAN SHOP

Kevin Cordova (Taos Pueblo) operates Morning Talk Indian Shop (whitefeathertours.com/morningtalkshop) out of his family’s home, where he also runs White Feather Native Cultural Tours. His is the only Native-owned and -operated tour business in Taos and provides an immersive experience that highlights the pueblo’s historic trade routes, artistic traditions, and his own family’s thriving buffalo herd. The shop is named for Cordova’s father, Jimmy Morningtalk, who opened it in the 1970s.

“For centuries, Taos Pueblo has been a hub of trade for Native communities long before European arrival,” Cordova says, emphasizing the significance of artistry in Indigenous livelihood. “From way back, my father did a lot of trade with people from all over, so we have a lot of different styles [in the shop].”

Sonny Spruce Indian Shop

Caption

NATIVE AMERICAN ARTS & CULTURE

59

GO The two-room gallery opens to a view of Taos Mountain to the east of the plaza and proudly displays works from a variety of artists, including Taos painter Jonathan Warm Day Coming, Santo Domingo inlay jeweler Daniel Coriz, Navajo silversmith Charlie John, and renowned Taos potter Angie Yazzi.

A narrative thread runs through their works, and Cordova believes storytelling plays a part in maintaining cultural identity. “I believe everyone has a story to tell, and it’s vital to share them,” he says.

Close to Morning Talk Indian Shop are other doorways inviting folks in. Signs beckon visitors to explore The Pueblo Runner, Dancing Hummingbird, Real Indian Stuff, Wahleah’s Gallery, Gathering Flower’s Sage Brush Deer Gallery, Aspen Mist Native Crafts, and other shops.

MORNINGSTAR FLOWER NATIVE ARTS

Just to the south of Morning Talk sits a gallery owned by Kyle-Lynn Martinez (Taos) and her fiancé, Travis Snyder (Zuni/Wind River Shoshone). After their child was born, Martinez suggested they start selling her shell earrings and beaded fedora hats, and Snyder’s jewelry. So in 2018 the couple opened Morningstar Flower Native Arts (morning starflowernativearts.com) out of Martinez’s family home.

Snyder traces his artistic journey back to his childhood, watching his mother — an accomplished Zuni fetish carver — bring stone to life. “She’d say, ‘You want 20 bucks? Sand this for me,’” Snyder recalls.

Inspired by her work, Snyder began carving his own creations — rhinos, elephants, even aliens — exploring motifs rarely seen in Zuni fetish carvings. Soon Snyder Kevin Cordova operates Morning Talk Indian Shop and White Feather Native Cultural Tours in Taos Pueblo. was taking classes and challenging himself to make silver jewelry in his own style. It includes abstract shapes Visitors to his shop can find an impressive selection of handcrafted jewalongside lightning bolts in striking designs made with sterling silver, shell, elry, predominantly his signature bracelets and rings. “I started working with mother-of-pearl, coral, and turquoise. A pair of his earrings, featuring mothjewelry in 1974, just a few years after I opened the shop,” he says. “I like to er-of-pearl inlaid with a sterling lightning bolt, made it to the runway during support local artists, so about half of what I sell is made right here in Taos.”

Native Fashion Week Santa Fe this spring. James Jones, aka Notorious Cree, Taos Pueblo pottery occupies a prominent place in his inventory, with work wore them while walking for designer Lauren Good Day. from Martin Romero, who specializes in micaceous clay, and Jessie Marcus, “Sometimes less is more,” Martinez says. “We don’t mass-produce. These known for her intricate figural pottery. “It’s important to me that I showcase are one-of-a-kind pieces — each one with a story, each one holding its own the talents of our local artists and keep our traditions alive,” Spruce says. spirit. . . . The house itself has its own characteristics, and it just amplifies the Handmade dreamcatchers hang from the ceiling. “The web is designed to jewelry work that we have in there.” catch good dreams and ward off bad ones. They originated with the Winnebago But the heart of the pair’s work remains firmly grounded in their home and people, but they’re welcomed by everyone,” he says, adding that you don’t need culture. Like many of the businesses in the pueblo, their shop is more than to be Native American to use one, stressing the shared human experience that just a storefront. transcends cultural boundaries. “Everyone dreams; we’re all dreamers.”

“A lot of these businesses are multigenerational,” Martinez says. “Our shop Spruce reinforces Cordova’s message that Taos Pueblo was historically a is still a traditional family home. We clear it out for ceremonies, for family major trading center, dating back to before European contact and after, citing gatherings. It’s alive; it’s sacred.” relationships with French fur traders.

Visitors often find themselves deeply moved in the shop, with its warm natNo matter which businesses entrance guests at the pueblo, visitors will ural light and earthen walls and floor rich in memory. “People sometimes cry engage with the stories and traditions of a vibrant community that has flourwhen they walk in,” Martinez says. “I think it’s the warmth, the ancestral ished for centuries. As Spruce wraps up a conversation with a visitor, he smiles energy. It holds something they didn’t even know they were missing.” and adds, “We want everyone who comes here to take away a good feeling and Martinez says a unique part of shopping inside the pueblo is the opportua deeper understanding of our culture.” nity hear the artists’ stories.

SONNY SPRUCE INDIAN SHOP

One storyteller can be found across the footbridge on the south side of Red Willow Creek — just follow the sound of drumming to Sonny Spruce Indian Shop. Next door to The Corner Shop, where you can get fresh frybread and lemonade, Sonny Spruce gladly demonstrates his handmade drums. Their frames are made of native wood, such as cottonwood and aspen, and the skin comes from locally harvested animals, including deer.

A self-taught silversmith, Spruce proudly acknowledges the global visitors to his home. He showcases these visits on a wall of international currencies he’s been accumulating since he established his business in 1972.

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IF YOU GO Taos Pueblo is generally open to visitors 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily. Tours are offered daily at 9 a.m. The pueblo may close — sometimes without much warning to visitors — for cultural observances and rituals. Late winter to early spring, the pueblo closes for about 10 weeks. Call 575-758-1028 or visit taospueblo.com to verify that the pueblo is open prior to visiting.

The pueblo also welcomes visitors for its annual San Geronimo Feast Day on September 30. Follow good visitor etiquette during your attendance.

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17, 2025

ON POINT 2024 Santa Fe Indian Market Best of Show winner Dan Vallo’s creation showcases artistry — and the legacy of revolution.

STORY AND PORTRAITS BY UNGELBAH DÁVILA

Dan Vallo in his Belen, New Mexico, studio. Right: Vallo’s 2024 Santa Fe Indian Market Best in Show winning piece Pueblo Revolt Ensemble.

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Artwork photo: By Tira Howard, courtesy SWAIA

an Vallo makes weapons by hand. As a self-taught flintknapper, he has created arrowheads that he’s used to harvest animals in places as far away as Africa. Yet Vallo’s personality is far from deadly. Warm and inviting, he’s eager to share the ancient skills that earned him the 2024 Best of Show award from Santa Fe Indian Market.

Combining ancestral knowledge with modern materials, Vallo (Acoma Pueblo) embodies the same spirit of perseverance that led the first Indigenous person to form an arrowhead from a piece of stone.

And while the art he makes is functional, it is also visual — as his Santa Fe Indian Market awards attest. Vallo began entering his work into the market awards competition in 2019, when he won first place for a flintknapped knife. In 2022 he took home second place in the diverse arts category.

In 2023 a bow and quiver made of raccoon skin brought home a blue ribbon in the diverse arts category. In 2024 he won both the best in division honors for diverse arts and the coveted Best of Show for Pueblo Revolt Ensemble.

“Winning the best [of] classification was amazing. Then, as they announced the Best of Show award, I was speechless,” he says. “It was like reaching the pinnacle of the Native American art world.”

Vallo found inspiration for Pueblo Revolt Ensemble, which was purchased by a private collector from Houston who has several of Vallo’s works, in a sketch Jason Garcia drew before embarking on his Tewa Tales of Suspense. (Read “The Uprising Today” on page 65 for more information on Garcia’s work.) The black-and-white drawing hangs in Vallo’s home gallery in Belen, New Mexico, and depicts Po’pay, the holy man and war captain of Ohkay Owingeh who led the 1680 Pueblo Revolt, with a knotted yucca cord used to orchestrate the uprising against the Spanish. Each knot represented a day. Each pueblo untied one knot per day, and when there were none left, they rose up in unison.

“It was amazing, the type of communication they used,” Vallo says. “No cell phones, no radios — just a piece of cord passed from village to village down the Rio Grande Valley. And it worked.”

Vallo at work, flintknapping arrows and sharpening knives

Find Vallo’s work in person at Acoma Pueblo’s Sky City Cultural Center & Haak’u Museum and this year at Santa Fe Indian Market, Booth PAL 261. His works are also available online at danthebugleman.com.

Moved by this story, Vallo began to experiment. He created an obsidian dagger with a handle made of epoxy resin that encases a knotted yucca cord — transforming a utilitarian message system into a symbolic weapon of memory. That dagger became the seed of a larger body of work.

As he listened to a 30-hour audiobook on the Pueblo Revolt while driving and working on his art, he realized he couldn’t tell this story with a single item. He created a full ensemble: bow, arrows, knife, and quiver, each handcrafted with reverence for the material and infused with history, identity, and defiance.

The bow? Once a cane made from a cedar tree rubbed by an elk, left to warp in Vallo’s shop until it took on a natural curve. The back of the bow is inlaid with wild turkey feathers, placed one by one like roof shingles, embedded, and sealed under layers of clear epoxy.

The arrows? Tips knapped from Brazilian agate, Texas chert, and obsidian from Valles Caldera.

Fletched with turkey feathers, bound with sinew — both artificial and real — and paired with a rawhide quiver made from a cowhide he tanned himself after a family butchering.

Together the ensemble represents revolt as well as unity among those who fought. “We had no guns in 1680. We fought with these. It was the knotted cord, the timing, the surprise — Taos to Zuni, all at once. That’s how we succeeded.”

The foundation of his work was laid decades ago on Acoma Pueblo, hunting with his father and discovering arrowheads on the ground. As a young boy, he began breaking rocks, trying to mimic the ancient craftsmanship he found in those stone points. Over the years, curiosity evolved into obsession.

“I started reading books about flintknapping, trying out tools, learning through mistakes. That was 40 years ago,” he says.

Eventually his skills matured, allowing him to make arrowheads and knives good enough to hunt with. In 2000 he traveled to Africa with tools he made himself. To the fascination of the tribal people guiding him, Vallo harvested animals the old way — with a bow and arrow — proving not just his craftsmanship but the enduring utility of traditional knowledge.

Much of Vallo’s work blurs the line between ancient and contemporary. Alongside natural materials, like wood, feathers, and clay, he uses glass sourced from thrift shops — such as old bowls and plates — which he fuses in kilns to create stunning, translucent blades. These pieces retain the aesthetic and function of traditional weapons but sparkle with colors such as vivid blues and purples.

“I create my artwork to show that a very primitive skill that was used by early man in every part of the world can be more than a tool for survival,” Vallo says. “I felt like I could create a beautiful piece of art that is also very functional, and each piece has a story.”

His workshop is full of stones, glass, tools — and quite a few first aid kits, since an obsidian blade slices sharper than a surgical scalpel. He often dulls his blades to make them a little safer for collectors.

His makes knife handles from unconventional materials: pine cones suspended in resin, even old computer motherboards cut into slabs. “That one’s going to be a primitive blade with a high-tech handle — the brains of modern tech and the heart of ancient survival,” he says, pointing to a work in progress.

He shapes each piece by hand, starting with large chunks of stone or glass cut with a diamond saw blade. He uses traditional tools like antler tips and copper points for pressure flaking — the process of chipping away material to form sharp edges. Copper grips better than antler, he explains, and helps him control the depth and direction of the flakes.

He demonstrates how he abrades the edges, creating a rough surface that gives the tool something to grip. “If you don’t abrade, the flake won’t travel right. I’ve ruined pieces by skipping that step.”

It’s a meticulous process — flaking, shaping, notching, sanding. When working with resin or glass, he buffs handles with 6,000-grit sandpaper and diamond paste to achieve a glossy, clear finish.

He estimates he’s made around 820 knives. Each carries its own story and reflects years of accumulated knowledge.

What began as personal passion has evolved into a mission. “Now that I’ve built this workshop, I want to teach people. [When] I meet someone who’s interested, I tell them, ‘Come over.’ Kids, adults, especially Indigenous people who want to reconnect with this knowledge.”

He’s offered demonstrations at Bandelier National Monument and spoken at the FBI office in Albuquerque for Native American Heritage Month. “Those Indigenous knowledges are so important,” he says. “This is about survival. Identity. And resistance.”

As he walks through his shop, pulling out rough stones and shimmering glass blades, it’s clear his work isn’t about nostalgia. It’s about revival. Every piece — a quiver, a blade, a feather-embedded bow — tells a story of endurance, ingenuity, and power.

The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 remains the only successful large-scale Indigenous uprising against European colonizers in North America. He honors that legacy not just by remembering it but by showing how the tools and traditions of the past still resonate.

“It all came together,” he says. “The hunting, the knowledge, the materials, the history. It was meant to be.”

Like the yucca cords passed down the Rio Grande centuries ago, his creations carry a message: Even in the face of overwhelming odds, unity, culture, and creativity can spark a revolution.

Ungelbah Dávila is guest editor of the 2025 edition of “Legacy.”

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My Thoughts Are Minutes, a series of exhibitions exploring the theme of time, began this year at Zane Bennett to mark our 20th anniversary.

On Monday, September 22, clocks by Scott Thrift welcome new ways of seeing time that serve as a nod to the autumn equinox and the continuum from two decades.

CELEBRATING 20 YEARS Santa Fe, NM | zanebennettgallery.com

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The Uprising Today Indigenous artists respond to and reimagine the Pueblo Revolt.

Photo: Courtesy of Virgil Ortiz

BY UNGELBAH DÁVILA

ome say the Pueblo Revolt never ended. The coordinated 1680 uprising

by Pueblo people against Spanish colonial rule, on land that later became New Mexico, remains one of the most significant and successful acts of Indigenous resistance in North American history. Led by a holy man from Ohkay Owingeh named Po’pay, the revolt was fueled by years of religious persecution, forced labor, and cultural suppression under the Spanish. On August 10, 1680, the Pueblos attacked Spanish settlements, killing around 400 colonists and driving the remaining Spanish out of the region. The revolt successfully freed the Pueblos from Spanish control for 12 years, allowing them to restore their traditional religious practices and way of life. Those acts of resistance and perseverance continue today through environmental justice efforts, the protection of sacred sites, community activism, and sustaining Pueblo ways of life.

The Pueblo Revolt has proven a rich source of inspiration for artists too.

Through pottery, murals, installations, and plays, artists like Dillon Christopher Chitto, NSRGNTS Collective, Jason Garcia (aka Okuu Pín), and Virgil

Ortiz use their chosen mediums to recount the story of the Pueblo Revolt in their own Indigenous voices and creative imaginations.

Whether the narrative is painted on a 30-foot wall or filling a theater, whether it’s meant to make you laugh and smile or sit and ponder, for these Pueblo creatives, Po’pay is as relevant today as he was the moment he passed a knotted yucca rope to runners — the method the Pueblos used to coordinate their 17th-century uprising. In one way or another, the legacy of this event continues to find voice in contemporary art and conversations.

For contemporary Pueblo artists, the Pueblo Revolt is inseparable from their existence. It’s more than a tale they grew up hearing; it’s an event to which they can trace their ancestors. By keeping the spirit of this uprising relevant in their work, they honor the brave grandmothers and grandfathers who fought for their survival.

Virgil Ortiz’s raku clay works appeared in Daybreak of the Resistance at Container in 2024 and depict watchmen (left to right) Kuh Kahn, Kuu’ame (South), Bu’name (West), and Shuha.

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In a dominant culture steeped in the “stoic Indian” stereotype, one creative outlook is seldom associated with Indian Country: comedy. But playwright Dillon Christopher Chitto uses humor to explore the Pueblo Revolt and show that Indigenous people are more than their trauma stories.

In 2023, when Chitto (Mississippi Choctaw/Laguna/Isleta Pueblo) was an artist in residence at UC Berkeley, he premiered Pueblo Revolt with the Alternative Theater Ensemble. The play has since had staged readings at the American Stage Theatre and the Goodman Theatre, and been produced at the No Peeking Theatre. It received the Rella Lossy Award for Best Play in 2022.

It came to Santa Fe in 2024 and returns to the Santa Fe Playhouse this year.

The play is set before, during, and after the uprising and focuses on two brothers from Isleta Pueblo — Ba’homa, an experienced revolutionary, and Feem Whim, a gay idealist. It follows the brothers as they question their beliefs and what’s necessary to ensure survival amid the uprising. The play warms audiences to this heavy topic by opening with Freem practicing his flirtation techniques on a chair.

“As Native people, we use humor a lot. It’s very much a survival skill and a key part of our resilience,” the Chicago-based playwright says. “Whenever Native people are together, we’re always riffing and laughing. As people, we’re stronger than our trauma stories, which a lot of early Native theater was based on. It was a lot of sadness, a lot of things about removal and boarding school stories. I never wanted to show only that side of Native life because theater is open to anyone, and it’s important for me that people know that we’re more than just our sadness.”

Chitto grew up in Santa Fe surrounded by big auntie laughs, joking, and good humor — a common experience for Native kids but one not often associated with Indigenous arts. He brings humor to his storytelling as his characters present a sideline perspective of the Pueblo Revolt not often told. He says Isleta Pueblo did not partake in the revolt in the same way pueblos to the north did because it was under such strict Spanish control.

“So the brothers are just responding a few words to each other but also saying things to themselves. And so it goes through what they’re thinking about, the doubt that this historical thing can happen, and the fear: ‘What if it doesn’t work?’” Chitto says. “At the end is the hope: ‘Oh my gosh. They did this. It actually happened.’ That’s that scene. That makes me so happy to watch people react to it, because I think that’s when the comedy is able to get pulled back and people are living in this fear with these boys.”

Chitto’s script-in-hand play Pueblo Revolt, directed by Tara Moses, runs August 14 through August 31 (7:30 p.m. Thursday to Saturday; 2 p.m. weekends) at

Santa Fe Playhouse (142 E. De Vargas St., 505-988-4262, santafeplayhouse.org).

Tickets: August 14 and 15, pay-what-you-will previews; other nights from $15.

NSRGNTS created Poeh Ak Ka Wohatsey: The Emergence Teachings of Resilience for the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center

NSRGNTS Collective Headed by Leah Povi Marie Lewis (Laguna, Taos, and Zuni Pueblos/Hopi/ Diné) and Votan Henriquez (Maya/Nahua), Albuquerque-based NSRGNTS Collective uses the kawaii art style to showcase the violent 1680 Pueblo Revolt in an unexpected, even cute way. Developed in Japan, the kawaii aesthetic uses characters with rounded forms, bright hues, and oversized eyes reminiscent of manga and street art to connect younger generations to a greater ancestral memory.

“It’s geared toward the youth,” Henriquez says. “We were very militant, but this style is more tender, more loving — in a way more warm. But how do you tell a story of revolution through a style like this? So we came up with the term ‘cute but deadly.’ They’re cute, but they’re revolutionary.”

Henriquez deploys his background as a graffiti writer influenced by radical politics, while Lewis draws upon Pueblo pottery training from her mother, master potter Lorraine Gala Lewis. Their murals, while visually disarming, grapple with rebellion, colonization, and identity. Their collaboration with the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (IPCC) for an exhibit in its Art Through Struggle Gallery gave them space to merge these tensions.

In June 2024 they completed a seven-panel painting at the IPCC called Poeh Ak Ka Wohatsey: The Emergence Teachings of Resilience. It’s focused on Pueblo empowerment of the past, present, and future, with Po’pay as a central figure. The characters sport round faces and big smiles in a cartoony style as a gentle gateway to interest younger Indigenous people in learning more about their history.

“Nothing looked like this before we started,” Henriquez said. “Now we’re seeing more kawaii, more manga, more Indigenous kids making art that feels like theirs. That’s the revolution.”

The IPCC exhibition closed in June; however, the collective has printed aspects of its mural, such as the Po’pay character, on stickers, wallets, and other mer-

chandise. These items are available through Instagram @nsrgnts. View a

video of the mural and interviews with the artists at indianpueblo.org/current_ exhibitions/nsrgnts. From August 15 to 17, NSRGNTS exhibits at the Poeh Cultural

Center’s Pathways Indigenous Arts Festival at Buffalo Thunder Resort and Casino

Pueblo Revolt at Santa Fe Playhouse

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(poehcenter.org/pathways).

Photos (left to right): Courtesy Santa Fe Playhouse, courtesy Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, courtesy King Galleries, courtesy Virgil Ortiz

Dillon Christopher Chitto

Jason Garcia For Jason Garcia (aka Okuu Pín), storytelling is embedded in both form and material. The Santa Clara Pueblo artist’s long-running series Tewa Tales of Suspense channels comic book aesthetics to retell the story of the Pueblo Revolt through pottery tiles and prints.

He began his series in 2007, portraying Po’pay as a superhero. The depiction helped correct an omission in comic books, which had no representation of or by Pueblo people. His body of work comes from a Tewa perspective and brings the narrative into the present through a pop art style.

He’s completed more than 150 iterations of Tewa Tales of Suspense. Aside from pottery tiles, he’s also worked with prints, serigraphs, silkscreens, etchings, drawings, and illustrated cartoons.

He tells “stories of Tewa resistance . . . asserting our ancestral boundaries, our lands, our histories; the assertion of our languages — that we’re still in a place that we’ve existed on and maintained. We have lived on that [land] since time immemorial,” Garcia says. “Using traditional materials like clay and mineral pigments connects us to our ancestors while allowing contemporary interpretations.”

Garcia roots his work in oral histories, visits to historical sites, and Tewa cosmology, which makes each piece a layered document of both past and present.

His work also confronts more modern events. Recent pieces address the environmental fallout of the Manhattan Project on Tewa lands, underscoring how colonization continues in less visible but equally damaging forms.

“I believe the earth can carry trauma,” he says. “But through storytelling, we can begin to heal both the land and ourselves.”

View Jason Garcia’s work year-round at King Galleries (130 Lincoln Ave., Suite D; 844-481-0187; kinggalleries.com), at Hecho a Mano (129 W. Palace Ave.,

505-916-1341, hechoamano.org), on Instagram @okuu.pin.studio, and during Santa Fe Indian Market at Booth PAL 123.

Tewa Tales of Suspense 105 by Jason Garcia (Okuu Pín)

Ortiz working on Po’pay

Virgil Ortiz The Pueblo Revolt has been Virgil Ortiz’s focus for more than two decades.

Through fashion, film, augmented reality, and especially clay, the internationally renowned Cochiti Pueblo artist reanimates and reimagines the revolt for global audiences.

“Clay is the heart and soul of everything I do — reviving the voices of pieces once destroyed by invaders to declare that we are still here: living, creating, and thriving. For the past 23 years, my mission has been to educate globally about the 1680 Pueblo Revolt — a pivotal event often left out of history books and classrooms due to the genocide and violence inflicted on our people. Across every medium I work in — clay, fashion, film, music, AR, and AI — I weave our history into my installations, lectures, and exhibitions to ensure it is seen, heard, and remembered,” he says.

His work doesn’t just honor the past; it advances the story via Indigenous futurism, a movement that explores the connection between Indigenous culture, technology, sci-fi, and the future. Sci-fi characters, sleek costumes, and high-tech storytelling coalesce around traditional Pueblo symbols, showing the world that the revolt isn’t over — it’s still evolving. His ReVOlt 1680/2180: Sirens & Sikas runs through October 2026 at Los Angeles’s Autry Museum of the American West. The exhibit uses digital animation to imagine a future in which the 1680 rebels have more resources and are able to secure their territories forever. At North Carolina’s Hickory Museum of Art, his Indigenous Ancestral Memory uses projection, sound, monumental ceramics, and augmented reality to immerse visitors in a retelling of the Pueblo Revolt story.

“For over two decades, I’ve been using art to teach about the first American revolution wherever I can,” Ortiz says. “My deepest hope and prayer has always been that the next generation of Pueblo artists would join me in educating others — sharing our history, in our voices, for our people and the world.”

In October 2022, Meow Wolf’s House of Eternal Return unveiled a permanent Virgil Ortiz installation. Sirens: Secret Passkeys & Portals, which continues Ortiz’s ReVOlt 1680/2180 saga, features time travelers helping their ancestors and protecting elements of culture from extinction.

This month, find Ortiz’s new clay works, home décor, apparel, accessories, and an all-new jewelry collection at the VO Showroom at J Justice Necessities (73 W. Marcy St., 505-500-5879, jjusticenecessities.com) August 12 to 17.

He’ll be at Santa Fe Indian Market Booth LIN W 745. Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian (704 Camino Lejo, 505-982-4636, wheelwright.org) features his works in the exhibit Gestural in Form, running August 10, 2025, through January 11, 2026. Ortiz is also a participating artist in Scholarships Shape Futures — the 2025 IAIA Benefit and Auction, August 13, at 5 p.m., at La Fonda on the Plaza. See his work online at virgilortiz.com.

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JUST THE

Messenger As two museums showcase Bob Haozous’s sculptures, paintings, and metalworking, the artist hopes people look past the materials to their meanings.

BY ELIZABETH MILLER

Bob Haozous in his Santa Fe–area studio in spring 2025

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he motif might be confused for a common one — a Native American astride a horse — but in its delivery, there is no mistaking a very different meaning. In 1200 Miles from Fort Sill, the rider slumps over his horse, his knife dropped and one moccasin lost, as the horse sinks into the sand. The bronze statue’s details catch the creases around the man’s belly and a hoof of the horse still kicking for solid ground. It’s a symbol of lost manhood, says the artist and longtime Santa Fean Bob Haozous (Warms Springs Chiricahua Apache).

It’s also a comment on the tropes and trends in Native American art and the commercialization of romanticized images, all of which he’s spent his life rebelling against and encouraging other artists to question.

“My idea is to challenge people to start talking to each other,” he says. “That’s what art should be. It should be creating the question.”

The Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian selected 1200 Miles from Fort Sill for the exhibition Echoes, which celebrated the museum’s 50th anniversary of pivoting to focus on contemporary Native artists. Haozous’s work was also part of the 1976 show representing the museum’s shifting focus — illustrating the long relevancy of his work. (Echoes closed June 2025.)

His six decades of creative work are also recognized in Bob Haozous: A Retrospective View, a survey of sculpture, painting, prints, and jewelry at the Heard Museum in Phoenix. In honor of that exhibition — as well as his contributions to Native art and to Santa Fe, which has displayed some of his sculptures in city parks — the Wheelwright again filled galleries with his work this year for Memo to the Mother: Bob Haozous’s Messages to Mother Earth (on view through January 10, 2026), which looks at the environmentalism embedded in many of his images of the female form.

Artwork: Courtesy of Heard Museum

PORTRAITS BY MICHAEL G. SEAMANS

Haozous has “shaped current dialogues about the complicated reality of American Indian expression as art, commodity, and cultural practice,” the Heard catalog foreword reads. His pieces range from expressing humor and empathy to often unconventional work that “fiercely challenges (mis)conceptions about indigenous people.”

“It was just time to give him the much deserved recognition,” says Diana Pardue, chief curator of the Heard Museum. His visually appealing and aesthetically beautiful sculptures are also enhanced with deeper meaning, she adds.

Take his early sculpture, up now at the Wheelwright, titled Mother Earth in Bondage to Human Greed. Haozous has carved mahogany into elegantly shaped but painfully contorted female shoulders. Rawhide and nails seem to pin back her writhing limbs in ways that are “uncomfortably alive,” as the caption declares.

To Haozous, the message is most important. Environmental catastrophes have been perpetrated in the name of consumerism and colonialism, and through massively violent weapons. Native Americans have been erased or allowed to assert themselves only while hemmed into idealized boxes. To transmit these ideas, he draws in pen, paints in acrylics, and sculpts wood, steel, and stone, shifting among them with incredible fluency.

“It’s kind of a furious ability to create,” says Henrietta Lidchi, executive director of the Wheelwright. “I think it’s because he has the need to say something, so it comes out through whichever medium he most wishes to express it. . . . It’s just one continuous gesture.”

Clockwise from left: Works from the Heard Museum’s retrospective of Haozous’s art — an untitled mask (1984), Memories of Campfire (2019), and White Dress (1973).

As the son of famed sculptor Allan Houser (1914–1994), Haozous had art-making tools in hand early, learning how to chisel stone and how to paint on a scale so large that it required rolling the brush with a full-body swing like a dance move. He joined the U.S. Navy to escape northern Utah and what felt, he says, like a questionable future fraught with “alcoholism and stupidity.”

After his service, the GI Bill helped pay for him to attend the California College of Arts and Crafts and complete a bachelor of fine arts degree in sculpture.

Experiences there seeded the artist he’d become, both in aesthetics and in counterpoint. One professor declared that a badly drawn line felt like jamming a pin to the eye, so Haozous crafted elegant curves. In his grand-scale steel structures, that ethos translated to welding seams into smooth, solid lines, even when that took more time and skill. Another professorial critique overlaid symbolism he hadn’t expected and prompted a lifelong focus on being precise in his expressions.

The formal education embedded in him an understanding of Greek sculpture, Renaissance greats, and the likes of Manet and Picasso.

That knowledge materialized in works such as a pointillist portrait of his grandfather. He tried it, and it worked. Then he moved on to another technique that worked for the next piece.

“I try not to repeat myself,” Haozous says. “I want to find something I can do and learn how to do it, and then when I need it, I can do it later. But I always have to keep changing.”

When a professor at college declared that if he moved to Santa Fe and kept making work like a Native American portrait he’d just showed, he’d be famous in a year, his response was a resounding no. He didn’t want to make the work that was most palatable and likely to gain acclaim or amass a fortune.

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During college, he married and had a son (he later also had a daughter). But he felt called to New Mexico, where his father had moved to join the faculty at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Houser sold Haozous 5 acres of land and he built a house on it, where he continues to live and work today. For a time, the two worked in the same studio.

“My family always gravitated back to being together,” he says. He and his four brothers all live in Santa Fe and were all present when their parents died. He recognized, fi rst, the tribal view of care for multiple generations.

“Later on I learned that responsibility wasn’t just to people; it was to all things. That’s kind of the driving force in most of my art.”

He showed work at the 1971 Indian Market, but he worried about the influence and power of the art market in Santa Fe — how it dictated who was good and who was not. He’s also wrestled with the commodification of Native art, with its emphasis on economic return, and how it plays into efforts to “kill the Indian, save the man” — a concept that has purged Native American cultures of everything but “the decorative stuff.” He contends that Native cultures at times packaged themselves in prettiness and turned art into a vocation as a way for Indigenous peoples to make a living. In so doing, He believes essential culture has been lost this way.

Despite Houser’s accolades, such as being the first Native American awarded the National Medal of Arts and a robust career as an artist who, as Haozous says, “saw the beauty of Native people and . . . put it in front of us,” Haozous still encounters Native Americans who don’t know his father’s name or work. Perhaps if people thought of Houser as a storyteller, Haozous says, he’d be more revered.

Haozous once ran to his studio every day. Now, at age 82, he’s not feeling as rushed, but the work feels ever more 70

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important. He’s been looking back on drawings he began 20 years ago and seeing, finally, what he wants to say through the pieces and starting on them again. This spring, he worked on two 5 x 6 foot drawings, which are now at the Heard Museum.

“They’re huge to me,” he says. “But I did them because it was a challenge. The most important thing is that it’s a challenge, and the change. Once you get caught in the factory assembly line of your talent, that’s the death of your talent.”

“He’s also a relentless producer, even now,” says Lidchi, who’s been interviewing Haozous since the 1990s.

When a Wheelwright exhibition of Marcus Amerman’s work was up last year, she spoke with Amerman and a few other Native artists born a couple of decades after Haozous. One of them said their work wouldn’t exist in the same shape or form if it hadn’t been for Haozous.

“He was a framing artist for them,” she says. “He had that impact on that generation of artists . . . as someone who had a capacity to think differently about what art meant and what the forms of reference were and what kind of critique could be built into it.”

Those critiques are, at times, sharp. Echoes also included the pen and ink drawing R.S.V.P., which caricatures a gallery opening. Art patrons wear moccasins, fringed clothing, and concha belts — not one of them looking at the art — while a silhouetted figure in a headdress enters the room, representing their collective fantasy of a Native artist. A series of paintings, including Thank You Dear Mother, shows female figures amid handwritten letters to Mother Earth, missives in which Haozous tries to apologize, atone, and reconnect to a planet deeply damaged by human choices. The text on one painting, Boom, recounts him witnessing a hospital bombing during his Navy service in Vietnam.

The work hews to his belief that art (or “stuff,” as he sometimes insists on calling what he makes) is a place to communicate personal experiences, what’s shaped a modern life, and what has survived of Indigenous perspectives, all part of an ongoing dialogue.

“Our personal lives made us who we are,” he says. “Should we be talking about that through this communication tool or should we be talking about buffaloes and eagles?”

That matters now because what he’s found among Indigenous peoples globally is a tie to the care of all living things — Indigenous thought for and about the environment that could save all of us.

“Who are these Indigenous people?” he says. “Well, it’s the potential of all people.”

If only the message can get out.

Elizabeth Miller is an award-winning freelance journalist based in Santa Fe.

Artwork: Courtesy of Bob Haozous and Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian

Haozous reaches for the medium in which he can best express his intended message. Right: A bronze belt buckle of a woman falling featured in the Wheelwright exhibition Memo to the Mother: Bob Haozous’s messages to Mother Earth.

As the son of famed sculptor Allan Houser (1914–1994), Haozous had art-making tools in hand early, learning how to chisel stone and how to paint on a scale so large that it required rolling the brush with a full-body swing like a dance move.

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Stone Giants

The only competition that motivates sculptor Ryan Benally is outdoing himself.

Artwork photo: By Tira Howard, courtesy SWAIA

BY ELIZABETH MILLER

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GABRIELA CAMPOS

hen the 8,000-pound block of Turkish marble arrived, Ryan Benally (Navajo) set it up in his open-air studio near Española. The space is shaded but breezy to let the dust move through. He had to reach up over his head to touch the top of the stone. His work often starts with sketching crayon on stone as he tests the forms he imagines for fit. Then he applies hammer and chisel. Soon, power tools like his 9-inch diamond blade come out.

“It’s very, very unforgiving. Once you make that cut, you can’t get that back,” he says. “For me, the challenge is that.”

Those first strokes come startlingly violent and fierce, breaking away chunks of stone, freeing the shapes he’s imagined. In the case of this block of white marble, he hewed it into four feathers, each 5 or 6 feet tall, threaded together by a swirling abstract form. His work is so finely polished that by the time it’s finished, he’ll ask that people take off their jewelry before touching the surface.

That wearable metal could scratch the polished marble.

The violence gives way to an object cradled almost like a baby, he says, wrapped in pillows and blankets, on its way to an installation or presented in a gallery on a pedestal. It’s only then that he can step back and know that everything worked.

When he posted images of his latest sculpture in process online, people asked if he’d be entering into the Santa Fe Indian Market juried competition this year.

Benally replied yes in jest, but the response earned him a phone call from market

staff to break the bad news he already knew: This sculpture far outweighs the 200-pound weight limit for the competition.

But Benally now thinks beyond the competition. He’s won best in division for sculpture three years in a row, most recently for Feathered Prayers, a 39-inch-tall sculpture in Italian marble and black granite of two feathers curved together around an abstract form.

Maybe he’ll enter a piece this year, and maybe he won’t, he says. At this point in his career, he’s less concerned with accolades than he is with charting his own progress.

“I just look at myself and what I do, and I want to outdo it,” Benally says.

Benally became interested in three-dimensional stone carving around age 12, in the summer of 1989. He knew intuitively, even before high school, that this was his path. At age 14, in 1991, he sold his first piece to a collector and secured gallery representation. He first juried into Indian Market in 1996.

“It was just what was meant to be,” he says, “and I’ve been having fun ever since.”

Left to right: Ryan Benally works on a large-scale sculpture in his Española studio in spring 2025. Benally’s 2024 Santa Fe Indian Market best in division–winning sculpture Feathered Prayers.

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Early on, he was introduced to Navajo sculptor Tim Washburn, who also works mostly in stone, creating realistic, figurative pieces. Beyond that, Benally says he’s mostly learned by trial and error. He’s broken stone and even entire pieces, including one while installing it in a gallery. Sometimes he chooses the wrong tool for the outcome he is trying to achieve. But he loves that, when he offers advice to others, like in the years he taught at the Poeh Cultural Center, he’s earned every inch of what he knows.

Sculpting stone is a lot of hard work, he admits. It’s physically demanding and dirty labor. He wears eye and ear protection and a respirator to avoid breathing in dust that spins off the stone as he grinds into it. Much of the time, he works solo. He says the work can get lonely.

“Sculpture is a passion, a labor of love,” he says. “I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

For a decade, he crafted traditional, realistic forms, often inspired by his Diné heritage and Native American culture. Many of those sculptures were sharply detailed portraits in stone, people captured down to strands of hair, creases in garments, and beads on a necklace, or a fist so finely rendered that the fingers look ready to open.

Around 1999 he started to break away from those themes and that imagery to blend realistic detail and abstraction, like the curves and whorls carved in white Italian marble and granite for his 2022 Indian Market best of class winner Bold as Love and the 2023 winner Dreamscapes of Love, carved from calcite onyx and black Indian granite. He wanted to be known not by a genre but simply as a sculptor, whose work could hold its own in sculpture capitals such as Paris or Florence.

He also wanted to open his work to new and different collectors, perhaps even from a younger generation. That required faith that buyers would appreciate the new forms and envision them as a permanent part of their spaces.

He’s most grateful to see his pieces find new homes. While accolades and awards are nice, and he’s thankful for the recognition, he and his kids, as he likes to say, “can’t eat that ribbon.”

Pushing his own boundaries and venturing into new forms wasn’t always easy for the young and hungry artist. The experimentation and exploration required being willing to sink thousands of dollars in materials alone into sculptures that might generate no monetary return. He’s seen sculptors take their work to shows and make just enough money for the trip home.

Once the new course was set, he had to hold firm to it, he felt, or the stone and tools would know. “If you’re in a place that’s not creative, it’ll show in sculpture, it’ll show in the work, because sometimes you’re just looking at the stone and thinking that this stone is going to get the best of you,” he says. “So it’s always [important] to get into the studio in a good mindset, especially if you’re operating electric tools. . . . If your mind is not there, if you’re thinking about something or preoccupied in your mind, you can, you know, get bit.”

He’s been “bitten” before and left bloody by tools that knocked off the rock.

But decades in, he remains eager to get to his studio. He’s also busy — busy thinking about the projects he’s working on and what projects are coming next, networking, looking at new technology and how it affects the process, and considering what remains untouched even as the tools change.

He moonlights in making jewelry and thinks about it as wearable sculpture.

Already, he’s begun blending metal into his stonework, and after seeing Dale Chihuly’s blown-glass spirals in the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington, he’s thinking about how to incorporate glass next.

He dreams of having his work shown in the center of the stone-sculpting world, Italy, where much of his marble comes from, and seeing works by Renaissance stone masters in person. He envisions sending his three artist sons there and bringing them back in time for Indian Market to share the work they’ve created. He hopes that when he gets to Italy, he can stand in the marble quarries and say a prayer of thanks for how his work has grown and where it has taken him — and for all the sculptures yet to come.

See Benally’s work in-person during Santa Fe Indian Market at PLZ 97, From top: Benally’s works tower over him. He often uses hyper-realistic detail.

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on Instagram @nearwaterstudio1, and on Facebook.

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Romero

Romero

Cara and Diego Romero hit the high points — together.

Photos: Courtesy of the artists

BY DEVON JACKSON

heirs is a love story. Cara Romero and Diego Romero will tell you as much. As will most people who know them. It’s a love that comes through as palpably in their art — in her photography, in his pottery — as it flows between the two of them: as a couple, as individuals.

They had noteworthy careers before they met and married.

Together they’re achieving a unique form of collaboration as they advance their art. Bruce Bernstein, former executive director of Santa Fe Indian Market and currently tribal historic preservation officer at the Pueblo de San Ildefonso, has known them and their work for years. He observes, “They both have very strong intellects and deep historical knowledge. They’re both very courageous, very precise, experimental, and they’re militant in the nicest way about their voices being heard: that Indians are everywhere and you can’t remove them. Their creativity is separate, and they express it in a separate way, but they’re looking at some of the same issues. These ideas flow back and forth between them all the time, with some of their work answering the other’s work — as in their upcoming show.”

Cara and Diego Romero: Tales of Futures Past runs from November 1, 2025, to February 8, 2026, at the Albuquerque Museum. Organized by the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa, where it showed from March to early June, the nationally traveling exhibition features 18 of Diego’s pottery pieces and lithographs and 20 of Cara’s photographs. The exhibition explores the complexities and evolving nature of Indigenous identity, inviting the viewer to witness the artistic dialogue between the two leading artists.

In some cosmic way, they have long seemed on a collision course to joining other great artist duos of history — Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, Christo and Jean-Claude, Ed and Nancy Kienholz.

Both were born in California — Diego in Berkeley in 1964 (he was a kindergarten classmate of Kamala Harris) and Cara in Inglewood in 1977. Both had a non-Native mother and a Native father. Cara’s dad is Chemehuevi, while Diego’s is from Cochiti Pueblo. They both spent formative periods at Santa Fe’s Institute of American Indian Arts but also carry degrees from other schools. Diego earned his BFA at Los Angeles’s Otis College of Art and Design and an MFA from UCLA. Cara majored in cultural anthropology at the University of Houston and then studied photography technology at Oklahoma State University.

They’d both been married before they met, and they each have children from their previous marriages. (They’ve had one more as a couple.) They were divorcees. They’d each had their struggles with alcohol. And as Diego explains, “We’re both mixed-race artists. We were both single parents. We’d both lived in Oklahoma. We’d both been married to Creek Indians. And our kids were

both distantly related on our ex-partners’ side. It was enough synchronicity that you almost had to surrender to the universe.”

Surrender they did. Though it took a while.

Cara first “met” Diego via a slide show on contemporary Native art given by IAIA instructor Stephen Fadden. “I just remember never having seen anything like it,” she recalls.

“It was like he’d won one for the team. I’d never seen such a beautiful illustration from an Indigenous perspective — like colonial history from an Indigenous perspective.”

Later on, while she was taking an IAIA class with Diego’s brother Mateo (an accomplished painter himself ), Mateo set the two up on a blind date. The setup came with a big brotherly warning to Diego. Mateo told him, “If you’re not serious, don’t date this woman. She’s been through a lot, an she’s the most talented student of her generation.

Don’t throw her off course.”

“We met for coffee at Flying Star, and we’ve never left each other’s side since,” Diego remembers.

At the time, Diego had already firmly established himself in the art world. His breakthrough came with his 1990s polychromed earthenware series featuring the Chongo Brothers, characters based on himself and Mateo and also heroic Pueblo twins who protect their people. By the time he met Cara, he’d also perfected his signature style: a blend of his Cochiti ancestors’ coil methods with elements of Mimbres ceramics and Greek-tinged vessels featuring easily recognizable pop culture and comic book references. His work has been shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain in Paris, the Denver Art Museum, and the Heard Museum in Phoenix.

Cara’s career surged in 2015 with her Water Memory series, extra-large archival pigment prints depicting two people in Indigenous cultural dress floating underwater. The photographs were a not-so-subtle commentary on the 1934 construction of Parker Dam, which submerged her ancestral Chemehuevi homelands under Lake Havasu. That breakthrough came four years after Diego had outfitted her with upgraded photo gear as a wedding gift. A couple years later, in 2017, a grant from the Native Arts + Cultures Foundation in Portland, Oregon, became another key turning point in her career. She’s won several honors at Santa Fe Indian Market, including a 2023 best of class award for 2D work, and at the Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, including a best of class award in 2024. She experienced another high point this year via her first major solo museum exhibition. Closing August 10, Cara Romero: Panûpünüwügai (Living Light) at the Hood Museum of Art in New Hampshire explores a decade of her work and thematically examines the multiple layers, beauty, and resilience of Indigenous identities and experiences.

Above: Diego Romero’s ceramic vessel Mayanauts. Opposite page: Cara and Diego Romero.

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Left to right: Cara Romeo at work. Cara Romero’s The Zenith won best in class at the 100th Santa Fe Indian Market in 2023.

Below: Diego Romero’s ceramic vessel Chac Mool (In Memory of Jack Kirby).

The Romeros also credit IAIA as seminal to what they do and how. “I don’t think I’d know what I know or be the artist that I am without first having gotten a tribal college education, where I learned about our own art movements, our own art history; who our peers, our contemporaries were; and where the critical dialogues are very different than other MFA programs,” Diego says.

He says Hopi potter Otellie Loloma was the first adult who believed in him and gave him direction.

Likewise, Houston instructor Bill Thomas encouraged Cara to shift from photojournalism to narrative photography.

“His whole emphasis was elevating content and narrative over technical ability,” she says, “and after that I just knew I wanted to tell a modern story of Native peoples.” Her time at IAIA also exposed her to Native fine art photographers such as Zig Jackson (Mandan/ Hidatsa/Arikara), Leland Marmon (Laguna Pueblo), and Shelley Niro (Mohawk). “I don’t know if I ever would’ve learned about their work if I wasn’t at IAIA. They just made my heart sing, as far as Native people taking photographs of themselves and their community.

They were my biggest first inspirations,” she says.

Because both artists are so technically precise, so exacting, so thoughtful, most people respond to their work on a gut level and find it elicits emotions from a deeper place. They prove T.S. Eliot’s point: “Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.” People feel the Romeros’ work immediately. What registers first is that it’s funny, or sad, or biting, or critical. But that’s just the outer layer. Beneath all those visceral responses is a response to narrative — what Cara calls the “one story” narrative, which revolves around Native people having a singular, stereotypical identity.

As Susan Sontag put it in On Photography, “Only that which narrates can make us understand,” and storytelling is central to both Romeros’ work. That involves reclaiming and rewriting stories that were too long in the hands 78

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of the “victors,” the dominant ethnic group. And as John Berger added in a brief essay, “Uses of Photography,” critiquing Sontag’s book, “Memory implies a certain act of redemption.” And “what is remembered has been saved from nothingness.”

Diego says at first the narrative he portrayed was specific to him and his brother in the Southwest. Decades later, he’s broadened his view. “It’s much more all-encompassing of the human condition. As I grew, my narrative grew. Now it’s much more about where we are as a society, what we’re facing. I see some people, Germans or Japanese who come to my booth, and these people don’t speak a lick of English and I don’t speak their language at all, but through the language of narrative art, they get the humor because it’s human, it speaks to a human condition. It transcends race, gender — through a Native perspective.”

He continues, “It’s the same with Cara’s work. She uses Native models, her friends and family, to talk about issues in our world — environmental issues, racism, issues that make us human. So it makes a good story.”

“We have similar politics,” says Cara, who for years was director of the indigeneity program at Bioneers, a Santa Fe–based nonprofit dedicated to finding solutions to environmental and social problems. “We have similar but different identity stories. So there’s just a lot of honesty that goes on, and it’s also really fun to have somebody to talk to about everything that you’re inspired by. There’s a lot of problem solving.”

“We’re not creating in a vacuum, and I think that makes it better,” Diego adds. “And even though we’re in different media, we’re both narrative artists.

We’re in the same genre. We’re plugged into the consciousness of our people.”

“Diego’s sense of humor and use of pop culture has definitely influenced my voice,” Cara says. “And my environmental activism and political way of being has influenced his. Plus, he’s a feminist. He’s been the most supportive person too. Like, ‘You go, girl!’”

Photos: Courtesy of the artists

Left to right: Diego Romero at work. Cara Romero’s archival pigment print Julia & Joslynn. Below: Saints and Sinners by Diego Romero.

“And I would never be where I am without you,” Diego says to Cara, who now manages his career and represents his work at her gallery, Cara Romero Photography.

As they’ve influenced each other, they’ve shaped their genres and other artists. “Among Native potters, and Native artists in general, Diego in particular has really transformed things that go on now,” Bernstein says.

“His work opened up a whole array of things and really took the monotony out of contemporary Pueblo pottery.”

Cara’s impact has been no less significant. “Serious scholarship about Indigenous photography began with the Gorman Museum’s work in 2006,” observes America Meredith, founder and editor of First American Art magazine. “Since then, Indigenous photography has finally garnered attention through publications and exhibitions, and Cara has led that wave.”

“She takes the real people and puts them outside of the box, so to speak,” says Bernstein. “Whereas Diego, Diego’s people are always peering into the box.

It’s just a really different way that they think about one another, and they have a large, large presence and influence on everyone. They’ve both made a point of saying, ‘Don’t tell us who we are. Let us tell you who we are.’”

“I get excited when I think back to myself as a young person and not having so much access to contemporary Native people being part of the fabric of American art,” says Diego. “That’s something I’ve really seen change in my lifetime, and it’s very exciting.”

“I’m making art for young Native people to be able to see themselves — that’s really important,” adds Cara. “We’re beholden to our community, to a nuanced sense of humor, to a very strict cultural protocol of what we can share cross-culturally, to figuring out what’s beneficial to the non-Native community. What are they missing? What are they hungry for? What are the stories that we’ve grown up with that are okay to share, that bring humanity to our own struggles?”

Which goes back to the one-story narrative. “Some people might say ‘stereotype,’ but I say ‘one-story narrative,’” she says. “But then I’ll remind myself,” interjects Diego, “that some of our people are very traditional, on horseback, in full regalia, full-blooded herding sheep on Navajo Nation. And then there are people like me who have urban/rez experience mixtures — and they’re both equally valid.”

“The more stories that people have where we’re breaking stereotypes by just being who we are,” Cara says, picking up on Diego’s point, “then the more we have visibility in these spaces.

You don’t have to hit people over the head.”

“We have 574 federally recognized tribes, and everybody’s different, everybody’s regalia is different,” Diego says. “And when I look at my non-Native or Anglo peers, they have all these stories. It’s much more interesting to look at a contemporary photograph that might give you a new story or a new perspective. But if the rest of the world wants to put that in that fine art category, so be it, or if they want to put it under Native art, so be it.”

As for the two of them, “There’s no competition going on between us,” Cara says. “I want him to be successful.

And he wants the same for me.”

Diego reaches over to take Cara’s hand. “It’s extra special,” he says, smiling brightly. “Extra special.”

Devon Jackson is a freelance writer and editor. He’s written for “The New York Times,” “People,” “Sports Illustrated,” and “Discover,” among other publications.

He edits the “Home” magazine for the “The New Mexican.”

Cara Romero Photography (333 Montezuma Ave. Suite 5, 505-218-6588, cararomero.com) hosts a group show that includes both Romeros’ work.

It opens August 14.

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In the Now Four contemporary potters define their styles.

t Santa Clara Pueblo, Tammy Garcia grew up among women whose ancestors had been shaping clay, generation after generation, for thousands of years. Her mother, Linda Cain, and her grandmother Mary Cain made pots in their studio each day while Garcia formed small figures of her own to pass the time.

On Sundays she and her sister rode their bikes to her great-grandmother Christina Naranjo’s house, attracted by woodsmoke from the firing pit.

More than just a childhood memory, clay was a physical experience for her. “When we were little girls, my sister and I were the ones stepping on the clay,” Garcia says.

“My grandma and mom would soak a galvanized tub full of clay and volcanic ash, and we would mix the two ingredients with our feet.”

Chase Kahwinhut Earles (Caddo) admired pottery from Santa Clara and other New Mexico pueblos on annual family road trips to the Southwest. He felt called to the clay and to what he saw as the strong cultural identity of Pueblo peoples. Where he’s from, in Oklahoma, “the elders don’t always teach what it means to be your specific tribal identity. You know you’re Native American, but you don’t necessarily know what that means.”

Today, Garcia, 55, and Earles, 49, are award-winning sculptors working at the top of their profession. They are regularly included in gallery exhibitions and museum collections around the country. Meanwhile, two relative newcomers, Jeff Suina (Cochiti) and Jared Tso (Diné), are gaining acclaim for integrating heritage materials and techniques with design elements influenced by technology.

All four are lauded for defining their own styles within pottery — for being “contemporary artists” while working with traditional materials and methods. Such distinctions are often made by art market jurors, curators, and collectors, but for the artists themselves, boundaries between traditional and contemporary are arbitrary at best, limiting at worst.

“I think, as artists, we can embrace change, because one idea can lead to the next,” says Garcia, who has expanded her clay pottery designs into materials such as bronze, glass, and gold.

“As a living, breathing human being making art right now — by definition I’m a contemporary artist,” says Tso, 30. “The ‘two worlds theory’— like I’m a Native person with one foot in the traditional world and one in the modern one — that’s all [BS]. I’m one person living in the same world as you.”

Clockwise: The Arrowhead by Chase Kahwinhut Earles, Window Through Time by Jeff Suina, A Distant Storm by Jared Tso, and Uplifted by Tammy Garcia

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Photos: Courtesy King Galleries

BY JENNIFER LEVIN

NEW INTRICACY

At Santa Fe Indian Market, Suina, 53, won first place in the traditional pottery category in 2023 and first place in the contemporary pottery category in 2024 for his architecturally inspired geometric pots after leaving a 20-year career in engineering visualization to pursue art full-time.

He’d worked with clay as a kid, and in the 2010s, “I just started to feel more and more like the clay was calling to me — not so much a thought as a knowing.”

He taught himself to make traditional pot shapes, and by the end of the decade he was experimenting with some of the geometry he’d worked with as an engineer. A 2023 residency at the Hand and Machine Lab at the University of New Mexico pushed him to his current body of work.

The research group, part of the Department of Computer Science, explores relationships between technology, materials, and culture, including 3D clay printing.

“Putting my own designs into the software helped me understand the physics of creating certain pieces the way I wanted to. The 3D clay printing was a teacher for me,” Suina says. “It helped me come up with new shapes and geometries that I would have never thought of. If you look at my latest pieces, they’ve taken on new intricacy and size.”

Though Suina continues to hand-build his pots, he believes any technology that assists artists in their selfexpression is valid and that traditional methods are also a form of technology. “An artist should be able to use any tool that’s available in whatever time period they’re living in.”

Using a combination of slab and coil construction, Suina creates vessels in the shape of tetrahedrons, octahedrons, dodecahedrons, triangles, quadrangles, and pentagons, which he paints in a style that resembles traditional Cochiti design but is inspired by the hard sciences that have always piqued his interest.

“Traditional Cochiti designs honor the sky, plants, and animals. Lots of clouds and feathers. From time to time, I do use those, but I’m a nerd at heart. I’ve always been into quantum mechanics and string theory,” he says.

FUTURE TENSE

The technology that so inspired Suina was banned by Santa Fe Indian Market in 2024 for juried competition, and potters cannot sell 3D-printed ceramics at their booths. Tso, who completed a Hand and Machine Lab residency in 2022, questions the long-term wisdom of this decision.

The winner of Indian Market’s 2022 Tony Da Innovation Award describes himself as “traditional in technique and material, and present for everything else.” His vessels are stone-polished, coated with piñon pitch, and pit-fired.

Works by his father, painter Darrell Tso, and his potter grandmother Faye Tso inspire his use of minimal decoration at the necks of his vessels. He’s endlessly influenced

by Diné tradition, but it’s not his only inspiration.

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All four are lauded for defining their own styles within pottery — for being “contemporary artists” while working with traditional materials and methods.

“It’s like we’re not allowed to be complex people. Where does innovation exist if you’re binding the wrists of the artist?” he asks. “There’s this time element of preserving the past and defining tradition, and then we celebrate Indigenous futurism,” a genre that explores Native perspectives on the past, present, and future. “But if you ban the tools of the present, then the futurism is a lie. There’s a discontinuity about how we talk about art for Native America that ignores our present-day as people.”

Earles, whose museum-collected work includes Yoda, AT-ATs, and BB-8 among its subjects, also has strong opinions about Native futurism, which he says cannot exist without knowledge of one’s own cultural stories and traditions.

“You can’t just make a Star Wars figure, put a feather on it, and call it Native futurism. Star Wars is Native culture because we grew up [with] Star Wars, but it’s more than that,” he says. “Like, R2-D2’s role was to keep information in his head and help people with it, and he’s shaped exactly like a Caddo seed pot. Seeds are organic biological knowledge to help us get to the future, so R2 is the carrier of the seeds of knowledge.”

Earles won first place in traditional pottery from Indian Market in 2024 and Best of Show in traditional pottery at the 2024 Cherokee Art Market. Like Suina, Earles left a lucrative career to pursue the life of an artist. “I was in web design, but I always felt like there was something missing,” he says. In 2009 he began studying the Pueblo pottery he collected. He soon realized that if he wanted to sell his own work, he had to learn his own tribe’s tradition. “There’s no such thing as pan-Indian in the Native art world,” he says.

Once a prolific tradition, Caddo pottery all but disappeared when the tribe was decimated by disease and displacement in the 1800s. “A lot of cultural knowledge got lost,” Earles says. He’s among a handful of Caddo artists reviving the tradition, re-creating ancestral pottery methods and shapes using archaeological records. Earles taught himself to build the Caddos’ signature thin-walled pots, which are fired to a chocolate brown and then engraved with abstract curving and spiral designs. He uses the same etching technique on more experimental, futuristic, and paranormal-inspired work.

“Over thousands of years, we lost a lot of what the symbols mean,” he says. “But we continue them anyway, just like we continue our songs, even though we don’t remember what all the words mean.”

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Photos: Courtesy King Galleries

CULTURAL REVIVAL

FREEDOM

“When you ask what’s a traditional method, you really have to ask the time,” says Garcia. “It changes every day with the tools we have access to, the materials.”

And tradition is only part of the story; each artist pursues their individual inspirations. Garcia’s mother watched soap operas while she worked, and from an early age Garcia found herself looking at the lamps and vases in the background of soap opera sets, expanding her ideas of what was possible to create in pottery.

Garcia received the New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2008 and the Native Treasures Living Treasure Award in 2013. She makes about 10 pieces a year, spending the bulk of her time carving. She tends to include more design elements on her pots than what might be considered strictly traditional. Inspired by forays into gardening, she’s currently using a lot of plant and flower motifs and finds herself gravitating to traditional forms.

A work in progress features the echinacea flower, which she chose for its medicinal qualities.

“When you think back to historic painted pottery, it was painted with plants and insects that were around [the artists], like the dragonfly. Certain plants were important, and pottery told a story. I like to keep that in mind when I’m designing,” she says.

“I get caught sometimes, like I’m obsessed with a certain form, but I’ll do it in different sizes and put on different designs. So we’re continually changing. The traditions keep us grounded, and that kind of allows us to explore other avenues. Clay is about risk. It can break your heart.

You can spend a lot of time on something and it can break into pieces when you fire it.”

It was her intimate knowledge of clay and coil construction that first led her to experiment with asymmetry in her pots, then to pots made in other materials, and then to sculpture. Propelled by an understanding of construction and symmetry, she began experimenting with where she put coils, building pots that extended in different directions. When she moved into bronze, she learned to build molds with oil-based clay, which doesn’t dry like traditional clay. Its malleability opened the door to further artistic experimentation with shape and form, constants to which she always returns even as new materials allow her to find new space within them. Glass presents still other options, as does crystal, as does gold. At this point in her career, she says, “I like having choices. We have as much freedom as we allow ourselves.”

Jennifer Levin is a freelance communications professional and an arts and culture writer in Santa Fe. Garcia, Suina, Earles, and Tso are represented by King Galleries (130 Lincoln Ave., Suite D; 844-481-0187; kinggalleries.com). All also show their work at this year’s Santa Fe Indian Market.

Clockwise: Clay in Motion by Jared Tso, Wild Roses and Dragonflies

by Tammy Garcia, Lightning by Jeff Suina, and Traditional Caddo Jar by Chase Kahwinhut Earles

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Coloring Outside the Lines Dolores Purdy makes ledger art her own.

BY ASHLEY M. BIGGERS

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL G. SEAMANS

olores Purdy is a feminist — though she surprises herself saying so.

“Gosh, I sound like a feminist,” she laughs as she talks about centering women in her ledger art. “Caddo women are well-known to be very much the leaders of the tribe; they were the ones who actually did a lot of the decision making. These days it doesn’t matter of we have a female or male chairperson. I see this in the Caddo Tribe — the equalization — but I’d like to see that everywhere, for all women. I think we all need a little help and understanding that we too can do whatever a man does.”

In the 1990s, Purdy was researching her Caddo people when she happened upon the story of a tribal member imprisoned at Fort Marion, Florida, from 1875 to 1878. He was among 72 Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Commanche leaders who were rounded up after the 1874 Buffalo War, in which they fought to protect a free buffalo herd — a key to their people’s survival. At Fort Marion, the prisoners were given basic art supplies. More than two dozen of them, including some of the biggest names in historic ledger art, such as Bear’s Heart (Cheyenne), began translating their Plains hide paintings onto available paper.

“I fell in love with . . . the simplicity of straight lines, how they’re telling a story, and [how] you could have an entire story on one page. Some of these were just amazing pieces of work,” Purdy says. “Well, I couldn’t help it. I had to try my hand at it.”

Purdy has since become a notable ledger artist, sharing her art and knowledge with institutions such as Brown University and the National Museum of the American Indian, where her work is in the permanent collection. Her art is also in the collections of the Hood Museum of Art in New Hampshire, National Museum of American History, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, University of California, San Diego, and others. She’s one of four women who appear in Richard Pearce’s book Women and Ledger Art. She exhibits only at invitational shows, the Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, and Santa Fe Indian Market. She landed in Santa Fe in 2009 when her remote job gave her the opportunity to volunteer with SWAIA’s standards committee.

This year marks her 25th year showing at Indian Market.

Trained in watercolor, a medium she still occasionally reaches for, Purdy taught herself the intricacies of ledger art by speaking to fellow artists and via books such as Karen Daniels Petersen’s Plains Indian Art from Fort Marion.

Beyond these initial inspirations, Purdy resists looking at other artists’ ledger art, “because I’m afraid I’m going to accidentally take someone’s idea,” she says.

However, her inspirations are vast; the psychedelic pop art movement, art deco, and Asian textiles all influence her work.

Dolores Purdy in her home studio, spring 2025

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When she finds texts relating to Native American issues from the late 1800s, a period that threatened extinction for Indigenous people,

she finds that applying her art offers a powerful sense of reclamation.

She also plies artistic techniques she learned from working in watercolor, such as layering, glazing, and shadowing, which depart from her ancestors’ flat work. Her identity as a woman and her desire to incorporate the female perspective also mark a shift.

Ledger art was initially a warrior art — a place to chronicle battles and buffalo hunts. While Plains women painted geometric shapes (like those found on parfleches) on hide and ledger, only men painted or drew representational figures. She explains, “Nowadays, we have male beadworkers, male weavers, which is great because they bring a whole different perspective to their work.

It’s cool to see [an art form cross] genders from what’s specific to tradition.”

She continues, “I tried to make mine as unique as possible, as a bright and colorful, with a lot of whimsy.”

She occasionally draws buff alo hunts or western scenes and infuses them with her signature bright, cheerful colors and humor, as in Freddy Fell Off Again, where a horse gallops along with a herd of hunters on horseback without its rider, reins flying in the air as though Freddy has just fallen.

Now considering herself an elder, she fi nds inspiration in observing the bustling lives of her daughter and granddaughter. Women usually center in her pieces, as in Best Friends, which explores a girl’s partnership with her horse. Her subject matter is sometimes contemporary, as in Radio Up Windows Down, in which a woman cruises in her blue pickup. A recent series, which she showcased in the spring 2025 exhibition Cowgirl Up! at the Desert Caballeros Western Museum in Wickenburg, Arizona, features a trio of aunties doing things together, from going to the spa to shopping.

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“It’s so funny to even actually consider who an auntie would be, which is any older woman that tries to help a younger woman. It’s just another way of showing strong women,” she says. “We are in a new era. Art evolves.”

Her finished ledger art pieces blend contemporary drawings and old paper, in terms of both context and visual elements. She sources paper anywhere she can, including trips to the Plains states, where she might unearth sheets at antiques stores. She prefers paper made prior to 1900 because it’s often linen.

During World War II, paper manufacturers began incorporating wood pulp into paper because cotton and linen were needed for the war effort. But wood pulp makes her Prismacolor pencils skip across the paper rather than glide.

She often plays upon the paper’s subject in her drawings. We Took a Wrong Turn Somewhere shows two Native Americans from Oklahoma in Arizona — a place they apparently shouldn’t be at the time — over a parole ledger. Her compositions also feature interesting graphic elements, such as headers, which she composes her drawings around. When she finds texts relating to Native American issues from the late 1800s, a period that threatened extinction for Indigenous people, she finds that applying her art offers a powerful sense of reclamation.

“It’s kind of fun to be able to take something and twist it and bring it forward,” Purdy says.

Find Purdy’s work at Santa Fe Indian Market Booth FRN 319 and online at dolorespurdy.com.

Purdy may find inspiration in historical ledger art, such as this pre-1860s drawing, but she makes the art form her own with humor, whimsy, and color.

Gathering for Native American Cancer Care Native Oncology Education Seminar

Join us this fall for the 3rd Annual Gathering for Native American Cancer Care. This pivotal event is dedicated to enhancing healthcare for Native American communities in northern New Mexico, focusing on education and cancer care.

Our Mission We help the people of northern New Mexico navigate their cancer journey with hope, dignity, and needed support.

Date: Saturday, October 11, 2025 Time: 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM Cost: Free Online Registration: Required Location: Buffalo Thunder Resort Joseph Brophy Toledo Cross-Cultural Medicine Jemez Pueblo (2024)

Support Services for Cancer Patients At the Cancer Foundation for New Mexico, we remove barriers to care by providing essential, compassionate support: • Travel to treatment • Overnight lodging • Food assistance

What to Expect

• Emergency assistance

Blessing & Welcome Coffee: Begin the day with a blessing and hot coffee.

• Clinically trained volunteer support during treatment

After a Cancer Diagnosis: resources, information, and testimonials: Gain valuable insights from experts and hear inspiring testimonials from those who have faced cancer.

Lunch: Savor a delicious lunch and connect with fellow attendees Educational Materials: Explore a wealth of information and resources designed to empower you with knowledge about cancer prevention, treatment, and support services.

• Professionally-led support groups • Licensed Social Worker support and navigation

For more information, registration or sponsorship opportunities: CFFNM.ORG/NativeHealth (505) 522-2376

Self-Care Gift Bag: As a token of our appreciation, all attendees will receive a self-care gift bag.

Drawings: A chance to win exciting prizes.

You must be present to win.

CFFNM.ORG

17 th annual

PRESENTING SPONSOR SKY CINEMAS

OCTOBER 15 – 20 2025

santafe.film

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PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES/SAM WASSON

Zozobra 101

HAPPY

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YOUR LITTLE BROTHER

IN F INE

STYLE

BY ASHLEY M. BIGGERS PHOTOGRAPHY BY GABRIELLA MARKS

Native regalia stands as the country’s first haute couture.

Today, Native designers draw inspiration from varied sources — everything from ceremonial and traditional wear to the latest episode of Bridgerton — to create clothing and accessories both regal and ready to wear. Meet seven clothing and accessory designers creating outfits from head to toe.

Left and right: Sage Mountainflower designs from the spring 2025 SWAIA Native Fashion Week runway. Center: Designer Sage Mountainflower.

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Sage Mountainflower beaded blossom on a pale pink dress with a ruffled chiffon overlay skirt. A red embroidered stepped motif along the bottom of a black skirt. A glittering beaded corset paired with a floor-length tiered skirt. All are designs from the mind and hands of Sage Mountainflower (Ohkay Owingeh/Taos Pueblo/Diné), whose clear-eyed connection to her Pueblo culture manifests in contemporary apparel.

Models walked the runway in these pieces from Mountainflower’s spring collection during SWAIA’s Native Fashion Week in May. Her designs have also traveled far beyond her Northern New Mexico home to appear at Paris, Milan, and New York Fashion Weeks.

Her turn into fashion design was a somewhat expected one. Although she dabbled in beadwork — like a proper 1990s kid, she made medallions of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Chicago Bulls logos — she didn’t begin sewing clothing until her children needed regalia for rituals.

“When I became a mother, I had to share our traditions, our culture with them,” she says. “We were living in California, and I was trying to keep them connected even though we were living away from our tribal communities.”

Her diverse heritage meant her children needed appropriate outfits for several tribes’ traditions. Adding in their father’s Lakota rites, the family tradition of powwow competition meant she was busy with needle and thread.

As her children grew, so did the complexity of her creations. A gifted sewing machine from a fellow casino employee promised to expand her designs, but she had to teach herself how to use the machine first. “Over the years, I’ve made a lot of mistakes because nobody taught me.

I never went to fashion school,” she says.

Requests from her children pushed her creativity.

“My daughter was a young woman, and she wanted things that had an Indigenous flair when she was going to school — things she could wear every day instead of just when we were doing ceremonies or cultural activities.

We’re always trying to incorporate it into our everyday wear,” Mountainflower says. “I always want to show my kids who they are and to be proud of themselves and where they came from.”

In 2014 she happened upon Denver’s Native Fashion in the City event and felt a spark to show her designs beyond the family. She did so later that year during Santa Fe Indian Market’s Contemporary Clothing Contest. Until then, she’d been a reluctant artist. She’d grown up with her artist parents riding the work and monetary waves of markets.

“I always felt like the art world was hard and challenging. . . . I didn’t want that lifestyle. I wanted something else for myself,” she says. The environmental scientist, who still works in the sciences as a day job, felt if others could show their fashions, so could she. She applied to and showed her work in Native Fashion in the City in 2018.

It was a banner year; she was juried into Santa Fe Indian Market for beadwork for the first time the same year.

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Even as her designs have progressed, they remain rooted in regalia. “I think our traditional clothing is beautiful.

It holds a lot of who we are,” she says. “Back in the day, it was shameful to be Native American. We’re always trying to carry on and show we’re still here.”

Her Phendi Collection (phendi means “black” in Tewa) embodies her design approach. Inspired by the black-onblack pottery designs made famous by Maria and Julian Martinez, the collection incorporates appliqué and beaded symbols found on pottery and traditional Pueblo attire, such as steeped terraces and the symbol of the avanyu, the serpent water guardian. Touches of gold thread and beading on the black fabric represent Ohkay Owingeh’s Summer Clan colors. The clothing’s structure further nods to traditional origins. With her “It’s Phendi” evening dress, Mountainflower contemporizes the practice of wearing a shirt under a one-shoulder manta with an asymmetrical puffed sleeve. A peek-a-boo slit in the skirt with a handkerchief fluttering through reflects the tradition of women carrying handkerchiefs during Pueblo dances.

The dress earned top honors in the fashion category at the 2022 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market and is now in the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum 94

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in Massachusetts. Creations like these also appeared in the Sage Mountainflower: House of Fashion exhibition at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center earlier this summer.

(The exhibition closed with a fashion show on July 11.)

Mountainflower envisions people of all races and backgrounds wearing her designs. “But I like for everybody to learn who I am, where the design comes from, and what they’re wearing,” she says. “It’s an Indigenous design, which should be celebrated. If people are going to wear my stuff, they should be able to tell the story because it all has a message.”

She sews her designs at her Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo House of Fashion, where she operates a studio and store, which is available to visit by appointment and opens for pop-ups before traditional pueblo events. Mountainflower also teaches classes for pueblo members, so they can learn to sew their traditional clothing and she can foster a new generation of regalia and contemporary clothing makers.

“I don’t want people to be scared or to struggle the way I did. I graduated from Trial-and-Error University, you know? . . . If you have a sewing machine, I’ll show you how to set up and we’ll work on showing you to make a ribbon shirt or a manta. I just want to share my knowledge.”

Browse Sage Mountainflower’s

designs at Santa Fe Indian Market at Booth WA W 418 and online at sagemountainflower.com.

Her fashions are also on the

runway during the Uplift fashion show, August 16 at the New

Mexico Museum of Art, Vladem Contemporary. She also helps

organize the fashion showcase for the Poeh Cultural Center’s

Pathways Indigenous Arts Festival, August 15–17 at Buffalo Thunder

Casino (poehcenter.org/pathways).

Left to right: Sage Mountainflower’s spring 2025 collection featured bright hues and signature colors (black and red).

House of Sutai always loved reading Vogue and copying the poses.

I would pick out a certain spread and copy that pose and see if I could nail it or not,” says Peshawn Bread (Comanche). The multifaceted Bread, who uses they pronouns, came into the fashion world modeling — donning looks for everyone from Orlando Dugi to Sky-Eagle Collection and Dineh & Company — and is now at the helm of House of Sutai. Fashion is one of Bread’s many creative outlets: They’re also a screenwriter, producer, and creative director who sees any occasion as one for Indigenous elegance and, yes, a bit of theatrics.

When Bread was 12 or 13, their sister began modeling for Santa Fe’s Dugi (Navajo), and Bread quickly fell into modeling too. As their modeling career grew, Bread encountered dissonance between the personal and the professional.

At school, other children made fun of Bread, calling them “ugly.” Yet outside of school, designers saw Bread’s look as high fashion. Bread identified strongly with their Native American heritage, but casting agents said they didn’t look Native American enough.

“Modeling is a really tough job. You have to grow thick skin and take rejections not as a personal rejection. I had to understand it was just a look they’re going for, and it has nothing to do with who I am. I’m a strong, capable person.

I come from a beautiful heritage and a good, strong line of family. . . . [But that] was really hard to learn,” they say.

Bread also cultivated a passion for film and television, working as a production coordinator and assistant to the director on Outer Range and as a cultural coordinator on Marvel’s Echo TV miniseries. They’re also a graduate of the Sundance Film Institute. In Sundance’s 2019 Native Filmmakers Lab, Bread developed and shot their script The Daily Life of Mistress Red, a mockumentary about a Native dominatrix for hire who whips apologies out of white supremacists. “I love Indigenous joy and just having fun. . . . I try not to take myself too seriously — just seriously enough to get a point across,” they say.

The world opened wider when Bread considered the boundary-crossing career of fellow Santa Fe native Tom Ford, who has found success in both fashion and film.

Bread realized they could do both — and that both creative fields share an ability to deeply affect audiences. However, with “tangible media, such as clothing and textiles, it creates a personal memory of where you wore that object, how you styled that object. . . . With one piece, you could tell a million different stories.”

On a slow night on the Marvel Echo set in 2022, Bread sketched the logo for House of Sutai. House reflects a vision for an all-encompassing brand, similar to Ralph Lauren, that includes accessories, clothing, and eventually home decor. The name also references ballroom/voguing culture, where queer people represent a chosen family in competitions. Sutai is the Comanche word for “bless.”

“

Right: A model in the Sweat Reveal body piece from House of Sutai’s spring 2025 collection for SWAIA Native Fashion Week.

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With this brand, Bread aims to create two-spirit, LGBTQ+, and queer visibility — a mission that’s close to them as a queer, nonbinary person. “I feel like it’s really central to my identity, and I talk about it because I’m always gonna be proud of it. I’m always gonna be proud of the people that I’ve seen around me, all my friends, all my family.

I do it for them. And so when someone feels helpless, they’re like, ‘Oh my God. You’re doing it.’ It’s like, ‘Yeah, so can you. Come on, let’s go.’”

When the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike halted film and TV production, Bread dived into design at their partner’s suggestion. “I was kind of slipping into a depression, honestly, and going into existential crisis mode, thinking about [not] filming within the next few months.

And I was like, ‘You know what? . . . Let’s try it.” House of Sutai launched in September 2023 with Instagram drops.

Period dramas such as Bridgerton, rococo fashion, and vintage designs from the 1920s to the 1970s all inspire Bread’s jewelry. “I love making a lot of regal and royal-looking jewelry and promoting elegance through jewelry,” they say. “I always feel that as Indigenous people, liking the crown or royalty is just hilarious. It’s kind of backward.

But if we can steal their jewels and make it look Indigenous, that’s something I’d like to do. If I can make someone feel like a queen or a king wearing something Indigenousinspired, that’s what I would love to do.” Bread’s inspirations often meet in the pairing of dentalium (mollusk shells that are both status symbols and sacred objects for Native people) with freshwater pearls, gold-plated beads, and gold chains in necklaces, cascading tops, belts, and “mermaid sets” (which have a bra-like top and a skirt bottom).

When Amber-Dawn Bear Robe, then producer of SWAIA’s Native Fashion Show, asked Bread to participate in the much-anticipated Santa Fe Indian Market show in 2024, they initially thought the invitation was to model.

When Bread discovered the invitation was to show as a designer, they were surprised — and a bit terrified.

“My plan was originally to do two years of accessories and building the brand, then go to clothing. This happened like nine months in,” Bread says.

For last year’s runway debut, Bread found inspiration in disco, paying homage to the many Native and LGBTQ+ people from that world whose cultural influence has gone unacknowledged. After a model on roller skates opened that show, House of Sutai was featured in ELLE, The New York Times, and Vogue — the pages of which first inspired Bread’s fashion journey.

House of Sutai’s 2025 SWAIA Native Fashion Week runway collection featured glittering nude dresses and other apparel bearing linked chain designs, all of which made the models look bejeweled from head to toe. Dark Winds cast members, including Jessica Matten and Kiowa Gordon, later wore the designs on the red carpet for an Emmy Awards voter event.

Although the designs drip with Indigenous elegance, Bread imagines people wearing them every day and styled with simple clothing, like a little black dress. “I’m a dramatic bitch. I love when people walk in and turn their heads. I love that dramatic reaction. I see it like a film, where you cut to the reaction on their faces. I love seeing pieces that will stand out in a crowd.” Just like Bread does.

See House of Sutai on the runway during the Uplift fashion show, August 15 at the New Mexico

Museum of Art, Vladem Contem-

porary. See Happenings on page 30 for details. And find the designs

online at houseofsutai.com and on Instagram @houseofsutai.

Peshawn Bread also co-produces the Santa Fe Indian Market Native Fashion Show with Dallin Maybee (Seneca and Northern Arapaho),

August 16 at 3 p.m. at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center.

Left to right: Designer Peshawn Bread is a force of nature. Selections from the House of Sutai spring 2025 runway show: a freshwater pearl and crystal top with a House of Sutai belt, and the Goddess dress.

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Towering Stone -shirts and button-down shirts are standard menswear, but in the hands of designer Loren Aragon (Acoma Pueblo), these staples are anything but standard. Aragon launched Towering Stone in 2023 to develop his own style and reflect his cultural pride.

He’s no stranger to design. Aragon left an engineering career to pursue clothing design in 2016. His first brand, ACONAV, reflected his tribe’s matrilineal heritage, celebrating the strength and empowerment of women via designs inspired by the tribe’s signature black-and-white pottery.

He hand-painted fabric with pottery motifs such as parrots and dragonflies and then printed his own textiles.

He appeared at Phoenix Fashion Week on several occasions, including in 2017, when he won that show’s Couture Designer of the Year Award. He’s shown on the runways of Denver’s Native Fashion in the City and New York City Fashion Week. He’s also a regular at Santa Fe Indian Market.

Towering Stone was percolating in the background even as he was showing ACONAV designs. “On a few of my early runway shows, I introduced both men’s and women’s wear.

At the time I felt more creativity in women’s wear, so that’s why that journey happened,” Aragon says.

He began hearing from men that they wanted to look as good as their partners. The few men’s accessories he created, such as bowties, sold out quickly and illustrated that there was a market for those items. “In addition to all the comments and requests, there was just the need to start having some kind of menswear. I think that’s pretty lacking in Native fashion at the moment,” Aragon says.

During the pandemic, life changes inspired him to push his ideas from sketchbook to fabric. His creations incorporate pottery-inspired details — on the interior of a folded cuff, along a collar or yoke, for instance. Strength and resilience remain constants of his vision. “I looked at our structures, our cultural dwellings, our pueblo homes that are a testament to our endurance. You can go around the Southwest and come across dwellings in Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon. Those structures were made to last,” 98

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he says. Those structures led to his choice of the name Towering Stone. “Different parties tried to disassemble us and end our existence. The fight that we put up to continue to be here today — I wanted that to be embodied into wearable art,” he says.

He’s also found inspiration in an unexpected source: his father’s old sketchbooks, where the elder artist drew pottery and leatherwork designs. “Before he left, he told me that was my inheritance,” he says.

His Signature Series features black shirts with pops of pottery-print details. The Bold Resilience Collection places patterns at the forefront, with full-coverage designs in various colorways: black and white; black, white, and turquoise or orange; and black and gray. Designs are purposefully asymmetrical, just like those in his father’s sketchbook, with one idea juxtaposing the next. “It’s a zoom in on the pattern work in pottery art. The whole garment itself is kind of a vessel. Our pottery carries water, seeds, things that generate life. And that’s how I look at my work. . . . You’re a vessel yourself, your body. You carry life and all those good things. The shirt or the garment is a shroud to showcase that,” he says.

His designs appeared on the runway at SWAIA’s Native Fashion Week in 2024 and 2025. Last year he returned to Phoenix Fashion Week, where he’d previously appeared with ACONAV. “Being back on that huge runway here in the Southwest to showcase under a new brand was a highlight of the year,” he says.

These days his ideal customers are people like himself — a single dad in his 40s who is a leader. Aragon was appointed first lieutenant governor for Acoma Pueblo for 2025. The responsibilities have pulled him away from his brand and often back to the pueblo, so he’s left many of the daily operations in the hands of teammates Lena Torivio and Donna Hauman. However, along with creative director Windsong Tapia, he continues to create and is pushing the brand into streetwear, with hats and other accessories on the horizon.

Via his lieutenant governor appointment, he’s also deepened his cultural connections. “It’s an emotional journey too. You see the struggle of the community, just things we can do better. What we really hope is to do good for our people and help them get to where they need to be,” Aragon says. “It was my hope breaking away from engineering and moving into fashion that I would inspire future generations that they can do anything. . . . Our creativity is immense.

There’s so much creativity in everybody in our community, and it just doesn’t get highlighted. So it’s my hope that I would inspire future artists or designers or whoever wants to put their work out there to be seen and heard.”

Browse Towering Stone in person at its Santa Fe atelier by appointment (102 E. Water Street, 480-329-2112), during Santa Fe Indian Market at Booth LIN W 781,

Photos: Courtesy Towering Stone

and online at toweringstone.com. Aragon also organizes the second annual Sovereignly Fit Runway Showcase, highlighting a vibrant spectrum of Native fashion,

featuring both established and emerging designers who are redefining the industry — with everything

from custom streetwear to high-end couture. The event takes place during the evenings of August 15–16 at

La Fonda on the Plaza. For information and tickets, visit farahnheight.com/sovereign.

Left and right: Models in button-down shirts from Towering Stone’s Bold Resilience Collection. Center: Designer Loren Aragon.

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Michelle Tsosie Sisneros ichelle Tsosie Sisneros proves the adage that necessity is the mother of invention. Tsosie Sisneros (Santa Clara/Navajo/Laguna/Luiseno Mission) has been a painter, shoe designer, tribal police officer, Puye Cliff Dwellings tour guide, and clothing designer. As her life has evolved, so too have her artistic mediums as she explores the ever-shifting balance between her traditional Pueblo life and the outside world.

That Tsosie Sisneros became an artist seems almost an inevitability given her lineage. She’s related to Pablita Velarde, perhaps the most famous female Pueblo painter, and Helen Hardin, who continued her mother’s formidable legacy with her own approach to representing cultural imagery. To Sisneros, these lauded figures are simply her great-aunt and cousin. When Tsosie Sisneros’s parents lived in Albuquerque and later when she attended high school in the Duke City, she’d spend time at Hardin’s house and studio. “I was just always with her. She was always there,” Sisneros recalls. “It never really struck me that she was this famous artist.” But now, as Sisneros looks back, she can see that Hardin influenced her painting style and approach to art.

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“I had the ability to [re-]create an Indian school painting style of the 1940s. That’s where my hand and my mind would always go. And [Hardin] was fine with that. She was very open and honest in saying it was fine to stay in the style but to make it my own. She would say, ‘Don’t copy my work,’” Tsosie Sisneros recalls. She quickly learned that the act of creation required individuality.

Portrayals of strong women, with their backs turned and placed in cultural settings, and depictions of traditional stories of spirit animals, such as deer, buffalo, and birds, became constants in her paintings.

Tsosie Sisneros first juried into Santa Fe Indian Market in 1977. She’s been a regular participant since, though her presence fell off in the 1990s when substance abuse derailed her. “When you don’t live life in a way that’s right with the Creator, you don’t have the ability to create beautiful things,” she says.

She recalibrated her life, receiving addiction treatment and becoming a tribal police officer for her home Santa Clara Pueblo. “I had a lot of emotional troubles in my younger years. In my 30s, I decided I needed to get really serious about life in general,” she says. Although law enforcement gave her the structure she craved, seeing people’s worst moments emotionally drained her.

She eased out of that career and into one guiding tours at her pueblo’s Puye Cliff Dwellings. “I think that is really

where my inspiration started coming back to life. I loved it. I was outdoors, and I connected with my ancestry and the people from the pueblo,” she says. She dabbled in silversmithing and pottery via classes but fell back into painting, this time on Converse shoes with Pueblo motifs.

The shoes caught on, and she expanded to leather ankle boots, sandals, high heels, and children’s shoes.

Just as her shoes gained a foothold, COVID-19 descended. She began partnering with museum and national park shops, whose online sales continued despite the pandemic, and found new ways to display her paintings, including as prints and on cards.

The shop sales keep her earning — a value her cousin had impressed on her. “Her message to me was always, ‘You better always make potboilers.’ That’s what she called little cards and prints, because you never know how good or bad you’re going to do [at a market]. ‘You gotta get home and you gotta feed your family and kids, put food on the table.’ That was always a big message, and I always kept that,” Tsosie Sisneros says.

These outlets also cultivated her long-held dream to design clothes. “[The shops] allowed me to play around with fabric design from my artwork. It’s unique because

you’re not using commercial fabric — it’s something that you have created, and nobody else can find it,” she says.

She now sells kimono jackets, dresses, and other apparel at stores at Grand Canyon National Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.

Outside of these stores, Tsosie Sisneros creates urban wear (bomber jackets and leggings), ready-to-wear dresses, and couture. The height of her haute couture design, she says, is her Pueblo wedding dress — a swirling white dress with a hand-painted skirt cinched with a strong woven belt, covered with a leather shawl, and topped with a coral-colored headdress featuring turquoise hummingbirds.

“We get caught up in this Western world, and we’re Indigenous. When I married my husband 35 years ago, I wanted the big white confection. I wanted all of that, but I also wanted tradition. I couldn’t have both. So I created this so that it could bring two worlds together,” she says. The crossover between Native and non-Native worlds is a constant in her designs. And although she has moved beyond painting shoes, she still completes many outfits with the necessary, and beautiful, accessory.

See Tsosie Sisneros’s designs in person during Santa Fe

Indian Market at Booth FRN 301 and on her website at

michelletsosiesisneros.artspan.com.

Left to right: Designer Michelle Tsosie Sisneros (second from right) with models in her designs. A model twirls in Tsosie Sisneros’s Pueblo wedding dress.

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Sleep Rock Company named the company Sleep Rock because that’s who I am,” says Diné hatter Geri James, who hails from the Tsénahabiłnii Clan (the Sleep Rock People).

The energy of generations of stylish and creative ancestors flows into James’s fedoras and open crown hats bedecked with details from her heritage and homeland.

“I get this creativity, this fashion sense, this wanting to stand out — and all of that encompasses hat making — from my mom and grandma, who got it from their mom and theirs. The Diné are a matrilineal society. I thought it was only right to honor them by naming the company after them.”

Hats were once ubiquitous fashion accessories. Today, beyond donning a ball cap for a game, many people no longer wear hats. Not so in the Southwest, where ranching culture and blocking the blazing sun still make hats both practical and fashionable. “There were always hats in our family, whether straw or felt, but mostly cowboy,” James says. Her mother, Norma James, constantly searched for hats to match her unique style, and when the search kept coming up short, James volunteered to make her one.

She then taught herself millinery to fulfill the promise.

She relied on YouTube and connections to hat makers through friends of friends to learn millinery and where to source materials. Once she got her hands on professional tools, “it was a lot easier to put my spin on things and learn how to do things by trial and error,” she says.

James embraced the physicality of stretching and shaping felt, especially during the pandemic. “You weren’t able to go anywhere or do anything. You were very limited on what kind of physical activity you got to do. Once I started getting the right tools and learning the right processes, it’s quite a workout. It’s a stress reliever,” she says.

Working in the Gilbert, Arizona, construction industry by day, James also found millinery a welcome creative outlet. She relishes customizing designs for buyers. “I love being able to listen to somebody explain what they like, what looks good on them, what their interests are, and creating something that makes their personality come out or makes them feel a bit more confident,” she says. For a hat for Albuquerque news anchor Royale Da, for example, she painted on the top of the crown a traditional symbol found on pottery from Da’s pueblo, San Ildefonso.

When creating her own designs, James takes inspiration from the landscape and cultural symbols of the Navajo Nation. “My home is in New Mexico, but I live out here in the Phoenix area. There’s a lot of driving back and forth. Landscapes are huge for me, whether it’s the night sky or the desert,” the Prewitt, New Mexico, native says.

The miles of watching endless blue skies and red rock mesas roll by become hats in the denim blue of the sky or the russet of the land cast in alpenglow.

She further outfits the hats with painted or burned images, beaded symbols, and bands, whether a stretch of leather or ribbon. Often she tucks feathers into the band.

She adds flourishes to the edges and undersides of the brims too. One of her most eye-catching designs uses a Blue

“

Bird Flour bag — a sight so common on the Navajo Nation that it’s become a symbol of Diné culture.

Founded in 2018, Sleep Rock Company mostly sold hats to James’s friends and families in its early years. In the last two years, her frequent presence at markets across the Navajo Nation, Albuquerque, and Santa Fe has earned the company a following — one only heightened by her eye-catching social media videos showing her light hats on fire. (Known as singeing, the technique helps burn off loose fibers that may be left during the shaping and sanding process. It also helps lock in the hat’s shape.) Designers Jeremy Arviso and Penny Singer also styled their apparel with her hats during SWAIA’s Native Fashion Week.

She credits her family, particularly her sisters Robyn Tsosie and Dona Livingston, for supporting her passion.

They often help sell at markets and model for fashion shoots. Megan Wilson also assists her at markets and with photography.

James carries symbols of her roots with her when wearing her signature hat, a dusty blue fedora that she says coordinates well with her preferred black and denim outfits. It’s trimmed with a ribbon with white crosses, a symbol used frequently on Navajo basketry and weaving, and finished with feathers found on a hike during the family’s annual camping trip tucked in the band. For James, family is never far.

See James’s hats at the Pathways Indigenous Arts Festival,

August 15–17 at Buffalo Thunder

Resort & Casino (poehcenter.org/ pathways), online at sleeprock

company.com, and on Instagram @sleeprockcompany.

Left to right (from top): Geri James, Sleep Rock Company founder and milliner, and James’s sister Robyn Tsosie. Sleep Rock Company originals.

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Zefren-M or Zefren Anderson (Diné), who is known professionally as Zefren-M and uses they pronouns, design starts well before their fabric is made. It begins with their family’s legacy of raising Rambouillet sheep for fiber, which they spin, dye, and weave. Zefren-M’s designs have earned judges’ nods at the Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market and the attention of one of the biggest American fashion brands.

With their single father often pulled away for his job, as a child, Zefren-M often spent time on their grandparents’ farm and sheep camp. Their grandmother was a classic homemaker who was knowledgeable in pattern making and sewing. She nurtured those skills in her grandchild, who was eventually tasked with seaming her quilts on an old Singer sewing machine. “She would defend what I was doing from my grandpa, who didn’t see it as something I should be doing,” Zefren-M recalls.

Zefren-M’s maternal grandmother was also skilled in weaving. “She was very hesitant to teach a male the things she knew,” they recall. “Eventually, through our experience, she did bring weavings and tools. Then if she saw something I was working on, she would correct it.”

As life trended in different directions, Zefren-M’s maternal family packed both heritage looms and weavings into underground storage on their family lands. The family showed Zefren-M where the tools were, should they every want them.

While attending the University of New Mexico and living in Albuquerque, away from the reservation for the first time, Zefren-M began working in HIV prevention.

“I began identifying with the broader LGBTQ community as a found family,” they say. Zefren-M supported these chosen family members by sewing buttons on their shirts, repairing their clothing, and teaching them how to cook. Eventually, Zefren-M also began making drag costumes — applying pattern-making knowledge to create gender-fluid designs and blending men’s and women’s clothing for beauty, comfort, and utility.

When Zefren-M’s father experienced a stroke, they returned to the reservation to become his primary caregiver and unearthed the family’s weaving legacy — literally and figuratively. They removed family looms from storage and began learning more about weaving from tribal elders.

Zefen-M first entered Santa Fe Indian Market and Phoenix’s Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market in 2017, showing old-style shawls, ponchos, and historical-style dresses. In 2019 Zefren-M received the Heard’s Best of Show honor. They earned a certificate in weaving from the Navajo Cultural Arts Program at Diné College the same year.

Zefren-M’s scholarly approach to weaving helped them follow the thread of historical weaving techniques to Chaco Canyon in the 1800s. “There’s a particular style of twill that was created there that has almost unbroken lineage all the way to Navajo twill. That’s what I started focusing on,” they say. They re-created pre-contact designs that had gone out of favor but had been carried forward in unsung ways — in the cinch that secures a saddle to a horse and through the records and research of female anthropologists. By resurrecting traditional techniques, they made the old ways new again.

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Photos: Courtesy Ralph Lauren

This innovation drew the attention of the Ralph Lauren Corporation, which selected the multidisciplinary artist, who works in silver as well as textiles, as its second artist in residence. Fellow Diné weaver Naiomi Glasses was the brand’s inaugural artist in residence, in a program intended to help the company shift from drawing inspiration from Native American design to partnering with artists who actually create it. Zefren-M’s collaboration launched with the Double RL label, which is grounded in vintage Americana, for the fall/winter 2024 season.

Zefren-M incorporates Navajo weaving motifs in items such as a wrap shawl cardigan with an eye dazzler pattern, a hooded shawl wrap with a cross, and a sweater jacket based on a supernova blanket design. The colors reflect the Navajo Nation’s landscape, and both color palette and design draw from their great-grandmother’s weavings and their present-day creations. As a silversmith, Zefren-M also designed stamped conchos for the collection. These conchos adorn the Double RL x Zefren-M shawl cardigan and Murphy tote, the latter of which blends textiles with a geometric pattern and leather details.

Zefren-M didn’t directly translate cultural weaving techniques into the Ralph Lauren collaboration. They explain, “I have no agency to give that [knowledge] out to anyone. It’s ancestral. It belongs to the tribes, so I can’t say you have the right to use it. I made it a part of my collab-

oration with Ralph Lauren that we would have to create new material together.” For example, Zefren-M’s reinterpretation of the historical broken diamond twill appears on a corduroy work shirt with diamonds and zigzags.

The collection’s poncho wrap has a unisex style, a design that’s valuable to Zefren-M personally and is culturally relevant. They say a lot of Navajo design is gender fluid.

For example, early Navajo skirts were female attire but had pockets for functionality.

The Ralph Lauren collaboration also has a philanthropic side. The partnership chose to donate a portion of the proceeds to the Lyndon Foundation. Established by ZefrenM’s former teacher and accomplished silversmith Lyndon Tsosie (Diné), the foundation teaches up-and-coming silversmiths the art form and outfits them with tools to get started in a medium that has an expensive barrier to entry.

“The ideal that everyone is welcome here and everyone is welcome to thrive is one of the principal cores that I wanted to talk to Lyndon about. Being one of the very few openly gay Native American artists out there, it’s hard to find welcoming spaces still in this age,” Zefren-M says.

They see the foundation as a way to unleash the potential of Native artists hindered by a lack of resources. “[The participants] are going to be on the global stage and being successful. Because with most societies, art is the first step toward social change.”

See Zefren-M’s weavings in person during Santa Fe

Indian Market at Booth LIN E 737,

online at zefren-m.com, and on Instagram @zefren_m.

Left to right: Designer Zefren-M in their studio. Images from their Double RL label campaign featuring a shawl cardigan, sweater jacket, and Murphy tote.

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Jolene Bird urquoise earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings, and belts are ubiquitous in the Southwest. But is every accessory better in turquoise? If Jolene Bird’s dazzling inlay sunglasses are any indication, the answer is a resounding yes!

Bird (Santo Domingo) is relatively new to creating fashion accessories, but she’s a longtime jeweler. She first learned the art of inlay — in which small pieces of cut gems are placed onto a base in a mosaic — in high school from her grandparents Anita and Frank Coriz. “I learned to slice at an early age. After that it was just practice, practice,” she says. At first she drafted off her grandparents’ designs.

Soon she was creating originals.

Around 15 years ago she began leaning into contemporary designs. “I needed a change, to do something different.

I would see other artists doing different things. I knew I also had to do something different to compete with them,” she says.

At fi rst Bird created reversable necklaces, with the mosaic of turquoise, lapis, and coral equally intricate on each side. Then she started inlaying unusual objects, like a set of mugs and a guitar. “I wanted to be different. I wanted to do something that nobody’s ever done. I was challenging myself,” she recalls.

For the 2024 SWAIA auction, she donated an inlay serving platter, six cups, and a bottle. Last year, a 3D wooden sculpture of a woman inlaid with turquoise and other stones earned a blue ribbon in her division from the Indian Market judges. Such monumental inlay projects require hundreds of hours in her studio. She worked on the sculpture of the woman eight hours a day, seven days a week for around eight months. The piece went to a collector in Oklahoma City after last year’s Indian Market. She says she derives a great deal of pride in finishing complex pieces.

When her son left a pair of sunglasses sitting on a table, she spied her next challenge. It took a year and ruining 10 to 20 pairs of sunglasses for her to master the technique of perfectly fitting turquoise pieces to the frames without interfering with the lenses.

Although she’s been making the sunglasses for around four years, the sunglasses didn’t take off until weaver and influencer Naiomi Glasses bought a pair last year. Bird says actress Jennifer Tilly also purchased a pair at the 2024 market. The sunglasses come in a variety of styles, from cat’s-eye to Elton John round.

Bird also continues her jewelry designs, creating statement hand-cut and inlay turquoise collar necklaces, multi-stone inlay dangle earrings, and multi-strand heshi necklaces, which are a signature of her pueblo. Tomasita Peña helps her create the latter. For this year’s Indian Market, she plans to inlay a wooden cowboy hat and coordinating tie; the latter is introducing yet a new test for the challenge-seeking artist.

Find Jolene Bird’s designs year-round at Buckin’

Flamingo (buckinflamingo.com) and during Santa Fe Indian Market at Booth PLZ 93.

Lapidary artist Jolene Bird designs turquoise inlay sunglasses.

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®

See our Cake Menu online at www.dairyqueen/espanola Visit Dairy Queen in Española 1702 N Riverside Dr., Española, NM 87532 • (505) 753-5887 Open Monday-Sunday 9am-9pm

EST. 1965

Rancho de Chimayó Restaurante Celebrating 60 Years of New Mexican Recipes, Tradition & Culture For six decades, Rancho de Chimayó Restaurante has stood as a treasured gathering place—serving up more than just meals, but memories.

Founded in 1965, Florence Jaramillo (Mrs. J) and her restaurant are proud to honor the spirit of New Mexico through the recipes, stories, and traditions that have been passed down through generations.

Join Mrs. J throughout the year for monthly specials that pay tribute to Rancho’s rich history—and don’t miss the month of October, featuring anniversary specials to commemorate 60 unforgettable years.

“

God blessed me with one child, but over the years, I've raised thousands.

— Florence Jaramillo, Founder

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”

Stop by and say hello to Mrs. J at Rancho de Chimayó—a treasured part of New Mexico’s heritage and history, and forever... a timeless tradition.

Rancho de Chimayó Restaurante 300 Juan Medina Road, Chimayó • 505-351-4444 ranchodechimayo.com

HISTORIC EASTSIDE GEM

614 E ALAMEDA STREET | $3,000,000 | MLS 202500862 5 BEDS/4 BATHS/OFFICE/1 CAR GARAGE WITH LOTS OF PARKING

With 30+ years of combined experience, Avril and Michaelann (Mike) are a trusted Santa Fe real estate team known for expert guidance, integrity, and personalized service. Avril brings a sharp eye for detail, strong organizational skills, and a practical, no-nonsense (Irish) approach shaped by her background in real estate, business administration, and professional organizing.

Mike draws on her extensive experience in sales, advertising, and mortgage lending to help clients navigate the market with confidence and clarity.

Both Santa Fe residents, they offer deep local knowledge and a shared passion for helping people feel at home—delivering a smooth, supportive, and even fun real estate experience.

Avril Ekstrand ASSOCIATE BROKER 505.490.8164 Avril.Ekstrand@sfprops.com

ONE BLOCK FROM CANYON ROAD Michaelann Huitfeldt ASSOCIATE BROKER 505.670.9486 michaelann.huitfeldt@sfprops.com

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16 ACRES OF TRANQUILITY 100 RANCHO ALEGRE | $1,350,000 | MLS 202502001 4 BEDS/2 BATHS/4,192 SQ FT. INCLUDES A GYM, HOME THEATRE & HORSES ARE ALLOWED https://www.santafevistahome.com 637 ALTO STREET #A | $850,000 | MLS 202403874 1 BEDS/2 BATHS/2,046 SQ FT. OVERLOOKING THE RIVER, UPGRADED IN 2024 https://www.santafehaven.com

ARTIST LOFT

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Silver&Gold Four jewelers create glittering, wearable art.

BY EMILY WITHNALL

For some, the creation of jewelry might simply be an artistic outlet. But for the four jewelers included here, metalsmithing is more than a practice or vocation — it is a devotion to cultural legacy. Each artists brings innovative, contemporary designs to their work, while respect for tradition and tribal and family heritage infuses their jewelry with an understanding that they are part of something larger that will continue for generations to come. This respect for legacy is a part of each bracelet, bolo tie, or pendant — all connecting us to a story bigger than ourselves.

Model Sarah Jane Nader wears a stack of Nighthorse jewelry available at Sorrel Sky Gallery: Rock Art Bolo Tie; Feather Earrings; Oval with Side Inlay and Center Stone Hatband; Desperado Bracelets, one emerald and one diamond; Running Horse Bracelet with Diamonds; Running Horse Mini Pave Bracelet; Eagle Mini Pave Bracelet; Rainbow Diamond Ring; Feather Ring; Eagle Ring and Step Up Ring with V Bracelet; Basketweave Bracelets in diamond and pink sapphire; Morning Drop Bracelet in diamond and Slim Line Bracelet in Turquoise.

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LUKE LONGFELLOW

Photos: By Nicola Dorazio, courtesy Sorrel Sky Gallery

uke Longfellow grew up apprenticing in his grandfather’s metalsmithing shop. He is the youngest in a long line of jewelry makers, stretching back through generations of Northern Cheyenne artists. Longfellow’s grandfather Ben Nighthorse Campbell learned to make jewelry at age 12 from his own father. Before that, Campbell’s father learned the craft from his father and other elders in the tribe.

Longfellow’s mother, Shanan Campbell, works in fine art and owns galleries in Santa Fe; Durango; East Hampton, New York; and New York City. She’s been exclusively representing her father since 2002. Longfellow describes her as the “driving force” behind the family’s legacy of craft and the ongoing creation of new jewelry collections.

While the now 93-year-old Nighthorse Campbell works primarily in silver, Longfellow has turned toward working in 18-karat gold and platinum along with precious natural gemstones such as rubies, diamonds, emeralds, and sapphires. He learned the essential elements of metalsmithing from family members before college and then spent time in New York and working at his mother’s Santa Fe gallery before going to the Gemological Institute of America to earn his gemology degree. The degree enabled him to work for a fine jewelry company in New York, where he sourced gemstones. This experience led him back to his family’s craft with new skills and fresh insights.

“All of the designs we are making are new, but they’re all heavily referenced to something [Nighthorse Campbell] made in the past,” says Longfellow. “It’s really fun because we’re honoring the tradition of the jewelry and the craft but bringing it into this new era of a fine jewelry approach.”

“My grandfather has been a huge part of my life, and I always looked up to him so much,” Longfellow says. “When I was younger, I never really thought that I was going to be the one to carry it on. . . . It just seems like it’s kind of clicked all of a sudden, because it just feels so meant to be and I feel so passionate about it. It’s kind of funny that it was right in front of me the whole time.”

Meet Longfellow and the whole family at Sorrel Sky Gallery (195 W. Palace Ave., 505-501-6555,

sorrelsky.com) during Santa Fe Indian Market.

Find their work online at sorrelsky.com and nighthorse.com.

From top: Luke Longfellow creations for the Nighthorse line, including his large galaxy pendant, rock art bolo tie, rainbow bracelet, and rainbow necklace.

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Photos: Courtesy of Nick Nez

NICK NEZ or Nick Nez (Diné), silversmithing is a creative outlet that provides relief from his work as a paramedic, which he’s been doing for 15 years. The father of four describes his 24-hour shifts in Farmington, New Mexico, as “brutal,” but despite his many commitments, he prioritizes his art.

Nez grew up in Chinle, Arizona, and became interested in jewelry making after high school. But soon his career and fatherhood required him to set his tools aside.

That changed during a 2017 visit to Santa Fe Indian Market.

“I was just so amazed by seeing so many different variations of art expression from all over North America,” Nez says. “I looked around and I’m like, ‘I could actually do jewelry.’ At that point, I hadn’t cut silver. I hadn’t cut solder in seven years.”

When he returned home, Nez bought more tools and taught himself to cut and bend silver. The first piece he created was a bolo tie that he wears to this day. His dedication to teaching himself the craft of silversmithing paid off when he juried into Indian Market in 2019. He’s participated since and says his regular customers appreciate his attention to detail down to the filing, cutting, and high-polish finishes that give his pieces an almost machine-finished shine.

“I do modern, contemporary, and traditional all blended together,” Nez says of his style. For Nez, the label “traditional” is a nod to the Diné silversmithing legacy he is continuing rather than a strict emulation of traditional techniques. He sees the design of his jewelry as contemporary because it blends traditional and modern techniques to “create a piece that flows together.” He continues, “To me, [the silver] is kind of like a canvas, a painting, where I just put it all together and everything has to flow.

And then the stone brings out the design.”

Nez is dedicated to using the highest-quality turquoise in his work. He has extensive knowledge of what makes for the best turquoise, which mines are still operational, and who has access to the mines. His connections with miners help him secure high-grade turquoise stones.

Nez is passing his love for silversmithing down to his kids, who range in age from 4 to 14, and he credits his daughters for their help with setting stones in some of his work. “I’ve had artists ask me how I set stones because of how thick the bezels I use are,” says Nez. “My kids — they’re very observant and they’re learning. I just need to get two more benches and they can one day pick it up and make it a family business.”

Find Nez’s work at Santa Fe Indian Market,

Booth FRN 323, or on his website at nicknez.com.

From top: Nick Nez creations, including his 0L’ Morenci bolo tie with with 48-carat spiderweb morenci turquoise set in sterling silver, his Generations pendant, and his Cradle Blanket bolo tie.

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JT WILLIE T Willie inherited his tools and torch from his maternal grandfather. As a third-generation Diné jeweler, Willie was raised to learn the silversmithing techniques and styles his grandparents favored. In his hometown of Twin Lakes, New Mexico, on the Navajo Nation, jewelry making surrounded him, and he says families have been passing their skills down to younger generations.

Although his mom favors beadwork and sewing, she participates in Willie’s creative process and often picks out stones for him to use.

“My grandparents used to do very old-style jewelry with the larger stones,” says Willie. “It was always about the beauty of the stone itself, and then the simple silver work around that. So handmade twist wire, heavy gauges for bracelets, heavy gauges for rings, and squash blossoms.”

Willie has built upon his grandparents’ style and added his own flair, including a “bump out” technique and halfmoon and star designs. He’s known for his oversized rings, bracelet sets, earrings, and squash blossoms. He also makes versatile pieces that can be worn as pendants or pins. Willie credits his grandparents, mom, and community members such as fellow silversmith Julian Chavez as his creative influences, with whom he can discuss craft and technique.

“My late grandmother passed in 2016, and I still have my grandfather to this day, but he’s 88 years old now, so he basically has passed on everything to me,” says Willie.

“My mother is pretty much just like how my grandma used to be. And she gets her first pick [of my work] before Indian Market.”

Willie followed in his mom’s footsteps for a time, trying out sewing alongside his silversmithing. Although he no longer sews, he’s always thinking about how his jewelry complements fashion overall. To that end, Willie aims to add new design elements to his work each year.

“This year I’m adding on what looks like little concho buttons,” Willie says. “I’m putting them into the jewelry itself, so it’s part of the whole design now; it circles the stones. [They are] embellishments on the ends of bracelets as part of blossom earrings. So I’m going with that look this year. It looks very simple and clean, but it really has a unique style too.”

In addition to making jewelry, Willie is in the process of finishing his PhD in business administration, so with a lot on his plate, he’s keeping things easy for this market.

Find Willie at Santa Fe Indian Market, Booth PLZ 62.

Photos: Courtesy of JT Willie

His work can also be found on his website at jtwillie.com and on Instagram @jay87305.

From top: JT Willie creations including a seven-stone chandelier necklace with Kingman turquoise; a beaded horse pendant; and a charm bracelet with Sleeping Beauty turquoise, Sonoran gold turquoise, druzy, coral, Liberty dimes, and a beaded tulip set in silver.

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RIC CHARLIE hen renowned Hopi jeweler Charles Loloma (1921–1991) rolled up to Tuba City High School in a Jaguar convertible in 1973, teenage Ric Charlie (Diné) was impressed. He wondered who this glamorous person wearing a velvet smoking jacket, gold sunglasses, and diamond and gold jewelry could be. As it turned out, Loloma was a guest in Charlie’s high school jewelry class.

“I was really fortunate to be able to meet Charles Loloma,” Charlie says. “The gentleman had an art all to himself. He changed Native American jewelry to where it’s more contemporary. One of the lessons he said to me was, ‘Express you — your personality. You are different in every way. If you learn how to express it, you’ll be different.’ And so I took that, and I never copied anybody.”

Many decades later, Charlie has become one of the most preeminent jewelers in tufa casting — a technique where molten silver or gold is poured into a mold made from porous tufa stone. The volcanic stone is abundant across the Navajo Nation, and its softness allows Charlie to create intricate details in his designs. He works in platinum, 14- to 22-karat gold, precious and semiprecious stones, and the highest-grade turquoise.

“When I create my artwork, I can get really fine detail work and fine lines in it and straight cuts,” Charlie says.

“It all has a meaning, and it all fits together like customized storytelling. It’s taking our traditional ways and telling the story in a new way. The history of what we do is still there — the ceremonies, the tradition, the beliefs are still there.”

His rings, belt buckles, bolo ties, bracelets, and more often feature Diné stories — some of which come to him in visions or dreams. One belt buckle features a vision he had of Yei Bi Chei (the Holy People) on a Monument Valley butte. In another belt buckle, the Hero Twins (powerful Diné deities) appear. His works have earned Best of Show and best of class awards at Santa Fe Indian Market, where he regularly participates, and at the Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, among other awards.

Often the creations emerge as collaborations with people who commission custom work. “During the time that I have with [the customer], I get to know them a little bit,” says Charlie. “For some reason I have that gift of taking emotional feelings and who they are and expressing it in art, in my design, and I create it for them.”

Emily Withnall is from Las Vegas, New Mexico, and now works as a writer and editor in Santa Fe. Her work can be read at emilywithnall.com.

Find Charlie’s work at Santa Fe Indian Market, Booth PLZ 47. You can also see it on his website

at riccharlie.com, at Faust Gallery (150 W. Marcy St., Suite 103; 480-200-4290; faustgallery.com), and

at the Heard Museum Shop (heardmuseumshop.com).

From top: Ric Charlie creations including 18-carat gold Navajo Yei earrings, a tufa-cast bracelet, and other designs.

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Richard Mosse Broken

Art Vault, Sante Fe 540 S. Guadalupe St. Santa Fe, NM 87501 505 428 0681

thomafoundation.org

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© Richard Mosse.

Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

Photo: Jack Hems.

Spectre(s)

SHOP

NATIVE

OWNED

With Indigenous owners, these new shops in Santa Fe and Albuquerque are helping change the gallery scene.

Photos: By Michael G. Seamans/The New Mexican

F

rom pottery to jewelry, and from rugs to paintings, Native-made art abounds around the Santa Fe Plaza, along Canyon Road, and across Albuquerque. Rarer, however, are places where Native artists are at the helm — not only creating the artwork but also owning the store it’s sold in.

When Dineh & Company debuted on the Plaza in May 2024, it became one of just a handful of Nativeowned and -operated galleries in New Mexico disrupting long-standing artist–gallery relationships that have, in the worst cases, seen Native artists underpaid, misrepresented, and creatively stifled.

Four Diné artists — painter, sculptor, and jeweler Marco Arviso, mixed-media artist Michael Billie, metalsmith Milford Calamity, and fourth-generation silversmith Nicholas Jackson — co-own the store that’s chockablock with T-shirts, purses, jewelry, and other items. Arviso and Jackson are serial entrepreneurs: Arviso opened an eponymous gallery on the Navajo Nation during the pandemic and Jackson owns The Silver Artichoke gallery in Albuquerque.

“We have a strong and deep connection with all our artists,” Arviso says of the 30 artists on the Plaza store’s roster. “We can speak of their authenticity as Native people and their voices because we relate, being artists ourselves.”

This, Arviso says, allows the gallery to better tell the stories of the Diné and non-Diné artists it represents, including the owners themselves, as well as the likes of Jared Kee Yazzie (Diné), a selftaught graphic designer and printmaker based in Tempe, Arizona, maker of irreverent OXDX T-shirts; and Meka, a Seattle-based slow fashion designer.

“We wanted to give voice to Native, authentic artists who are creating what’s now, what’s happening, what’s contemporary in their daily lives — whether it be the T-shirts they’re wearing on their backs or the jewelry that’s in their ears. [The selection] gives a really good glimpse of what Native people are doing now,” Arviso says. And from the artist’s perspective, Dineh & Company “gives Native artists an opportunity to access the Santa Fe market.” This access also comes with more favorable artist–gallery financial splits than those offered by other galleries.

“We’re treating our artists fairly,” Jackson says. “We’re not taking advantage of them. Growing up, my mom used to work for a sweatshop, and she would just get paid pennies on the dollar for her work, whereas now she’s getting paid what she’s actually worth.”

The owners recognize that their Native-owned shop and gallery is a rarity in the City Different. “That’s what we’re trying to change there, having our storefront on the Plaza with our candid relevance. We’re trying to change the narrative,” Calamity says.

Arviso shies away from the notion that they’re “disrupting” the dynamics on the Plaza, but he does see change happening. “We’re just putting our foot in the door.

Maybe you can call it disruption. Maybe some people will see that, but you know what? We’re coming in and breaking down those doors and letting people know [Dineh & Company] is a Native-owned place and they can be part of that experience.”

In April 2025, before Dineh & Company was two years old, the store opened a Canyon Road location that features the work of around 10 artists, including Billie and celebrated sculptor Joe Cajero Jr. (Jemez Pueblo). Arviso says that for the Canyon Road location, the foursome is less concerned about appealing to a broad tourist base — a focus of the Plaza store — and more interested in cultivating collectors by showcasing artists with strong messages, such as photographer Zoe Urness. “She has a really strong voice.

She’s really changing the face of Native art photography,” Arviso says.

In this age of Google searches and Instagram reels, where artists can reach their customers directly, the Dineh & Company owners still see the value of doubling down on brick-and-mortar spaces. “Honestly, we really don’t need galleries anymore,” Calamity says. “It’s meant to inspire young artists, to say, ‘You can do whatever you want. If you want to be an artist, you can do that. If you want to own a gallery, let’s do it.’”

“There’s also a different experience just looking at it on the screen versus being able to feel it and touch it in person,” Jackson adds. “The energy is different.”

The brick-and-mortar locations also present opportunities to grow collaborations. During SWAIA Native Fashion Week in May, the Plaza location hosted Wabanoonkwe and Jennifer Younger for events with fashion and jewelry right off the runway and into the Native-owned storefront.

Left to right: Michael Billie and Marco Arviso are two of the four Diné owners of Dineh & Company, which has locations off the Plaza and on Canyon Road.

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SHOP

In Albuquerque, artist Jesse Littlebird is also reconsidering the artist–gallery relationship and creating a community launch pad at Kukani Gallery, which he co-owns with business partners and fellow artists Max Baptiste and Huitzil Bennett Perez. At 32, the Laguna Pueblo/ Kewa Pueblo painter is hitting his career stride. His work can be found at Kukani, in Santa Fe’s Blue Rain Gallery and FaraHNHeight Fine Art, in the Tia Collection, and at this month’s Sovereign Santa Fe show (see Happenings on page 30 for details).

“My career is taking a trajectory where it’s more profitable, and I want to foster community around me,” he says.

The self-described gambler — though only with art-related decisions — decided to leap into gallery ownership, mounting fine art paintings next to racks of T-shirts and hoodies from the gallery’s stable of around 15 artists.

Since Kukani’s March 2025 opening, he’s had a different vision in mind for the space. First, Littlebird sees the gallery as a way to support other artists. “It’s a platform for them to have their work shown and for them to be commercially successful — or to help artists find out what Jesse Littlebird co-founded Kukani Gallery in Albuquerque to showcase his increasingly popular body of work and their idea of success is.” Like Dineh & Company, Kukani other artists in a community-minded space. has a more favorable artist–gallery sales split than other galleries. “We’re taking a lot less on that end, showing that things don’t have to be exploitive,” “I think especially here in New Mexico, authenticity has Littlebird says. “Equitable exchange [is] at the heart of everything we do.” become so convoluted,” he says. “I think it starts with sinThe gallery shows Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists, and emerging and mid-career artcerity. I’ve been labeled a lot of different things within the ists looking to explore a different medium or a body of work. Kukani also prioritizes genuine New Mexico art world, but my sincerity lies in my childlived experience among the artists it shows — though Littlebird is hesitant to describe the artists hood.” His mixed-blood ancestry inspires his view on the as “authentic.” region, which he sees not as a melting pot but as a caldo.

“It’s a broth, a soup. And to make soup happen, you have to have a lot of flame. It’s a lot of fire, a drive to get people thinking a different way.”

His parents — Larry Littlebird, a famed artist and filmmaker who also starred in the 1972 film House Made of Dawn (based on the N. Scott Momaday novel), and graphic designer Deborah Littlebird — modeled the value of building artistic community in his youth. That’s driven his vision of Kukani as a community space rather than purely a commercial gallery. The slate of events continues to grow; gatherings include artist talks, movie nights, and conversation nights, where collectors share favorite pieces. Although the gallery is exclusive in the sense that its artists are carefully chosen, its doors swing wide for community members with a genuine desire to learn, discuss, and interrogate their perspectives.

Littlebird hopes to reintroduce nuance to a scene in which artists are often strictly categorized by identity or genre and where artists, galleries, and collectors are siloed. He’s as curious as everyone to see what the gallery will become and how it may change the New Mexico art market. “I’m very open to seeing what it turns into.

I think I’m very fortunate with the people around me.

They’re trusting me to lead by my intuition and gut,” he says. — AMB

DINEH & COMPANY: 66 E. San Francisco St., Suite 4, and 621 Canyon Road I 505-810-7848 I dinehco.com

KUKANI GALLERY: 117 Seventh St. N.W., Albuquerque 505-738-1908 I kukanigallery.com

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Photos: By Jim Weber/The New Mexican

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EAT & DRINK

LANDING TRUE Bow & Arrow Brewing Co. pays homage to the region and its first people.

BY UNGELBAH DÁVILA

Photos: Courtesy Bow & Arrow Brewing Co.

I

n an outsider’s view, the New Mexico desert might seem without sustenance, but for those who maintain a closeness to nature, there is bounty all around. As one of the only Native American–owned breweries in the United States, Albuquerque-based Bow & Arrow Brewing Co. fills pint glasses with Indigenous ingredients that tell as much about the land as they do about its first inhabitants.

In making their beer, brewery founders Shyla Sheppard (Mandan/Hidatsa/Arikara Nation) and Missy Begay (Diné) take pride in using ingredients that sustained the region’s Native people for eons. The couple may have started their brewery out of a shared love of craft beer, but in using ingredients such as blue corn, sumac, Navajo tea, and Kernza (a grain), the business has become a rich piece of a larger story about place — both about inhabiting Indigenous spaces and creating safe spaces for all people.

Sheppard describes her journey as an incredible fusion of personal history and passion. Originally from North Dakota, she moved to New Mexico two decades ago, finding a new home in the Land of Enchantment. “Living here has opened up my perspective on everything, especially regarding community and culture,” she reflects.

The seeds of her entrepreneurship were planted during her undergraduate studies, when she focused on venture capital and finance. “Access to capital is a real barrier to business development, especially for people from Indigenous communities. I wanted to learn about the startup world, and being in Silicon Valley offered a unique opportunity,” she says. She funneled her eight years of venture capital experience into the complexities of owning a business.

Begay, originally from Black Rock, Arizona, also brings a remarkable background to the brewery. A medical doctor, she says being the creative director for Bow & Arrow gives her an outlet to share her love of the Southwest. “I see my role here as not just about the beer; it’s about community and health,” Begay says, highlighting her commitment to fostering well-being in the neighborhoods they serve.

The duo started home brewing with friends during their college years. “That experience illuminated the science, geography, and history behind beer,” Begay says. The intricate dance of flavors and ingredients that characterize craft brewing captivated them, and soon their hobby turned into a business idea.

Left to right: Bow & Arrow Brewing Co. founders Shyla Sheppard and Missy Begay

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After successful careers in finance and medicine, the pair decided to combine their skills and heritage into something new: a brewery that would showcase Indigenous resilience, local storytelling, and a deep respect for land and place. In creating their brand they asked themselves: What does a craft brewery look like through Indigenous eyes? Today the answer to that question is in the glass.

Local Indigenous ingredients — blue corn roasted and milled at Santa Ana Pueblo in the Denim Tux and wild cota tea and wild neomexicanus hops in the Funksloth farmhouse ale — literally bring the landscape to the tap.

A new addition, a hard seltzer called Bisti, in honor of the Bisti Badlands on and near the Navajo Nation, incorporates prickly pear and juniper berries.

“I think certain beverage drinkers really want to know where their ingredients come from. They want to know what’s the story, what’s the value behind why you’re in business. I think that’s now what we’re known for, being a brewery that uses a lot of local ingredients that people maybe had never imagined were to be in craft beer, like blue corn,” Sheppard says.

“I saw how local farms and tribal enterprises could partner with breweries to create something truly special,” Sheppard continues. “It’s all about the story behind the beer.”

The duo was intentional about their branding for beer labels and beyond and collaborated with local artists.

“We wanted Bow & Arrow to embody what it means to be from New Mexico.

It’s not just a place; it’s a collection of stories,” says Begay.

As the brewery prepared to open its doors in February 2016, Sheppard and Begay recognized they were not just starting a business; they were creating a community hub. They envisioned Bow & Arrow as a space where people could come together, share stories, and celebrate their diverse cultures. “We wanted our brewery to be a gathering place. We incorporate events and activities that reflect our heritage,” Sheppard says.

Today, Bow & Arrow’s 10,000-square-foot Duke City brewery includes a taproom filled with the nostalgia of an old school honkytonk and a modern Southwest aesthetic. To the right of the bar, a Pendleton Brave Star blanket catches the eye, its design a stylized version of an American flag and a nod to the historic patriotism of Native Americans. The beers on tap reflect both place and people, with names such as Scenic West Hazy IPA, Easy Cactus Mexican-style dark lager, and Savage Times Sour IPA. Bow & Arrow now has a second taproom in Farmington and distributes canned beer throughout New Mexico at places such as Total Wine, Whole Foods Market, and Kelly’s; the beer is also distributed in Arizona, Colorado, and Washington state. As the brewery continued to grow, Sheppard and Begay

expanded their outreach to local farmers and tribal enterprises, integrating ever more regional ingredients into their offerings. “Every batch of beer tells a story, whether it’s the hops from a local farm or the water sourced from our surroundings,” Sheppard says. Their dedication to supporting local enterprises and sustainability reflects a wider mission to empower their community and foster economic growth while honoring their ancestral connection to the land.

Sheppard and Begay say one of the most fulfilling aspects of Bow & Arrow has been the brewery’s ability to be a gathering place. They host events that showcase local artists and musicians, and they provide space for local food trucks.

“It’s about more than just brewing great beer; it’s about fostering relationships and uplifting voices in our community,” Sheppard says.

As champions of sustainability, they have embraced practices that reduce their environmental impact, such as utilizing clean water technology and promoting recycling. “We believe in being stewards of the land and the resources we use,” Begay says.

The pair has also promoted cultural awareness through their signature community initiative, the Native Land Project. The collaborative project with breweries around the world is aimed at raising awareness about Indigenous communities and issues. Bow & Arrow provides a recipe for an annual Native Land beer — in 2025 it’s a hazy IPA — and interested breweries apply, make a donation to the selected nonprofit benefiting Indigenous communities or causes, brew the beer, and spread awareness about their local tribes and land stewardship. Bow & Arrow provides a label reading “All beer is brewed on Native Land,” to which the breweries add their logo and a list of tribes on whose ancestral land they are brewing.

Bow & Arrow Brewing Co.’s story is far from over. With their feet firmly planted in the community and eyes set on the future, Sheppard and Begay embody a balance of rootedness and innovation. As they pour each pint, they pour a part of their heritage and their aspirations into every glass. In doing so, they invite everyone to be a part of their journey — one sip at a time.

BREWERY AND BEERHALL: 608 McKnight Ave. N.W., Albuquerque 505-247-9800

Cans of Scenic West Hazy IPA from Bow & Arrow Brewing Co.’s taps and its Native Land Project IPA. Above right: The Albuquerque taproom.

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MAKER

WITH EASE K

iyani Botanics’s ingredients — juniper, broomweed, sagebrush — come straight from the high desert landscape of the Navajo Nation. But the seed for Miranda Mullett’s body product company first took root in China.

Prior to the pandemic, Mullett (Diné), whose family hails from Wide Ruins, Arizona, worked in international education, helping build programs for American universities.

When COVID-19 suddenly closed borders, her business closed down overnight. She was stuck in China — though she says the country quickly acclimated to the pandemic and she was able to live a relatively normal day-to-day life.

She found herself living on the edge of a wetland park, where essentially anything flushed down the drain at her accommodations went into the water. “I began formulating

Kiyani Botanics uses plant medicine in body products that are healing for people and gentle on the earth. ecological products for personal use, biodegradable soaps and whatnot,” she says. “Growing up Native American, we always turn to plants first . . . before looking at pharmaceuticals.” This outlook jibed with the philosophies of traditional Chinese medicine, which also taps natural remedies before human-made ones. She applied her college background in chemistry to researching soapberries, which create a natural lather, and added plant-based surfactants, key ingredients in soaps for cleaning, wetting, and emulsifying. Suddenly she had a product worth sharing.

Above: Kiyani Botanics’s founder Miranda Mullett harvesting juniper in Wide Ruins, Arizona. Right: The company uses luxurious, sustainable packaging, including aluminum, glass, and bamboo vessels for its salves, body oils, and soaps.

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MAKER Many of the ingredients are foraged near her family’s home in Wide Ruins, Arizona.

Summer is high season, when Mullett dances delicately around the different plants’ blooming periods, from July through mid-August, as she collects each at the right time.

Left to right: Kiyani Botanics uses ingredients such as osmanthus flowers, broomweed, and sagebrush. Below: The calming salve gift set features art by Jerry Lee.

She also had a venue in which to do so. Mullett had already turned a fashion design side gig into a pandemic revenue stream by selling back stock of her creations in a group chat. She offered the soap to the same group, and it quickly sold out.

When the tides of the pandemic shifted and she felt called back to the United States to care for her aging relatives in 2023, Mullett returned to the reservation.

Raised with a traditional Navajo upbringing, she relished being back on her family’s lands and being immersed in her culture. “It’s a hard life because there’s no running water. You have to haul water. You have to go get firewood prepared. The roads are not paved,” she says. However, she says life there is a welcome departure from the consumerism of Western society and a place where there’s appreciation for familiar faces in the chapter house, the rain, and waking before the sun to pray. The time on the reservation also reminded her of the natural plant remedies her relatives have used for millennia.

She turned to them to make a product to help her partner’s dermatitis and created a calming salve. The salve’s juniper, sagebrush, and broomweed serve as a trifecta with powerful anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal benefits. The salve also contains mango seed butter and beeswax, natural emollients that feel luxurious on the skin. When a TikTok video about the salve went viral, Kiyani blossomed.

The product line now features three body and face items — soap, oil, and salve — made with biodegradable, plant-based, and nontoxic ingredients. Packaged in reusable bamboo vessels and recyclable aluminum containers, the line is nearly free of single-use plastics. Some packaging features artwork; a painting by her grandpa Jerry Lee was used on a calming salve gift set. While some companies must stretch to be sustainable, Mullett says that as a Diné woman, she was raised to know her responsibility to the earth.

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Many of the ingredients are foraged near her family’s home in Wide Ruins, Arizona. Summer is high season, when Mullett dances delicately around the different plants’ blooming periods, from July through midAugust, as she collects each at the right time.

Before she began foraging, she visited her community’s medicine man. He said a prayer to introduce her to the individual plants and to explain to the Holy People and the plants what she hoped to do and how she hoped to help people. Before each harvest, she shares a similar prayer. “Plants are their own entity. They’re living, so there has to be a respect between them and the person who’s creating something from them,” she says.

Mullett also aims to create employment opportunities on the Navajo Nation, which faces a nearly 50 percent unemployment rate. She hires around 15 people for foraging, washing, and processing herbs. Ingredients are collected in summer, and when products are sold out, Mullett must wait until the following year to restock. But her efforts to support the community are year-round: Website customers can add a donation to the Wide Ruins Wood, Water & Food fund to their purchases.

For nearly two years, Mullett has been developing an ethical perfume line to add to Kiyani’s offerings. (A natural perfume oil is currently available.) She hopes to use mostly plant-based essential oils from near and far, and she’s traveled to Nepal, Malaysia, Taiwan, and back to China to search for pesticide-free farms that produce essential oils for perfumery with respectful conditions for workers. “Because essential oils do require a large amount of human labor, there can be potential for child labor or people just not being treated fairly. So we have to be really careful with who we work with,” she says. She hopes to launch the perfume line by the Christmas shopping season.

Living on the reservation and remembering the benefits of plant medicine has impressed upon Mullett the importance of continuity. “I’m the auntie now, but I’m going to be a grandma. So I should probably learn these stories and remember them, because eventually, with our culture, everything is storytelling. It’s being there to be a memory, to preserve our culture,” she says. — AMB

Find Kiyani Botanics in person at 4Kinship (1300-B1 Rufina Circle, Santa Fe) and online at kiyanibotanics.com.

Olivia Whetung, Strata, 2018.

Installed at 516 Arts.

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GALLERY GUIDE

ARTABOUNDS

Ten galleries showcasing Native and non-Native artists this month Although Santa Fe Indian Market serves as the epicenter of Santa Fe’s August creative happenings, galleries across the City Different ride the artistic wave with numerous

exhibitions, artist receptions, and demonstrations. Here are 10 galleries mounting fascinating exhibitions at Canyon Road, the Plaza, and the Railyard.

EVOKE CONTEMPORARY 550 S. GUADALUPE ST. I 505-995-9902 I EVOKECONTEMPORARY.COM

Founded in 2009, Evoke Contemporary is dedicated to exploring bold and thought-provoking contemporary art at its Railyard gallery. This month it spotlights outsider artist Nicholas Herrera in Junkyard Diaries. For this exhibition, the artist, whose work is both folk and fine, utilized recycled metal found in his personal junk pile to invite the viewer to witness the transformative power of discarded materials. “Nicholas’s work is a reflection of resilience, innovation, and the artist’s ability to find beauty where others see nothing,” says Kathrine Erickson, curator of the exhibition. “Through Junkyard Diaries, he challenges conventional ideas of what art can be. It’s raw, it’s real, and it’s a powerful reminder that everything has the potential for reinvention.” The exhibition runs through August 23. Evoke also mounts its Summer Salon 2025, which continues the long tradition of salons as catalysts for artistic dialogue and intellectual exchange. Through a diverse group of artists, the exhibition explores themes of identity, history, and transformation. Artists include Thomas Vigil, Kristine Poole, Francis DiFronzo, Jeremy Mann, Michael Scott, and Nathan Budoff. The group exhibition is on view through September 20.

John Moyers: Only the Sound of Horses, oil, 40 x 40 inches

Photos: Courtesy of the galleries

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Sister sites Manitou Galleries and Legacy Gallery showcase noteworthy southwestern art off the Plaza and on Canyon Road, respectively. This month at Manitou, see the Pueblo landscapes of Mateo Romero in Places of Power. The artist is known for blending traditional Pueblo culture with contemporary abstraction. Legacy Gallery mounts a group show of painting that captures the spirit and essence of the American West via its natural beauty, rich history, and diverse cultures. Depicting landscapes, portraits, and more, participating artists include John Moyers, Terri Kelly Moyers, Bill Anton, and Rachel Brownlee.

Nicholas Herrera: Familia Acampando, 2024, mixed media and acrylic on hand-carved wood, 24 x 31.75 inches

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GALLERY GUIDE

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Jeffrey Gibson: Round Dancing, 2021, elk hide handmade drum with screenprint

TURNER CARROLL GALLERY 725 CANYON ROAD I 505-986-9800 I TURNERCARROLLGALLERY.COM

From its Canyon Road location, Turner Carroll represents major established artists and select emerging artists, many of whom now have their works among museum collections. This month, the exhibition Breaking Boundaries Within Native Art disrupts stereotypical views of Indigenous art. Artists include the late painter and collage artist Jaune Quick-toSee Smith; American Mississippi Choctaw/Cherokee painter and sculptor Jeffrey Gibson, who represented the United States at the 60th Venice Biennale (the first time a solo U.S. artist did so at the event); and multimedia artist Douglas Miles, founder of Apache Skateboards. Miles also debuts a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts this month (see Happenings on page 30 for details).

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Lisa Holt and Harlan Reano: Geometric Pot, natural clay with acrylic paint, 17 inches high x 16 inches in diameter

BLUE RAIN GALLERY 544 S. GUADALUPE ST. I 505-954-9902 I BLUERAINGALLERY.COM

Set in the Railyard, Blue Rain Gallery has represented contemporary southwestern, Native American, western heritage, and studio glass art for more than 30 years. Its annual celebration of Native American art includes not only exhibitions and artist receptions but also demonstrations and other events (see calendar for details). During Santa Fe Indian Market weekend, the gallery mounts a group show featuring the work of glass artists Dan Friday, Raven Skyriver, and Spooner Marcus; painters Ryan Singer,

Photos: Courtesy of the galleries

Zucchini Squash Blossom

Hyrum Joe, Starr Hardridge, Thomas Breeze Marcus, Karen Clarkson, Chris Pappan, Helen K. Tindel, and Gabriel Abeyta (Ugly Pie); and potters Jody Naranjo, Lisa Holt and Harlan Reano, and Leah Garcia. Blue Rain’s emphasis on Native American art and glass collides with the work of a handful of Indigenous artists, including Preston Singletary, to whom it devotes a solo show of new works this month. A globally renowned artist and driving force behind the contemporary Native glass movement, Singletary draws from Tlingit myths and spiritual iconography, combining line work with blown glass. He’s also fostered talents such as Dan Friday (Lummi Nation), Raven Skyriver (Tlingit), Spooner Marcus (Ohkay Owingeh), and Ira Lujan (Taos Pueblo), whose work is also on display at Blue Rain.

SORREL SKY GALLERY 125 W. PALACE AVE. I 505-501-6555 I SORRELSKY.COM

Set just off the Santa Fe Plaza, Sorrel Sky has been hosting events coinciding with Santa Fe Indian Market for a dozen years. This year it pays special attention to Native American creatives on its roster with a group show.

Highlights include the dazzling jewelry of Ben Nighthorse, powerful portraits that explore cultural narratives by Jeremy Salazar, often nature-inspired 18-karat gold and gemstone jewelry by Victoria Adams, and sterling silver, tufa-cast jewelry by Darryl Dean Begay and Rebecca Begay. A group show features more gallery artists, including gourd artist Robert Rivera and bronze sculptor Star Liana York, whose monumental works are held in collections from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., to the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos. All special exhibitions continue through August.

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LIKE US ON Jeremy Salazar: Holy Fire

GERALD PETERS CONTEMPORARY 1011 PASEO DE PERALTA I 505-954-5800 I GPGALLERY.COM

Just off Canyon Road, Gerald Peters Contemporary showcases a trio of August shows. In And Still, We Persevere, Patrick Dean Hubbell (Diné) presents new paintings that extend the artist’s experimentation with suspended canvases. Using materials such as natural earth pigments collected from the Diné Nation, Hubbell summons webs of colors interrupted by stylized geometric patterns more typical of Navajo textiles. With What the River

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santafeantiquemall.com NATIVE AMERICAN ARTS & CULTURE

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GALLERY GUIDE Remembers, Steven J. Yazzie (Diné/Laguna Pueblo) reflects on the artist’s shifting perception and relationship with the landscape through recent painting, drawing, sculpture, and video works. In The End of Nature, guest curated by Erin Joyce and Ninabah Winton, artists such as Sama Alshaibi, Janna Avner, and Yaritza Flores Bustos explore three themes: destruction, the body and space, and a renaissance. All exhibitions are on view through October 4.

Vessel by Daniel Begay

KING GALLERIES 130 LINCOLN AVE., SUITE D I 844-481-0187 I KINGGALLERIES.COM

Steven J. Yazzie: 41 Mile, San Juan River, Utah, 23, 2025, watercolor on paper

ADOBE GALLERY 221 CANYON ROAD I 505-955-0550 I ADOBEGALLERY.COM

Just off the Santa Fe Plaza, King Galleries represents the work of many of today’s leading Pueblo potters and focuses on those who use traditional techniques. In August the gallery offers a handful of shows. First it spotlights historic vessels in Back in Time: San Ildefonso Polychrome Pottery 1890–1920, opening August 9. On August 11, the gallery debuts paintings from Kwani Povi Winder (Santa Clara Pueblo) in She Remembers. A family of Santa Clara Pueblo potters, including matriarch Nancy Youn blood and her sons Chris, Sergio, and Joseph, along with Jennifer Tafoya (Santa Clara), is featured in Pueblo Prime, opening August 15. The same day, the gallery welcomes new creations from 10 additional premier Native American potters, including Tammy Garcia (Santa Clara), Les Namingha (HopiTewa/Zuni), Autumn Borts-Medlock (Santa Clara), Stephanie Tafoya (Santa Clara), Jeff Suina (Cochiti), Jared Tso (Diné), Daniel Begay (Diné Santa Clara), Robert Patricio (Acoma), and Dolores Curran (Santa Clara).

Specializing in contemporary and historic Pueblo pottery and Native American paintings, Adobe Gallery, on Canyon Road, offers Contemporary Hopi Katsina Dolls: Tradition, Evolution, and Enduring Artistry, running through the end of the year. Katsinas are deeply rooted expressions of Hopi culture, spirituality, and storytelling. Originally created as teaching tools to help children recognize and understand spirit beings, and often given to girls during ceremonies, they have become a widely admired and collected form of Native American art. This exhibition explores the work of contemporary carvers, many of whom honor traditional color palettes and symbolic motifs passed down through generations. The show evolves as the gallery receives new katsinas.

Shaabek Amankul: Nooruz, 2011–2025, photograph with collaged elements, dimensions variable

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Selections from Contemporary Hopi Katsina Dolls

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In the Railyard, Zane Bennett Contemporary Art exhibits editioned works on paper, paintings, and sculpture by working artists. In The Language of Place, it showcases four Indigenous artists whose practices are intricately embedded in their relationships with land and the environment.

The diverse perspectives of Heidi K. Brandow (mixed-media painting), Shaarbek Amankul (photography, embroidery, mixed media) , Tom Jones (photography), and Clementine Bordeaux (mixed-media sculpture) examine how land, history, and cultural knowledge inform and shape creative processes. The show runs through October 18.

Photos: Courtesy of the galleries

ZANE BENNETT CONTEMPORARY ART

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GALLERY GUIDE

HECHO A MANO Just off the Santa Fe Plaza, Hecho a Mano works primarily with artists based in New Mexico and Mexico who sit at the intersection of innovation and tradition. This month it showcases the work of Daniel McCoy (Muscogee Creek/Potawatomi), whose distinctive style draws upon pop art, cartoons, sign painting, and murals. The Tulsa native now resides in La Mesilla.

“It’s kind of endless where I live right now as far as inspiration goes,” he says. “All you have to do is visit the same landscape throughout the day and the sun changes, the values change.” The gallery also spotlights new works from Margarita Paz-Pedro (Laguna and Santa Clara Pueblos/ Mexican), who offers a site-specific installation with adobe, natural clay, and porcelain to interrogate the history of the materials and create new connections with them. Both shows continue through September 1. — AMB

Daniel McCoy: Three Little Mesas, 2025, acrylic on canvas, 18 x 18 inches

Connie Tsosie Gaussoin Tsosie-Gaussoin.com

Jerry Gaussoin jerrygjewelry.com 910-489-6192 Booth #5 Free Indian Market 106 S Federal Place. Santa Fe NM 87501

SAR

Booth #5; Free Indian Market

(106 S Federal Place, Santa Fe NM 87501) 136

LEGACY 2025

@jerrygjewelry

Photos: Courtesy of the galleries

129 W. PALACE AVE. I 505-916-1341 I HECHOAMANO.ORG

La Cocina Restaurant An Española Institution Since 1970

Celebrating 55 years of Tradition and Northern New Mexican Cuisine

415 S. Santa Clara Bridge Rd in Española • 505-753-3016 Order online - lacocinanewmexico.com

Southwest Association for Indian Arts Santa Fe Indian Market Accepted Artists (Current as of June 25, 2025) August 16–17, 2025 For more information, visit swaia.org

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Karen Abeita Analiese Abeyta Benina Abeyta Harvey Abeyta Lester Abeyta Richard Abeyta Sabrina Abeyta Sharon Abeyta Temuujin Abeyta Jeremy Adams Victoria Adams Avery Aguilar Bea Aguilar Jayleena Aguilar Joseph Aguilar Martin Aguilar Mary Aguilar Richard Aguilar Karen Aguino Lea Aguino Mary Aitson Robert Albert George Alexander April Allen Renee Allen Justus Allen-Holy Bear Marla Allison Calvin Analla Jr. Ephraim Anderson Frederica Antonio Melissa Antonio Allen Aragon Irveta Aragon Joan Aragon Lance Aragon Loren Aragon Nellie Aragon Ralph Aragon Sarah Aragon Venancio Aragon Cody Artis Steven Arviso Kevin Aspaas Keri Ataumbi Kristina Atkisson

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Matthew Bahe Virginia Ballenger John Balloue Le’Ana Banks Carlin Bear Don’t Walk Alexander Becenti Nanibaa Beck Abraham Begay Anthony Begay Azalia Begay Cordelia Begay Corey Begay Daniel Begay Darryl Begay Dorothy Begay Eddie Begay Erick Begay

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Gerard Begay Gloria Begay Jalen Begay Joseph Begay Kenneth Begay Leander Begay Leroy Begay Luther Begay Mary Begay Michael Begay Narbona Begay Nathan Begay Nellie Begay Philbert Begay Rebecca Begay Rena Begay Robert Begay Sarah Begay Taina Begay Tedra Begay Fred Begay Jr. Harrison Begay Jr. Daryl Begaye Marwin Begaye Melanie Begaye Sylvia Begaye Patricia Belgarde-Cornelius Kiana Bell Tamara Bell Apaolo Benally Ernest Benally Giovanni Benally Jefferson Benally Jennifer Benally Ryan Benally Veronica Benally Donna Bennett George Bennett Berdine Berdine Y. Begay Raymond Betsoi Randall Beyale Leona Bia Norman Bia Colleen Bigman Christian Bigwater Jolene Bird Leslie Bitsie Jr. James Black Sally Black Catherine Black Horse Beverly Blacksheep Wendy Boivin Peter Boome Autumn Borts-Medlock Albert Bowie Debra Box Karen Box Anderson Kiani Brahmer Heidi Brandow Jackie Bread Jade Bread Wakeah Bread Aaron Brokeshoulder Devin Brokeshoulder Natasha Brokeshoulder

Randall Brokeshoulder Bobby Brower Derek No-Sun Brown Nocona Burgess Quanah Burgess Beth Bush

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Aaron Cajero Althea Cajero Dana Cajero Darius Cajero Esther Cajero Joe Jr. Cajero Jose Sr. Cajero “Ca’Win” Jimmy Calabaza Estefanita Calabaza Gerard Calabaza Joseph Calabaza Mary Calabaza Valerie Calabaza Valerie Jade Calabaza Jordan Calladitto Mark Calladitto Cecil Calnimptewa Poeceillmana Calnimptewa Cynthia Canada Hubert Candelario Caroline Carpio Franklin Carrillo Fritz Casuse Mosgaadace Casuse Clayton Caté Lorraine Caté Jeremy Cavin Avis Charley Berdina Charley Darius Charley Karen Charley Richard Charlie Manuel Chavarria Christopher Chavez Dana Chavez Dorothy Chavez Franklin Chavez Jr. Jared Chavez Joseph Chavez Julian Chavez LeJeune Chavez Richard Chavez Margaret Chavez-Thomas Carlis Chee Frank Chee Norris Chee Ryan Chee Duwayne Chee Chee Sr. Raymond Chee Sr. Raymond Chee Jr. Darance Chimerica Shaylene Chino Hollis Chitto Randall Chitto Serena Christie Mankiller Erik Christophersen Kelly Church Ahnesah Clark Carl Clark Irene Clark Karen Clarkson Monty Claw Alice Cling Lola Cody Titus Cody Carolyn Concho George Concho Marcus Coochwikvia Calandra Cook Phyllis Coonsis

Dolores Corcoran Joseph Coriz Rodney Coriz Rudy Coriz Melvin Cornshucker Prudence Correa Vivian Cottrell Mark Crawford Michael Crawford Taina Crawford Edison Cummings Del Curfman Marie Curran Ursula Curran Cheyenne Custer Gary Custer Christopher Cutler

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Ramon Dalangyawma David Jr. Dalasohya Steven Darden Tehya Davis Alexa Day Aydrian Day James Day Jared DeCelles Jon DeCelles Aspen Decker Shawn Deel Shandiin DeGroat LeRoy DeJolie Shirley Dejolie Yasmine Del Rosario Myron Denetclaw Marian Denipah-LaRance Vivian Descheny Roland Dixson Carlos Dougi Ishkoten Dougi Carol Douglas Devon Drapeau Kateri Dubois Causandra Dukepoo Dawn Dunkelberger Mikenzi Dupree Quinton Duran Debra Duwyenie Preston Duwyenie

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Chase Earles Max Early James Ebelacker Jason Ebelacker Dee Edaakie Raylan Edaakie Sheryl Edaakie Anthony Emerson Terrance Emery Jr. Elaine Emmons Oliver Enjady Lakin Epaloose Esther Escarcega Dennis Esquivel Upton Ethelbah Jr. Doreen Etsitty Garrett Etsitty

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Gloria Fain Karlene Familo Thomas Farris James Fendenheim Erik Fender Martha Fender Anita Ferguson Mark Fischer

Sean Flanagan Joyce Fogarty Juanita Fogarty Gordon Foley Cynthia Fowler Frank Fowler Melissa Fowler Myron Fowler Randi Fox Clifford Fragua Glendora Fragua Linda Fragua Florence Francis Regina Free Melissa Freeman Gabriel Frey

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Laura Gachupin Ethan Gadd Silver Galleto Aaron Garcia Gloria Garcia Jason Garcia Jonathan Garcia Kevin Garcia Mary Garcia Michael Na Na Ping Garcia Nelson Garcia Nicole Garcia Ray Garcia Sharon Garcia Tammy Garcia Ryan Gashweseoma Duran Gasper Anthony Gatewood Leonard Gene Isaiah George Monica Glasses Naiomi Glasses Tyler Glasses Jr. Jeff Gloyd Hunter Goan Ronni-Leigh Goeman Stonehorse Goeman Larson Goldtooth Reiny-Pearl Goldtooth Sage Goldtooth Gabriel Gonzales Isabel Gonzales Lauren Good Day Arnold Goodluck Karlene Goodluck Raymond Goodluck M. Goodman Derrick Gordon Terrill Goseyun Cheyenne Grabiec Shayna Grandbois Kehala Greene Smith Regnar Greenstone Jr. Robert Greenwood Teri Greeves Camryn Growing Thunder Darryl Growing Thunder Ramey Growing Thunder Marritta Growing Thunder Fogarty Terrance Guardipee Wayne Gunville Melony Gutierrez

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Clarissa Hale Vernon Hale Jr. Crystal Hanna Jessica Harjo Cheyenne Harris

Larsen Harris Jr. Jimmie Harrison Rowan Harrison Sheldon Harvey Vernon Haskie Carol Hatathlie Yonavea Hawkins Hayden Haynes Will Hedgepeth Alberta Henderson Wade Henderson Shane Hendren Fiona Henry Karma Henry Ronnie Henry Emil Her Many Horses Anthony Hernandez Gilbert Herrera Thomas Herrera Tim Herrera Suzanne Herrera Naranjo Jennifer Hicks Jonah Hill KarenLyne Hill Caleb Hoffman Arthur Holmes Jr. Charlene Holy Bear Ernest Honanie Jerolyn Honwytewa Richard Honyouti Aaron Honyumptewa Akema Honyumptewa Hoh Mana Honyumptewa Ronald Honyumptewa Stetson Honyumptewa Lily Hope Kathryn Hopkins Kevin Horace Ivan Howard Lisa Hudson Suzanne Hudson Tyson Hudson Donna Humetewa Kaye Zoe Hundley Cody Hunter Wilma Hunter-Pine Dina Huntinghorse

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Lynnae Ironhawk SunRose IronShell

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Aiyana Jack Nicholas Jackson Mary Jacobs Samantha Jacobs Darlene James Peter James Damien Jim Stevevost Jim Thomas Jim Harrison Jim Sr. Alfred Joe Bruce Joe Bryan Joe Ethan Joe Rylan Joe Alvin John Daniel John David John Hadiibah John Myleka John Terion John Kenneth Johnson Norvin Johnson Robertson Johnson Alma Johnston

Donald Johnston Heather Johnston Kilie Johnston Deborah Jojola Grant Jonathan Burrell Jones Faith Jones Seth Jones Delores Juanico Marietta Juanico Melvin Juanico Lorne Julien

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Wilfred Kaye Wilmer Kaye Eric Kayquaptewa Brendan Kayquoptewa Horace Kayquoptewa Wilmetta Kayquoptewa Debra Keazer Hillary Kempenich Cristoff Keyonnie Julius Keyonnie Carina King James King Elizabeth Kirk Michael Kirk Lucion Koinva Kathryn Kooyahoena Renferd Koruh Derrick Kosea Dawn Kulberg

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Saige LaFountain Samuel LaFountain Raynard Lalo Bruce Lane Audianna Lansing Bob Lansing Cree LaRance Steve LaRance Tara Largo Terran Last Gun Kendra Lastiyano Joseph Latoma Christie Latone Charlene Laughing Mona Laughing Brent Learned Alfred Lee Derrick Lee Russell Lee Kyle Lee-Anderson Trent Lee-Anderson Wyatt Lee-Anderson Mya Lee-Victorino Crystal Lepscier George Levi Halcyon Levi Talisha Lewallen Jordynn Lewis Lorraine Lewis Sharon Lewis Melissa Lewis-Barnes Alice Lister David Lister Davida Lister Monty Little Kydd Little Sky Jocy Little Sky Merlin Little Thunder Irene Livingston Jake Livingston Jay Livingston Jaysen Livingston Linley Logan

Josephine Lomahaptewa Jessica Lomatewama Justin Lomatewama Ramson Lomatewama Nate Lomatuwayma Gerald Lomaventema Reba Lomayestewa Estella Loretto Glenda Loretto Laverne Loretto-Tosa Corina Louis Andrew Lovato Calvin Lovato Martine Lovato Monica Lovato Pilar Lovato Ray Lovato Jaylee Lowe Mary Angelea Lucero Joseph Lugo Sergio Lugo Carol Lujan Deborah Lujan Tanya Lujan Rita Lush

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Antonio Mace Tanya Mace Sean Macias Sheridan MacKnight Daniel Madalena Leith Mahkewa Garrett Maho Suyma Maho Benson Manygoats Keileb Manygoats Samuel Manymules Eric Marcus Anderson Marion Arla Marquez Annie Martin Bobby Martin Darylene Martin David Martin Leon Martinez Manuel Martinez Marvin Martinez Marvin Martinez Dallin Maybee Stephen McCullough Glenda McKay Jennifer Medina Dorothy Medina-Emery William Mendoza Patricia Michaels Sam Minkler Minkler Ann Mitchell Reginald Mitchell Toney Mitchell Katrina Mitten Shannon Monk Noella Moore Reginald Moore II Mark Moquino Beverly Moran Jacob Morgan Grant Morris Rachel Morrow Ramona Morrow Sage Mountainflower John Murie William Murphy Morris Muskett Aliyah Myers

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TahNibaa Naataanii Jerome Nakagawa

Wayland Namingha Valerie Namoki-James Angela Naranjo Bernice Naranjo Dusty Naranjo Frances Naranjo Jody Naranjo Johnathan Naranjo Joseph Naranjo Kevin Naranjo Madeline Naranjo Mary Naranjo Monica Naranjo Sammy Naranjo Adrian Nasafotie Cordell Naseyoma Elroy Natachu Jr. Gabriel Natan Naomi Natan Thomas Natseway Emmett Navakuku Fawn Navasie Albert Nells Benjamin Nelson Bennie Nelson Peter Nelson Virginia Nelson Alicia Nequatewa Verma Nequatewa Timothy Nevaquaya Harriet Newman Joseph Newman DeAnna Nez Leonard Nez Marian Nez Natalya Nez Nicholas Nez Raymond Nordwall Elias Not Afraid Jazmin Novak Shelden Nunez-Velarde

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Nancy Oakley Jamie Okuma Sandra Okuma Lyle Omeasoo Chambreigh Onesalt Barbara Ornelas Michael Ornelas Mary Ortiz Ricardo Ortiz Virgil Ortiz Golga Oscar Joseph Otero Angie Owen Cornelio Owen Rena Owen Bazille Owen-Reese

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Farrell Pacheco Reyes Pacheco Anthony Padilla Betty Padilla Pahponee Pahponee Michelle Paisano Gabriel Paloma Rufina Panana Ryan Panana Sallyann Paschall Lisa Passinault Robert Patricio Earl Patterson Jr. Alisa Peacock Shaax’ Saani Pealatere Rose Pecos-SunRhodes Maya Pena

Shane Perley-Dutcher Norbert Peshlakai Franklin Peters Summer Peters Waabigwan Peters Anderson Peynetsa Anderson Peynetsa Loren Phillips Jennifer Pictou Adrian Pinnecoose Enoch Platero Matthew Platero Melvin Platero Earl Plummer Jovanna Poblano Veronica Poblano Kevin Pochoema Melissa Pochoema Delmar Polacca Tayron Polequaptewa Curtis Poseyesva Adriana Poulette Kevin Pourier Christopher Pruitt Pat Pruitt Kiera Pyke Michelle Pyke

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Alfred Qoyawayma Jayne Quam Kandis Quam Lynn Quam Talia Quandelacy

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Traci Rabbit Tonya Rafael Timothy Ramel Heidi Rankin Monica Raphael Christal Ratt Debbie Rattling Leaf Darby Raymond-Overstreet Arnold Reano Charlene Reano Debra Reano Janie Reano Joe Reano Rox Red Corn Mudge Osceola Red Shirt Clarence Redcorn Kendra Redhouse Jordan Redman Lauren Reed Jonessa Reid Nora Richard Rueben Richards Tokeya Waci U Richardson Sandra Rideout Kendra Roan Osamuskwasis Roan Jesse Robbins Melinda Robertson Tessa Robledo Shaun Rogers William Rogers Mateo Romero Gary Roybal Christy Ruby Loa Ryan Teresa Ryan

S

Jeremy Salazar Jerry Salazar Maria Salvador Maria Samora

NATIVE AMERICAN ARTS & CULTURE

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Stuart Sampson Alex Sanchez Alisha Sanchez Linda Sanchez Russell Sanchez Leonard Sanders Cody Sanderson Caroline Sando Nelda Schrupp Marilou Schultz Joseph Schwebach Gilmore Scott Rainard Scott Raynard Scott Eli Secody Theresa Secord Edward Seechoma Carmen Selam Raymond Sequaptewa Sr. Dee Setalla Mikaela Shafer Lindsey Shakespeare Rosabelle Shepherd Eddy Shorty Ireland Shorty Perry Shorty Troy Sice Benjamin Sickles Tolpiyine Simbola Monty Singer Penelope Singer Ryan Singer Michelle Sisneros Karen Sixkiller Marcus Slim Marvin Slim Glendebah Smith

Herman Smith Patrick Smith Keith Smith Jr. Sean Snyder Donald Sockyma Matagi Sorensen Randee Spruce Wanesia Spry Corey Stein Adrian Stevens Ian Stevens Mark Stevens Shannon Stevens Harold Stevens Jr. Alexandra Stock David Suazo Rose Suazo Xavian Suazo Jeff Suina

T

Priscilla Tacheney Jennifer Tafoya Lorenzo Tafoya Mary Tafoya Stephanie Tafoya Jalen Taho Mark Taho Jason Takala Roy Talahaftewa Eugene Tapahe Terry Tapia Thomas Tapia Rosie Taylor Leander Tenakhongva Feliciano Tenorio Leslie Tenorio

Free Indian Market Accepted Artists (Current as of June 30, 2025) August 16–17, 2025 For more information, visit freeindianmarket.org

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Frances Abeita Mary Abeita Adam Aguilar Clifford Aguilar Elizabeth Aguilar John Aguilar Mary Aguilar Wayne Aguilar Cory Ahownewa Riley Ahownewa Yessamyne Al-Asadi Amber Alcott Albert Alvidrez Chanté American Horse Dorothy Ami Emerson Ami Priscilla Apache Dona Lewis Aragon Lottie Archuleta Martha Arquero Lenora Arrietta Cheryl Arviso Geraldine Arviso Samson Arviso Ambroise Atencio

B

Angela Baca Annie Baca

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LEGACY 2025

James F. Baca Jaylene Baca Joe Baca Angel & Ralph Bailon April Bailon Dominic Bailon Eleanor Bailon Florence Bailon Ryland Bailon Timothy Bailon Jessica Bearskin Ben Begay Gerald Begay Larry Begay Shonto Begay Racquel Toni Begaye Vernon Begaye Arland Ben Joe Stephen Ben Fernando Benally Jose & Mary Benavidez Cheryl Beyuka Gene Billie Charles Bird Mike Bird-Romero Season Black Travis Blackbird Leland & Daphne Boone Issac Bowannie Jolene Bowannie

Thomas Tenorio Joan Teters Brosnan Thompson Daman Thompson Langston Thompson Mikailah Thompson Ria Thundercloud Andrea Tidwell Aiden Tippeconnie Naats Tla’a Alvin Todacheene Rosemary Toehe Joseph Toledo Bryan Tom Jack Tom Mary Tom Numunaina Tootoosis Ukunaapitu Tootoosis Amirah Tosa Wilma Tosa Ellouise Toya George Toya Mariam Toya Maxine Toya Michael Toya Nicole Travers Lynn Traylor Beau Tsa-toke Loren Tsalabutie Olin Tsingine Leonard Tsiosdia Jared Tso Lenaya Tso James Tsoodle Darrick Tsosie Everton Tsosie Hiro Tsosie

Melissa Bowannie Harrison Boyd Yolanda Bydonie

C

De Alva Calabaza Doris Calabaza Eva M Calabaza Jillian Calabaza Joseph R Calabaza Olivia Calabaza Ramona Calabaza Tiffany Calabaza Terrence Campbell Garreth Casuse Avery Cate Bernice Cate Jasmine Cate Barbara Caté Mary Carleen Caté Ricardo Caté Dave Chavarria Kevin Chavez Mary Chavez Melva Chavez (Beatrice) Toby Chavez James Dee (Delaine) Tootsie Chee Evelyn Chee Frank Chee Ronald Chee Thompson Arviso Chicharello Lorraine Chinana Gloria Chino Aiden Chopito Andrew Chopito Michele Ondelacy Chopito Radmilla Cody

Leonard Tsosie Lyndon Tsosie Nelson Tsosie Pauline Tsosie Richard Tsosie Wilbert Tuni

U

Jane Umsted Zoe Urness

V

Janalee Valencia Jason Valencia Daniel Vallo Lillie Vann Carson Vicenti LaDonna Victoriano Cletus Victorino Sandra Victorino John Victors Felix Vigil Lonnie Vigil Virgil Vigil

W

Piki Wadsworth Karin Walkingstick Adrian Wall Kathleen Wall David Wallace Denise Wallace Elizabeth Wallace Daniel Walters Gertrude Walters Shondinii Walters Deana Ward

Gary Concho Tukva Coochyamptewa Davis Coonsis Ray Corbine Amaya Coriz Andres Coriz Angelita R. Coriz Ariana Coriz Bill Coriz Brihilda Coriz Connie Coriz Corine Coriz Dina Coriz Dorothy A. Coriz Dylan Coriz Erlina Coriz Ione Coriz Javin Coriz Joseph D. Coriz Joseph F. Coriz Kayla Coriz Lila & Douglas J. Coriz Natalie Coriz Olivia Coriz Paul Coriz Tonita Coriz Angelita Crespin Chaslyn Crespin Chery Crespin Delbert Crespin Greg Crespin Joann Crespin Nancy Crespin Orlando Crespin Reina Crespin Terecita Crespin Torevia Crespin Regina Crispin

Tim Washburn Robin Waynee Bryan Waytula Daniel Weahkee Manuel Weahkee Robert Weahkee Sharon Weahkee Tillier Wesley Gaylan Westika Diamond Williams Sayokla Williams JT Willie Holly Wilson Rhiannon Wilson Jessica Winters Laura Wong-Whitebear Bonita Woodie David Worcester

Y

Ednei Yabeny Angie Yazzie Christopher Yazzie Cody Yazzie Donovan Yazzie Johnson Yazzie Lance Yazzie Larry Yazzie Peterson Yazzie Timmy Yazzie Monte Yellow Bird Sr. Alvin Yellowhorse Bryon Yellowhorse Alvina Yepa Marcella Yepa Stephen Young Jr. Nancy Youngblood

Cameron Curley Leon Curley Jr. Jennifer Curtis

D

Waldo Davis Marvene Dawahoya Nuvadi Dawahoya Richard Dawavendewa Sikuyva Dawavendewa Darlene Deale Jeff DeMent Don Dewa Angela Diahkah Teddy Draper Jr. Bea Duran

E

Dominic East Ola Eriacho Denise Eustace Jolene Eustace Mary Jane Eustace

F

Peggy Fontenot Alfreda Fragua Maple Fragua Norma J. Fragua Aaron Freeland

G

Clara Gachupin Delia Gachupin Adam Garcia Avonne Garcia Dennis Garcia

Emily B. Garcia Gilbert Dino Garcia Inez M. Garcia Jewel Garcia Joshua Garcia Mary Jane Garcia Maynard Garcia Micah Garcia Michael NaNa Ping Garcia Ophelia Garcia Randy Garcia Ray D. Garcia Rose Mary Garcia Stephanie Garcia Tiffany Garcia Connie Tsosie Gaussoin Jerry E. Gaussoin Jr. Amber Gunn Gauthier Mikah Gibson Michael Gleason Ronald Gleason Glenn Gomez Barbara & Robert Gonzales Cavan Gonzales Jeanne Gonzales John Gonzales Leyland Gonzales Melanie Gonzales Myron Gonzales Betty Goodluck Nanabah Goodluck Di’orr Greenwood Claudia Grover Wally Grover

H

Lester Harragarra Jason Harvey Brion Hattie Jr. Creighton Hawk Jolene Henderson Arnold Herrera Kara Honanie Sara Honanie Iva Honyestewa Ron Honyouti Ryan Honyumptewa Arlene Howesa Elena Higgins and Tash Terry of Indigie Femme

J

Aydon James Celeste James Darlene James Evanna James Jefferson James Michael Dean Jenkins Vanessa Paukeigope Jennings Betty John Milton John Darrell Jumbo

K

Ed Kabotie Gloria Kahe Hale Kahe Valerie Kahe Kelsey Kayquoptewa Lewis Kayquoptewa RaeAnn Kayquoptewa Stephanie Kayquoptewa Aiden Keevama Shaun Ketchum Jr. Elroy Kewanyama Leiam Kewanyama Lakarrie Kinale

Leyton Klee Theresa Klee Michael Koiyaquaptewa Kyle Kootswatewa

L

Carlos Laate Lawrence Laate Yolanda Laate David Lalo Sr. Pamela Lasiloo Freddie Leekya Ebin Leslie Christopher Lewis Edward Lewis Ethan Lewis Judy Lewis Lynn Lewis Michael Lewis Diane Lewis-Garcia Dolores Lewis-Garcia Lisa Little-Concho Nichole Loma Cheryl Lomakema Caryl Lomatewama VJ Loretto Nanette T. Loretto-Sando Reycita Louis Gilbert Louis Jr. Anthony Lovato Lupe Lovato Matthew Lovato Amanda Lucario Rebecca Lucario Carol Lucero-Gachupin Denise Lule

M

Gloria Mahle Sinomqa Maho Suyma Maho Andy Marion Homer Marks Jr. Adam Martinez Pauline Martinez R. Diane Martinez Darin Masawytewa Samuel Masyumptewa James McCabe Ramona Medicine Crow Elizabeth Medina Marcellus Medina Melchor Family Janathan Mike Douglas Miles Kateri Miller Claudia Mitchell Toney Mitchell Mary Mitchell-Trejo Paul T. Montoya Alban Mooya Aldrick Mooya Sarah Mooya Bernice Moquino Gary Moquino Jen Moquino Marcus C. Moquino Nat Moquino Pamela Moquino Randy Moquino Sheldon Moquino Zaiera Moquino Barbara Goodluck Morgan Summer Rae Morgan

N

Tyra Naha-Leslie Hyrum Namoki

Adelle T. Nampeyo Melda Navasie Nampeyo Vernida Polacca Nampeyo Charles D. Naranjo Margaret Naranjo Kaitlyn Navakuku Grace Navasie White Swann Navasie Christine Nelson L. Eugene Nelson Calvert Tate Nevaquaya Edmond Tate Nevaquaya Ned Nez Redwing T. Nez Sidney & Arlene Nez Christopher Nieto

O

Breydon Othole Leander Othole

P

DeeDee Pacheco Rose Pacheco Ricky Padilla Cordell Pajarito Joel Pajarito Marla Pajarito Noah Pajarito Yesenia Pajarito Clayton Panteah Family Allen Bruce Paquin Chase Paquin Skylar Patterson Claudia Peina Amado M. Peña Jr. Roger Perkins Agnes Peynetsa Priscilla Peynetsa David Pino Delphine Pino Latana Pino Orin & Barbara Poley Frank Poolheco Theresa Poolheco Auri Poseyesva Devon Poseyesva

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Marchelle Qualo Andrew Quam Daphne Quam Quintin Quam Abby Quam-Panteah Gloria Quanimptewa

R

Elizabeth Ramirez Dennis Ramone Marilyn Ray Autum Reano Fredrick Reano Ross Reano Daniel Reeves Delayne Reeves Laine Rinehart Barbara Robidoux Shaun Rogers Jeff Roller Ryan Roller Toni Roller Anita “Pauline” Romero Ken Romero Eileen Rosetta Joe V. & Matilda Rosetta Kelsey Rosetta Raymond & Phyllis Rosetta

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Nyla Sahmie N. Frank Salcido Gilbert Abel Sanchez Kathleen “Kathy” Sanchez Sadrick F. Sanchez Wayland P. Sanchez Geraldine Sandia Adele Sandoval Bethany Sandoval Lester Sandoval Pearl Sandoval Virgil J. Sandoval Raphael “Ralph” Sarracino Dylan Satala Elmer Satala Jr. Jordan Saufkie Ruben Saufkie Louzetta Scott Chelsea Sekakuku Kevin Sekakuku Renee Sekakuku Bretta Sekayumptewa Alberta Selina Weaver Selina Eldrick Seoutewa Mary Seymour Geneva Scott Shabi Isabella Shelendewa Paige Shelendewa Lorenzo Shirley Jacqueline Shutiva-Montano Gabe Sice Bobby Silas Tuvumsie Silas Noreen Simplicio Richelle Skeet-Sandoval Ray Skeets Bertha Smith Clara Smith Jennifer Jesse Smith Alicia Star Shundine Danielle Suazo Sandra Suhu Dena M Suina Lloyd Suina Mary Vangie Suina Odetta Suina Randi Suina Mia Sutanto John Swazo Antoine Swimmer

T

Eric Tafoya Gwen Tafoya Harriet Tafoya Judy Tafoya Kevin Tafoya Wenona Tapia Eli Taylor Ambrose Teasyatwho Elnora Teasyatwho Clark Tenakhonva Leander Tenakhonva Carmella Tenorio Mary J. & Elaine Tenorio Michael D. Tenorio Nellie & Robert L. Tenorio Robert Tenorio Roy Tenorio Sedelio & Matilda Tenorio Shannon Tenorio Simon Tenorio Sophie Tenorio-Benally Tewa Women United Huntter Tewanema Dana Tewawina

Herb & Veronica Thompson Jon Tiger Calvin Toddy Carlotta Toledo Lena Toledo-Moore Kimberly Toribio Elvis “Tsee-Pin” Torres Bertina Tosa Anita F. Toya Bertilla Toya Illiana Toya Karen Eileen Toya Maria R. Toya Melesia Toya Rosalie Toya Vernida Toya Yolander Toya Joseph Trujillo Cassandra Tsalate Daren Tsalate Geraldine Tso Joe Tsosie Kaibah Tsosie Robert Dale Tsosie Zonnie Tsosie Carmelita Tyler Keetahni Tyler

U

Aprilene Unkestine

V

Fidel E. Valencia Justin Valencia Ranaysha Valencia Ronald & Merlinda Valencia Henry Vallo Kim Vallo Billy Veale Georgia Vigil Richelle Vigil

W

Newsun Sage Wanya Tim Washburn Jillian Waterman Alvanessa Nutumya Waters Michael Wathogoma Will Wauneka Elise Westika Nancy Westika Sheldon Westika Todd Westika Edward Whitethorne Taina Whitethorne-Begay George Willis Cliff Wilson

Y

Brian Yatsattie Jimmy Yawakia Ben Yazzie Stanford Yazzie Robert Yellowhorse Emma Yepa Florence (Flo) Yepa Alexander Youvella Sr. Elsie Yoyokie Gary Yoyokie Jarrett L. Yoyokie Elmer Yungotsuna

Z

Stephanie Zuni Zuni Dance Group

NATIVE AMERICAN ARTS & CULTURE

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Poeh Cultural Center Presents Pathways Indigenous Arts Festival Accepted Artists (Current as of June 25, 2025) August 15–17, 2025 For more information, visit poehcenter.org/pathways

A

Rachael Abeyta Michael Adams Kendra Ahsona Ashley Aguilar Arlene Aguilar Elden Aguilar Janie Aguilar Raymond Aguilar Jr. Charlotte Alvarez Encarnacion Alvidrez Cassandra Amesoli Frank Andrews David Antonio Jonathan Antonio Mary Aragon Adrian Arnett Dominic & Imogene Arquero-Goodshot Woniya Arquero Jerald Arviso Larry Ashkie Louise Ashkie Brenda Atencio Christine Atencio Roberta Atcitty

B

Alvin Baca David Baca Samuel Baca Amariah Bahe Cindy Bancroft Lisa Bautista Jessica Bearskin Ashley Begaye Evangeline Begay Jonavan Begay Leander Begay Tierra Begay Desiree Belone Perry Benallie Donna Bennett Anita Bernal Michael Billie Marie Bitsui Mitchell Blackhorse Cassandra Bloedel Bruce Boots Christopher Bordeaux Alayna Bowman Corene Brown Rose Brown Vina Brown Ashley Browning

C

Aaron Calabaza Mitchell Calabaza Wilbert Calabaza Dane Candeleria Donovan Candelaria James and Sara Candelaria

142

LEGACY 2025

Josiah Candelaria Patrick Candelaria Roger Candelaria Valentino Candelaria Glenda Castillo Eydie Chavez Janell Chavarria Sam Chaves Colleen Chino Darrell Chino Keith Chino Erna Chosa-Wilson Jessica Clark Andrew Coriz Joan Coriz Clarence Cruz Terina Coriz Shirley Coriz Justna Cristobal

D

Quentin Darrell Suann Davin Anselm Davis Justin Davis Lorenzo Daw Robert Deutsawe Jr. Rose DeVore Dennis Dewa William (Eddie) Dimalanta Rhiannon Douma Stewart Dukepoo Jerry Dunbar

E

SunnyRose Eaton Keith Edaakie Contreta Endwarrior Enoch Endwarrrior Phyllis Etcitty Kimberlee Evans

F

Julie Fiveash Chrislyn Fragua Edwina Fragua-Johnson Kayla Fredericks

G

Marvin Gabaldon Joseph and Vangie Garcia Julia A. Garcia Loretta Garcia Merle Garcia Michael Garcia Aaron Gonzales Jasmin Gonzales Thelma Gonzales Katherine Gorospe

H

Valarie Harris Marsha Hedrick

Richard Henson Cynthia Herrera Joseph & Reyes Herrera Suzanne Herrera Naranjo Maricela Hinojosa Antone Honanie Quinn Honanie Darold Honwisiwma Ramon Howato Jesse Howell

I

Adrian Lucario Addelina Lucero

J

Geri James Elizabeth James-Perry Travis Jensen Lora Ann Jim Darrell Joe Oreland Cruz Joe Sr. Doris John Jason John Roger John Charlene Johnson Peter Johnson Jennifer Joseph

K

Delbert Kallestewa Jr. Claudette Kasero Scott Lente Kasero Kayla Kayanie Kateri Ann Keevama Cassie Kelly Josephine Kie Joann Kieyoomia Daryl Kowemy Cynthia Kuck

L

Yolanda La Mone Hollie Laban Marice Lalo Kiera Lasiloo Leanne Lee Codie Lente Kasero Edward Lewis Eva Lewis Devan Lomayaoma Kwani Lopez Eric Louis Allen Lovato Irvin Louis Jaden Lovato Jason Lovato Roberta Lovato Jadene Loya Jamita Loya Denise Lucario Gwendolyn Lucero Lupita Lucero Victoria Lucero Elizabeth Lukee

M

Kenneth Maes Patricia Maestas Blythe Mariano Kathleen Mariano Danielle Martinez Erin Martinez Evonne Martinez Sheila Martinez Victoria Martinez-Naranjo Alesia McCabe

Johnny McCraigie Amber McCrary Angelo McHorse Liz Mckenzie Christina Medina Joann Miles-Long Leilanie Miller Sharon Miller Clifford Monroe Desideria Montoya Phillip Morse Jr. Annette Montoya Tina Montoya Clarice Moquino Marie Moquino Andi Murphy Morris Muskett

N

Mary Corn Naranjo Virgil Nez Verna Nez Richard Nevarez Robert Naranjo NSRGNTS Monica Nuvamsa

O

Mary Lou Olivas Toni Olver Geraldine Ortiz

P

Iesha Pacheco Kylie Patricio TobieMae Patricio Stephanie Patricio/Nez Opal Paquin Irwin Pecos Nicole Pelt Julie Perkins David Platero Robyn Pebeahsy Karhatiron Perkins Wesley Platero Jerome Polingyumptewa Edna Poolhecho Michelle Price Darwyn Puhuyaoma Tony Purley

Q

Mallery Quetawki

R

Freddy Ramirez Victoria Ransom Charlotte Reano Clifford Reano Russell Reano Rodrigo Redhouse Jennifer Riley Brian Romereau Laurie Ann Romero Sandra Ann Romero Shannon Romero Robert Romero Valentino Romero Linda Rosetta Martin and Arvada Rosetta Mary V. Rosetta Nicholas Rosetta

S

Sylvan Sahmea Gwen Setalla Alvin Shaw

Evangeline Shelde Jaymie Sheppard Megan Shije Yvonne Shije Lydge Silas Michelle Slim Gregory Standridge Yvonne Spottedhorse Eddison Soohafyah Rudy Smith

T

Myra Tafoya Pearl Talachy Tashina Taliman Elizabeth A. Tapia Karen Tapia Kiowa Taryole Arthur Tawahongva Denece Taylor Begay Joclyn A. K. Tenorio Odelia Tenorio Tim Tenorio Trevor Thompson Eva Toledo Mary R. Toledo Rhianna Tootsie Melanie Torres Sharon Trudeau Jeannette Trujillo Raymond Trujillo Theodore Tso Betty Tsosie Travis Tubinaghtewa Diane Tully

V

Alena Vallo Flo Vallo Jacob Vallo Lee Vallo Ryan Vallo Shawn Vallo Kurt Vasquez Cris R. Velarde Myisha Velarde Rod Velarde Carol Velarde-Brewer Alice Vigil Carol Vigil Verna Vigil

W

Amanda Waldschmidt Hannah Waldschmidt Loren Wallowingbull Kenneth White Stephen White Nimkees White Eagle Merle T. Willie Tyanna Willie Daniel Winans

Y

Courtney Yazzie Josephine Yazzie Victoria J. Yazzie Alyce Yellowhair Rosie Yellowhair Chad Yellowjohn Ione Yellowjohn Dena Yepa

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2025 ADVERTISERS INDEX

144

LEGACY 2025

516ARTS, page 130

Midtown Arts & Design Alliance, page 50

AARP New Mexico, page 18

Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, page 20

Adobe Gallery, page 24

Nathalie, page 50

Albuquerque Museum, page 54

NDN Girls Book Club, page 23

Allan Houser, page 143

Ohkay Casino, page 58

Araquin Design, page 57

Osteria D’Assisi, page 132

Blue Rain Gallery, page 53

The Owings Gallery, pages 8–9

Buffalo Thunder Resort and Casino, page 24

Pathways Indigenous Arts Festival, page 15

Cancer Foundation for New Mexico, page 89

Presidium Casa Siena, page 32

Cara Romero Gallery, page 114

Rancho de Chimayo, page 108

Cherokee Art Market, page 122

Rio Metro Regional Transit District, page 37

Christus St. Vincent, U-fold

Rocketbuster Custom Boots, page 28

City of Santa Fe, page 50

The Rugman of Santa Fe, page 41

Clemens & Associates, page 23

Saints & Sinners, page 117

Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, page 44

San Francisco St. Gallery, page 71

Dairy Queen, page 107

Sandia Casino, back cover

Dian Malouf Jewelry, page 36

Santa Fe Antiques, page 133

Don Smalley, inside front cover

Santa Fe Art Auction, page 27

Entropy Gallery, page 135

Santa Fe Awning, page 125

Faust Gallery, page 38

Santa Fe Community Foundation, page 54

Fine Art Framers, Inc., page 132

Santa Fe Goldworks, page 19

Forked Lightning Racquet Club, page 126

Santa Fe Independent Film Festival, page 90

Frederico, page 29

Santa Fe Kiwanis Club, page 91

Free Indian Market, page 1

Santa Fe Opera, page 25

Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, page 49

Santa Fe Playhouse, page 32

Gerald Peters Contemporary, page 17

Santa Fe Properties–Ekstrandt/Huitfeldt, page 109

The Golden Eye, page 34

Santa Fe Railyard Community Corporation, page 86

IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Art, page 75

Scheinbaum and Russek, LTD, page 121

Indian Arts and Crafts Board, page 14

Sorrel Sky Gallery, page 2–3

Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, page 80

Sotheby’s–Lisa Bybee, page 132

IndigenousWays Festival, page 112

Sotheby’s–Darlene Streit, page 81

Inn of the Mountain Gods, page 42

State Employees Credit Union, page 35

Jerry Gaussoin, page 136

Steve Elmore Gallery, page 33

Keshi, page 31

Temple Home & Life, page 129

King Galleries of Scottsdale, inside back cover

Thoma Foundation, page 118

La Cocina Restaurant, page 137

Three Roots Design, page 72

La Fonda Hotel, page 45

True West Santa Fe, pages 10–14

LandRover, page 126

Twilight Health, page 122

Lewallen Contemporary Art, page 16

Vigilante Guides, page 130

Malouf on the Plaza, pages 4–7

Zane Bennett Gallery, page 64

2025 INDIAN MARKET SHOW FRIDAY, AUGUST 15 2 to 5 p.m.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 16 Artist Demonstrations

CHRIS YOUNGBLOOD . JENNIFER TAFOYA . SERGIO LUGO

AUTUMN BORTS-MEDLOCK . JOSEPH LUGO . DOLORES CURRAN

JARED TSO

NANCY YOUNGBLOOD

DANIEL BEGAY . JEFF SUINA

CHASE KAHWINHUT EARLES . MAVASTA HONYOUTI

LES NAMINGHA

SANTIAGO ROMERO . SUSAN FOLWELL

KWANI POVI WINDER

STEPHANIE TAFOYA . TAMMY GARCIA

STEVE LUCAS

130 LINCOLN AVE, SUITE D, SANTA FE, NM 480.440.3912

EPOEONENEOE

Resort & Casino

1-25 & TRAMWAY

| ALBUQUERQUE, NM

DERONTOND

SANDIA

505.796.7500

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