First American Art Magazine No. 3, Summer 2014 | Page 12

Recent Developments
for artistic innovation went to Berdine
Begay (Navajo) for her abstract weaving
Navajo Gray. The Heard Fair in Phoenix,
Arizona, is the second largest Native
art market in the United States, with
approximately 579 artists this year, down
from 661 artists last year.

MUSEUMS
The California Museum of Art,
Thousand Oaks (CMATO) has selected
Bill Mercer, a curator and director with
over two decades of experience, to be its
new director. CMATO has an interim
museum site while a new permanent
museum is built in Thousand Oaks Civic
Arts Plaza.

The first Magical Festival of Chile
(Festival Chile Mágico), held in Villarrica,
featured artists and musicians from five
Indigenous Chilean ethnic groups and a
guest artist from Colombia.

The Autonomous State University
of Morelos (Universidad Autónoma del
Estado de Morelos) is building a new
Cultural Center of Contemporary
Indian Art (Centro Cultural de Arte
Indígena Contemporáneo) on its campus.
The interactive museum will include
exhibition space, classrooms, and a
multimedia auditorium. Fernando Vela
Lopez was appointed the museum’s
director.

ART SHOWS
The Tamástslikt Cultural Institute,
located in Pendleton, Oregon, hosted
ArtWORKz 2014, a junior competitive
junior art show for artists aged 0–18, who
belong to the Confederated Tribes of
the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Grand
prizes were awarded to Dusti Leetch,
MariJane Davis, and Terry Dick. L’Rissa
Sohappy, aged 13, won the People’s
Choice Award.

The Museum of Texas Tech University,
located in Lubbock, reopened its William
C. and Evelyn M. Davies Gallery of
Southwest Indian Art in February. The
gallery had been closed for renovation.

COLLECTIONS

An 18-inch sandstone sculpture of a
kneeling man, dating from 1250–1350
CE, was declared the state artifact of
Tennessee. The Mississippian sculpture
is in the collection of the McClung
Museum of Natural History and
Culture in Knoxville.

ART FAIRS
Inuit sculpture will be part of Canada’s
entry to the Venice Biennale in
Architecture Arctic Adaptations: Nunavut
at 15. Inuit artists, including Jamesie
Alivaktuk, Leo Mukyuknik, David and
Thomas Nibgoarsi, and Lew Phillip, are
carving small-scale soapstone models
of iconic buildings in Nunavut for the
exhibit. After showing in Italy for half a
year, the sculptures will travel throughout
Canada in 2015.
The 2014 Best of Show winner of
Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair
and Market was Kenneth Williams, Jr.
(Northern Arapaho-Seneca). The Best of
Classification Winners were Philander
10 |

Ken Williams, Jr. (Northern ArapahoSeneca), He Was Iconic, 2014, fully beaded
tobacco bag paying homage to Hopi jeweler
Charles Loloma, mixed materials. Collection
of the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art.
Image courtesy of the artist.

Begay (Navajo) for jewelry, Darryl
Whitegeese (Pojoaque-Santa Clara) for
pottery, Warren Montoya (Santa Ana)
for paintings/2-D, Jonathan Day (Hopi)
for wooden carvings, Oreland C. Joe,
Sr. (Southern Ute-Navajo) for sculpture,
Carla Hemlock (Kahnawake Mohawk)
for textiles, Ken Williams, Jr., for diverse
arts, and Jeremy Frey (Passamaquoddy)
for baskets. The Conrad House Award

W W W.F IR S TAMER I C AN ARTMAG A ZI N E.C OM

The Thomas W. Weisel Family
Foundation donated 200 pieces of
exemplary Native American art to the
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. The
works date from 1,000 years ago to the
20th century and include a rare Navajo
First Phase Chief ’s Blanket and pottery
by Nampeyo, the celebrated HopiTewa ceramic artist. Highlights from
the collection will be showcased in the
upcoming exhibit, Lines on the Horizon:
Native American Art from the Weisel Family
Collection.

PROJECTS
Students at the University of Victoria,
working with Peter Morin (Tahltan) and
Carolyn Butler-Pamler, have created the
world’s largest button blanket, Adasla.
The Big Button Blanket Project
includes the creation of Adasla, but also
using it in dance, installing the blanket in
the university’s Legacy Art Gallery, and
using the blanket as a projection screen
for films. Button blankets are Northwest
Coast wearing blankets, traditionally