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Print2008 January/February On the Wind (News)
A Painted Ponies Stampede
Ponies created by (right to left)
Anita Fields, Terrence Guardipee and Catherine Black Horse, Caroline
Carpio, and last but not least, Teri Greeves and Dennis Esquivel.
A “herd” of ponies has left the corral and is headed to the Heard
Museum as it prepares to mark the 50th anniversary of its annual Heard
Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, March 1–2. But don’t panic—there
are only four horses in this posse, and they are only two feet tall.
The horses are actually marble sculptures, each one finished and
decorated by a different artist or pair of artists.
On March 2 at 1 p.m., four lucky winners of a lottery will get to take
home one of the ponies. Tickets for the drawing are $100, with only
1,500 being sold.
The artists were selected through a competitive process and are
donating their time and effort spent personalizing the horses. The
original unfinished sculptures were provided at no charge by the Trail
of Painted Ponies Project, led by Rod Barker in memory of Gary Avey,
the founder of Native Peoples magazine.
“We wanted to develop a very special project that would epitomize the
50-year connection between American Indian artists and the members of
the Heard Museum Guild,” explains fair chair Barbara Johnson. “When you
see the four completed works of art, you’ll feel the inspiration each
artist felt for the horse, as well as its versatility as a ‘sculptural
canvas’ for creative expression.”
The guild selected the following artists for the project: Teri Greeves
(Kiowa) and her husband Dennis Esquivel (Ottawa/Chippewa), Anita Fields
(Osage), Caroline Carpio (Isleta Pueblo), and Terrance Guardipee
(Blackfeet) and Catherine Black Horse (Seminole/Blackfeet). Each artist
has written a description of the inspiration for their horse, which
will accompany its new owner home.
Funds generated by the sale of the painted ponies will further the
artistic careers of Indian art students through college scholarships
and other programs.
The horses will be displayed on Jan. 10 at the Heard Museum during an
evening cocktail reception, backed by a jazz quartet, to honor this
year’s Heard market poster artist, David Bradley (Chippewa), and the
selected pony artists. Signed copies of the poster will be available,
and an exhibition of photos taken during the Heard market’s five
decades will be on display. For reception tickets ($25) or information,
and for lottery tickets for the painted ponies, visit heardguild.org or
call 602/251-0209, ext. 6414.
The Sag(e) Artist-Businessman
Daniel Ramirez (Saginaw Chippewa) is both a master artist and a
masterful businessman. This combination of talents—so often lacking in
artists of all ethnicities—has made the 54-year-old Ramirez a
refreshing success story in a field of broken dreams.
For the past five years, his 17 various note cards—produced though his
commercial art endeavor, Native Expressions—has led the sale of all
Native-themed note cards sold in gift shops at the National Museum of
the American Indian, the Heard Museum Gift Shop and Indian casino shops
coast to coast. Last year, when he attended the annual National
Stationery Show in New York City, he was the only Native note card
designer in the house. Recently hooked up to a major private investor,
Ramirez expects to see significant growth in this field, especially his
e-commerce activity, in the year ahead.
Through another company he directs, Native Studio, he is busy expanding
on his already-thriving line of giclée prints and original paintings.
In late October, the Saginaw Chippewa Elders Center opened in Michigan,
decorated with 16 of Ramirez’s original works and 22 prints. The works
are drawn from various series of imagery he has created over the past
20 years, including “Women and Community,” “Boys and Men,” “Caring for
Our Elders,” “Turtles,” “Butterflies” and “Sisters.” He expects
to produce a book based on the latter series in 2008.
The 54-year-old artist/businessman began his professional career about
two decades ago, producing T-shirts and then baby clothing before
moving into fine arts. Right after obtaining his MFA from the
University of Michigan, he was hired as a cultural arts specialist for
the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe’s Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mount
Pleasant, Michigan, to help plan and execute the facility’s
Native-themed décor. He adroitly leveraged this experience into a
thriving, ongoing career.
“I come from a long line of artists,” says the multi-award-winning
Ramirez. “I have an image in my mind of my grandmother hustling baskets
she’d made, and as a kid, I was the little shoeshine boy working next
to my older brothers in Bay City, Michigan. I guess that’s where the
entrepreneurial bug first bit me. But, I want more. Among other things,
I want to teach other Native artists how to do it, though perhaps the
best teaching is by example.” His web site, nativeexpressions.com, is
expected to go “live” in December or early January.
Music Notes
On the traditional side of recent releases, we’ve received are the
following: Check out The Ballad of Old Times (SOAR) from Davis Mitchell
(Diné), consisting of a simple drum and solo vocals in Navajo and
occasional English phrases… In a similar vein is Wahancanka: Remember
Me, Grandfather from Joseph Shields (Dakota/Lakota), a collection of
Lakota pipe and ceremonial songs of solo voice and drum… Kelvin
Mockingbird (Navajo) has recorded a collection of excellent flute
music, Sacred Fire: Meditation Songs for Native American Flute
(Canyon). Unlike many flautists, he varies the pacing from slow to
fast, and the tone from soft to soaring… Add the name of David Brave
Heart (Lakota) to the long list of accomplished Native flute players,
as heard in his recent Breath of Life (braveheartdrums.com)… Yet
another fine flautist, Keith Bear (Mandan/
Hidatsa/Arikara), mixes flute songs with several long traditional
stories of his people, delivered in a wonderful deep voice, on Morning
Star Whispered (Makoché)… Walter Ahhaitty (Kiowa) and friends have
released a collection of 21 powwow songs, Oklahoma Style (SOAR),
recorded at the 35th annual Southern California Indian Center Pow Wow…
Two notable new peyote music albums are Elements: Meditation Songs from
the Diné (Canyon) by Louie Gonnie (Diné), and Thunder and Rain from
veteran singer Verdell Primeaux (his first work in many years) and Leon
Skyhorse Thomas (Skyhorse Productions, e-mail leonskyhorse@yahoo.com).
Elements, sung in Navajo, is a beautiful work that resonates on a deep
level; Thunder and Rain is more playful, with some lyrics in English.
shards
A group of trekkers will set out on February 11 from San Francisco to
walk across the nation to Washington, D.C, arriving on July 11, to
raise environmental awareness. The Longest Walk 2 will be led by
American Indian Movement co-founder Dennis Banks (Leech Lake Ojibwe). A
fundraiser was held in San Francisco’s storied Filmore Auditorium on
Nov. 3 with musicians including Kris Kristofferson, Taj Mahal, Kitaro,
Wes Studi, Martha Redbone and Charlie Hill. Details:
www.longestwalk.org or 505/280-3989.
An elegant new health and wellness center recently opened on the Seneca
Nation Reservation in Irving, New York. The décor is a showcase of
Native American design elements and colors, framed in handsome exposed
glue-laminated timber and trusses. The $6.2 million, 35,000-square-foot
facility includes offices for the tribe’s children and family services
department, a multipurpose atrium, exercise room and kitchen.
A fascinating study, “Walking a Mile: A First Step Toward Mutual
Understanding,” was recently released by the New York City nonprofit
group Public Agenda that casts light on the little-researched subject
of Indians’ and non-Indians’ perceptions about one another. The
research is available online at publicagenda.org/WalkingaMile.
The sports-apparel giant Nike has released a shoe designed specifically
for American Indians, the Air Native N7. The development was overseen
by Sam McCracken (Fort Peck Assiniboine/Sioux), manager of the
company’s Native American Business program. Tribal wellness programs
and schools can purchase the shoe, which has a wider and taller than
average base, at wholesale prices, with the profits going to fund
reservation-based sports and outdoor activities programs. Details:
nike.com
Arizona State University professor and poet Simon Ortiz (Acoma Pueblo)
has organized an impressive series of free lectures this winter titled
The Indigenous Speakers Series. Professor, author and historian Ned
Blackhawk (Western Shoshone) will speak on Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. at the
Heard Museum in Phoenix on Indigenous land issues, culture and
community.
After 25 years of negotiation, the United Nations finally adopted the
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on Sept. 13. There were
143 votes in favor of this important document, four against it (the
United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) and 11 abstentions.
“This day will be remembered as (a great day) for the Indigenous
peoples of the world,” said Vicki Tauli-Corpuz, the chair of the U.N.’s
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
In late October, devastating wildfires swept through large portions of
southern California. Particularly hard hit was the La Jolla
Reservation. About 98 percent of the reservation, some 8,679 acres,
burned, and 55 structures were lost, including the home of
internationally renowned performance artist James Luna (Luiseno) and
curator Joanna Bigfeather (Cherokee). To donate to recovery efforts, go
online to the After-the-Fires Fund 2007 at
sdfoundation.org/fires2007, call 619/235-2300, or write to the San
Diego Foundation, 2508 Historic Decatur Road, Suite 200, San Diego, CA
92106.
A terrific source of information on Native artists and upcoming
exhibitions throughout Canada run by the Aboriginal Curatorial
Collective can be found at aboriginalcuratorial
collective.org.
honoring
Q’orianka
Kilcher (Quechua/Huachipaeri) (left), the actress who portrayed Pocahontas in
The New World (see Jan./Feb. 2006 issue), has been awarded the Brower
Youth Award, the nation’s highest environmental award for youth, for
her efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest and its Native peoples
from reckless oil development.
Longhouse
Media’s Native Lens Program, a nonprofit program that teaches Native
youth how to make films and tell stories that reflect their culture, as
well as teaching general life skills, is one of seven groups in Seattle
to receive an annual Mayor’s Art Award from Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels.
Details: longhousemedia.org
Kevin Gover (Pawnee) has assumed the role of director of the National
Museum of the American Indian, which has major museum facilities in
Washington, D.C. and New York City. A lawyer, he also served as
director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs from 1997 to 2000 and on the
faculty of Arizona State University.
Ryan Huna Smith (Chemehuevi/Navajo), best known as a creative
illustrator and painter, is the new director of the Smoki Museum of
American Indian Art and Culture in Prescott, Arizona.
Red Rooms
(Theytus Books) by Cherie Dimaline (Ojibwe/Metis) was named Fiction
Book of the Year at the Anskohk Aboriginal Literature Festival in
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
In October, Robert G. Martin (Cherokee) became the new president of the
Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. He is married to the
poet Luci Tapahonso (Navajo).
The prestigious Buffett Award for Indigenous Leadership for 2007,
presented by Ecotrust of Portland, Oregon, has been bestowed on Roberta
Conner (Umatilla/Cayuse/Nez Perce) for her role as director of the
Tamastslikt Cultural Institute and general leadership roles among her
tribe as a speaker, author and curator.
Bruce Bernstein, a senior scholar at the National Museum of the
American Indian and former director of the Museum of Indian Arts and
Culture in Santa Fe, has been hired as the new executive director of
the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, which produces the annual
Santa Fe Indian Market. He has written several articles over the years
for Native Peoples.
Jennifer Kreisberg (Tuscarora), one of the members of the trio Ulali
(see May/June 2002 issue), has received a Genie Award (the Canadian
Oscar) for her song “Have Hope,” which also took the Song of the Year
award at the recent Native American Music Awards and was designated a
Critic’s Pick selection by the New York Times. It will be included on
her upcoming solo album, Wah Thye Yeh Rak. The song is also found on
the soundtrack to the film Unnatural & Accidental.
Julia Parker (Kashia Pomo) of California has been awarded a National
Heritage Fellowship for lifetime achievement by the National Endowment
for the Arts, one of the nation’s highest artistic awards. For several
decades she demonstrated weaving at Yosemite National Park.
Sandra Laronde (Anishinaabe), artistic director of the Canada-based dance troupe Red Sky
(see Sept./Oct. 2005 issue), has been invited to attend the first
Indigenous Cultural Summit in Taiwan to meet with the island nation’s
Native arts community.
Minnesota resident Winona LaDuke (Ojibwe), political and environmental
activist, author (see Sept./Oct. 2001 issue) and speaker, has been
inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New
York, joining 217 other women previously honored.
Among those taking awards at the 32nd annual American Indian Film
Festival in San Francisco in November were the following: Best Film:
Imprint; Best Director: Sterlin Harjo for Four Sheets to the Wind; Best
Actor: Cody Lightning in Four Sheets to the Wind; Best Actress:
Tonatzin Carmelo in Imprint; Best Supporting Actor: Ernie Tsosie in
Milepost 398; Best Supporting Actress: Carla-Rae-Holland in Imprint;
Best Documentary: Our Land, Our Life; Best Short Documentary: Dream
Makers; Best Animated Short: Raccoon & Crawfish (see Sept./Oct.
2007 issue).
Edna Gordon (Seneca) has won a Best Books 2007 Award from USA Book News
for her nonfiction and poetry work Voice of the Hawk Elder, edited by
Harvey Arden (available at haveyouthought.com).
