SWAIA - Indian Market 100 year 2022 - FASHION SHOW - CATHERINE BLACKBURN

SWAIA - Indian Market 100 year Commemoration, and Market 2022 - Fashion Show “KATHERINE BLACKBURN (Pause the video for a closer look)
While Europe was wearing burlap and rags as clothing, Indigenous People were designing creating Art as wearables from leather, Hemp, Shells, Paint, Turquoise, Coral, Mineral Stones, Jewelry, Feathers and Woven materials to display their tribal and clan associations as well as display their beauty and identity for ceremonies and personal identity.
The Centennial Commemoration, Celebration and Indian Market convened in Santa Fe with week-long Exhibits, Entertainment Fashion Shows, Revelry and Community, joined by 1,500 artists from over 200 Federally recognized tribes with friends, relatives and citizens of Santa Fe for the centennial edition of Santa Fe Indian Market on August 18th - 20th showcasing Indigenous Art ranging from Traditional & Contemporary Artist to include Pottery, Jewelry, Painting, Beading, Sculpture, Carving, Crafts, Fashion, Films, created by generational, self-inspired and professionally trained artist from novice first time entrants to established individuals.
The Centennial Celebration Included three main venues including:
South Western Association of Indian Art (SWAIA) the primary sponsor of Indian Market on Santa Fe’s Plaza for the past 100 years www.swaia.org
Free Indian Market - Organized 4 years ago to showcase the Traditional and generational legacy of the initial families that founded Indian Market in 1922 www.freeindian...
Pathways - Poeh Culture Center showcasing Contemporary Indigenous Art, Panels, and Entertainers at the forefront of Indigenous art and expressions for the next century, poehcenter.org...
Native Media Network has been participating, videoing and archiving Santa Fe’s Indian Market since 1974 (almost half its life) and has witnessed the many changes that the Market and Artist have experienced from involvement with the generational families that have developed and passed on the craftsmanship of traditional crafts that have transitioned into collectible art forms, to a new generation of artists that are pushing the boundaries and creating contemporary indigenous art forms.
It’s a far cry from its beginnings 100 years ago, when the market’s organizers didn’t allow participating Native American artisans to be seen by the buying public.
Today, the country’s largest Native American public event, which features contemporary and traditional Indigenous art from the United States and Canada, is organized and produced by Kim Peone (Colville Confederated Tribes/Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians), who’s supported by a staff of mostly Native American women. Throughout its history, the market has often responded to the country’s changing sociopolitical climate and the evolving creative output of Indigenous artists.
The market’s debut in 1922, a smaller affair presented under the mouthful title of The Southwest Indian Fair and Industrial Arts and Crafts Exhibition, was held indoors rather than the bustling Santa Fe Plaza.
The event, which included Navajo rugs and Plains Indians beadwork and basketry, focused on ceramics in an effort to revive Pueblo pottery making, according to Cathy Notarnicola, curator of Southwest history at the New Mexico History Museum. “The first market came at it from an anthropological perspective, thinking that they were going to preserve Indian arts because we were on the brink of extinction,” adds Peone.
Native artisans weren’t allowed to sell their works in-person at the market until 1931, which predated the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, a federal government policy that attempted to reverse the damages of cultural assimilation.
“Another major shift occurred with regards to the mission of the market, which, in its origination, preserved traditional designs and technologies of the past,” says Peone.
“Today, the market honors and encourages innovation in its works of Native artists.” In the 1970s, the market became a predominantly Native American-represented organization, according to Jamie Schulze (Northern Cheyenne), SWAIA director of operations, and has steadily grown.
Today, the annual summer event attracts upwards of 150,000 visitors, who can talk with and purchase work from Native artists throughout approximately 17 city blocks in and around the historic Santa Fe Plaza.
“We are definitely pivoting,” she says. “We really want to get away from an organization that only concentrates on two markets.
How that comes about really comes from the perspective of partnerships and how we want to not only be a part of this community, but contribute to this community 365 days out of the year.”
Paraphrased in part by an article written by Steve Jansen March 16, 2022 on Hyperallergic.com
WE LOOK FORWARD TO INDIAN MARKET 101 TO SHOWCASE INDIGENOUS ART AND ITS INFLUENCE IN THE DOMINANT SOCIETY
Harmon Houghton, Publisher
Native Media Network