A PASSAGE TO INDIA: July 2006

Final Days of Alice Cling and Calvin Begay Sale

Recent Native American Art Auctions

On Authenticity, Antiquity and Aesthetics

The most recent edition of African Arts magazine, published by the James S. Coleman African Studies Center, UCLA International Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Lorenz Homberger and Christine Steizig comment on an exhibition – With the Eyes of an Aesthete: Art from Gabon – at the Volkerkundemuseum der Josefine und Eduard von Portheim-Stiffung in Heidelberg, Germany. They wrote, “…many of the objects shown in Heidelberg are contemporary reproductions and therefore highly problematic to the trained eye. However, a visitor or reader unencumbered by such prior knowledge cannot recognize this.”The article, which I encourage you to read, goes on to complain that the presence of reproductions constitutes a threat to the field of African art, particularly when presented in art museums, where they might be construed as “authentic antique originals” or, at least, take on the halo of legitimacy from their association with a museum.Whenever this subject arises, as it does often in at least one African Art discussion group on the internet, I always wonder if there is no place in the world of African art for extraordinarily produced carvings that are less than 50 years old; must the field be limited only to art that can be proven to be antique and “original”?And what about the proof? Provenance is required to establish the ownership trail back to its original source. Yet, provenances are only pieces of paper and they can be as authentic or false as the persons who present them.But, in the matter of aesthetics, does it matter if a carving or mask has no provenance but represents an outstanding example of a genre and a true pleasure to eye? Is such an item a “fake”, a favorite term of the “cogniscenti” when referring to such pieces, if they are not presented as antique or valued at the level of pieces proven to have been collected in the 1800s.Is it not possible to treasure and love and take great pleasure from such pieces regardless of the “authenticity” placed on them by third parties, who frequently have their own egocentric or economic interests in similar pieces.This is not presented as a defense of “fakes” when they are presented as something they are not. If, however, they are presented fairly, accurately as to provenance and age, and with a money-back return privilege, it seems to me to be reasonable to have and support a market in such items – at prices that are appropriate for the quality, authenticity and age of the item. And art museums would seem to be an acceptable venue for exhibiting them.What do you think?~~~~~~~~~~~Tribal Artery is the periodic blog of Aboriginals: Art of the First Person, a tribal art dealer with web sites at http://www.TribalWorks.com for African, Australian, Navajo folk art and Arctic art; http://www.Native-JewelryLink.com for Native American jewelry; http://www.Native-PotteryLink.com for Native American pottery and http://www.ZuniLink.com for animal fetish carvings from Zuni, Cochiti, Navajo and San Felipe. Thank you for your attention and interest.

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Events at Indian Market 2006

Alice Cling and modern Navajo pottery.

Alice Cling is the daughter of Rose Williams, a ground-breaking potter from Tonalea in the Navajo (Dine’) Nation. Prior to her influence, Navajo pottery was essentially utilitarian with heavy pine pitch coating.Rose and Alice began the movement toward more refined and finished pottery forms, stimulated by a growing awareness of the market for fine Indian pottery. Whereas tourism, museums and widespread trading drove the pottery of the pueblos, Navajo pottery bloomed primarily under the influence of Alice Cling’s beautiful shapes and softly polished and fired pitch slips.The clay for Alice’s pots and those of her family including Susie Crank, Sue Williams and Lorraine Williams, comes from the secret deposits near Black Mesa. After being dug up and purified, it is tempered with sand and water, making it malleable.Alice was born in Cow springs in the mid-40s, graduated from school and married Jerry Cling. Their four children are also potters, carrying on the new Navajo pottery tradition.Alice’s work, which started out as crude and “ugly”, to use her word, has evolved into bowls, vases and ollas with a warm, red-brown-orange surface, with hints of purple and blooms of juniper fire clouds. The coloration comes in part from the iron content in her slip and partly from the conditions in her outdoor firing pits. After firing, Alice burnishes the pots' surfaces with a smooth stone or stick.The final product has won numerous Indian market and show awards and is highly prized by Native American Indian pottery collectors, realizing handsome prices for its excellence.As a salute to Alice Cling and her Navajo cohort, our web site at Native-PotteryLink.com is offering a private pottery sale with 25% off all Alice Cling, Susie Crank, Sue Williams and Lorraine Williams Navajo pottery. To receive this special, limited time discount, you must visit the Navajo pages at our Web site and use the term "AC25%off" when placing your order so we will know that you learned about the sale on our enewsletter blog. The reduction will be taken at the time of purchase.

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Tribal Artery is the periodic enewsletter blog of Aboriginals: Art of the First Person on behalf of its web sites at Native-PotteryLink, ZuniLink, TribalWorks and Native-JewelryLink. Thank you for joining us.

Calvin Begay Sale

Wayne Snowbird is back

Winners and losers at IACA Spring Market

The Indian Arts and Crafts Association held its annual Spring Market in Albuquerque in May, 2006, during which it named and honored its nominees for outstanding artists of the year. These winners are listed below.First, let us recognize that there were losers. They were all of us in the Indian Arts and Crafts movement. We lost long time supporters of the cause in the passing of Betty Numerof, Ruth Scott Kiernan and Dr. Rita Yokoi.Ruth Kiernan died on March 1, 2006. She was the proprietor of one of the industry’s most respected Indian art trading companies, and was regularly represented at the IACA wholesale shows. Betty Numerof died on April 17, 2006 at the age of 80 and after several successful terms as president of the IACA. Dr. Rita Yokoi, who died on May 24, 2006, was the owner of Silver Hills, a wholesale dealer in Native American jewelry with a specialty in work from the Santo Domingo Pueblo. She also founded the Museum of Native American Jewelry in California. All three of these monumental women represent a huge loss to those who knew them, those who loved them and those who did business with them. We all are lessened by the loss.Now to the winners, The following artists were recognized by the judges at the IACA Show:Easel Art – Frank Fowler (First), Frank Fowler (Second), Daniel Ramirez (Third);Jewelry/Lapidary – Bennard Dallasvuyaoma (First), Michael Kirk (Second), Veronica Poblano (Third)Jewelry/Metalsmithing – Amelia Joe-Chandler (First), Al Joe (Second), Al Joe (Third);Katsinas – Alexander Youvella Sr. (First), Alexander Youvella Sr. (Second), Prinston Collateta (Third);Pottery – Randall Blaze (First)Sculpture/Large – Upton Ethelbah (First), Ron Mitchell (Second);Sculpture/Small – Randall Blaze (First), Upton Ethelbah (Second), George Shukata Willis (Third)Traditional – Rosie Yellowhair (First), Tammy Beauvais (Second), Venus Brightstar (Third).Best of Show was awarded to Alexander Youvella Sr.Artist of the Year – Amelia Joe-Chandler.Congratulations to them all. I’m sure we will see all or most of them at Indian Market next month.

July 16 Tribal Artery message

This Tribal Artery blog reproduces the contents of the July 16th Tribal Artery e-newsletter. With a few corrected links. (Don't ask. ) Major sales of the last month.We’re pleased to report that some important pieces are heading out to new homes.Among them is a gorgeous painting by Tasmanian Aborigine, Max Mansell. His rendition of sunset – sunrise gives us a look at the star-filled night sky, home for so many Aboriginal Dreamtime settings, bracketed by the colorful features of nightfall and day break. This acrylic on canvas painting is on its way to Washington D.C. The new owner found us on the Web after learning about the closure of our Sanibel Island gallery. She reported that she had visited the gallery several times and had her eye on this painting. She was disappointed to learn we were no longer there. But she found us on the web as have so many of our regular customers.In addition, two of our favorite personal collection pieces have found new homes in Miami: a Dan (Cote d’Ivoire) heddle pulley and an Ashanti (Ghana) akua ba. Both were extremely well carved with great esthetic sensitivity. The buyer did a lot of research and determined that the akua ba, while not “antique”, was so well done that a similar piece had been collected by a highly regarded museum. Both pieces had been exhibited at the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art while part of our collection.Numerous Zuni and Cochiti fetish carvings also have been leaving to new homes. Emery Eriacho, of course, is ever popular and we have dozens of his carvings on site. The work of Salvador Romero and his brother, Wilson Romero, of Cochiti. also don’t gather any dust on our shelves. Both are represented in just one or two other places besides ZuniLink/Aboriginals: Art of the First Person. Both are two of our favorite artists and we look forward to seeing them and acquiring additional examples of there work when ever we can. We also should mention the distinctive work of Melvin Sandoval, a San Felipe member who’s wife is Zuni. The fluid and impressionistic nature of his work makes almost every piece a feast for the eyes. You will not find his pieces many places beside ZuniLink.On the jewelry front, we just received a message from a customer to the effect that a pair of earrings had found their way into the washing machine and had been damaged. He asked if they could be fixed. We are more than willing to help. We asked him to send the earrings back to us and we will take them to the artist for repair.Other newsAccording to Dionne Walker of the Associated Press, a group of Virginia Indian chiefs will travel to England, to spend a week touring and discussing their history and culture as part of the 2007 commemoration of America's first permanent English colony. For Indians, it's a first step toward healing age-old scars of violence and betrayal. Approximately 60 chiefs and tribal members will make the trip. It will be the first trip to England by an official Virginia Indian delegation in more than 250 years.Indian leaders will visit Parliament and spend two days lecturing on tribal history to students in grade schools and at the University of Kent. While there, the group also may visit the grave of Pocahontas, daughter of Powhatan, the Chief of the Pamunkey Tribe. She is buried in the southeast England region. Englishmen arriving in Virginia in 1607 encountered the Powhatan Nation, headed by Pocahontas’s father, the powerful Chief Powhatan. Pocahontas eventually married an Englishman, John Rolfe, and died while sailing on a return trip to Virginia.There are now about 17,613 Indians in Virginia, according to the U.S. Census, out of a population estimated at 20,000 in the 1600s.Indian fare at the FairOne of the staples of the Indian diet – at least at social occasions such as pow-wows and ceremonials is fry bread, When you attend you must trysome. In the meantime, here’s a receipe:4 cup white flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cup warm water 1 cup lard for frying (or your choice of oil) Mix dry ingredients together. Add warm water to dry ingredients. Knead until dough is soft and elastic and does not stick to bowl. (If necessary, add a little more warm water. ) Shape dough into balls the size of a small peach. Let these sit for 15 minutes. Pat out a bit, pinch edges and then pat back and forth by hand until dough is about 1/2 to 3/4" thick and is round. Make a small hole in the center of the round. Melt lard in a heavy frying pan. Carefully, put rounds into hot fat, one at a time. Brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels. Serve hot.This recipe came from Jim Bodle. A Google search will turn up many more variations.

Fry bread can be eaten with toppings like ground beef, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, and refried beans, in which case it sometimes is called a Navajo or Indian taco. Personally, we like it with honey and a little powdered sugar or cinnamon.

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Tribal Artery is the name of both the e-newsletter and this blog from Aboriginals: Art of the First Person and its associated web sites - Native-JewelryLink, offering top quality American Indian jewelry; Native-PotteryLink, offering superb hand-made pueblo pottery; TribalWorks, offering a wide spectrum of African, Australian,Arctic and Native American tribal art; ZuniLink, one of the Web's largest selections of beautifully carved Zuni, Navajo and Cochiti fetishes. There is also a blue button to click to sign up for the e-newsletter version of Tribal Artery, if you are interested.You may, of course, unsubscribe at any time.

Corrections and new stuff

In a recent post that listed upcoming events, I omitted the Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Arts and Crafts Show, which was this weekend. Arghhhh!It was, I am told, a very good show. It tends to be overshadowed by Indian Market, less than a month away, in Santa Fe. Yet, I have been to Eight Northern in past years and found it a very satisfying show. It’s lower keyed and has many of the younger artists that have not developed the credentials to show at Indian Market.For example, Loren Wallowingbull, a Jemez potter, was well represented with examples of her Eagle Dancer pottery figures. She ended up winning the Best in Youth Award at the show. We purchased one of her pieces from her about a month ago in Albuquerque. If I can figure out how to show it in this blog, I will do so. Otherwise, I will provide a link to its page on our web site.Also as part of our mea culpa, I have to report that some of the links we provided in the calendar either were listed incorrectly or were inactive. We will try amend that bad info here. The schedule for events at Indian market can be accessed at http://www.swaia.org/schedule.php . To volunteer as an Indian Market worker, go to http://www.swaia.org/volunteer.phpI also failed to vet the web address I was given for White Hawks Shows. It is broken. I apologize.Finally, looking back in the archives of this blog, a found a number of comments that were unsavory. I had left the comment option open so people could freely add their thoughts. Two things happened. First, most of the comments were nothing more than people finding a way to promote their web sites. I really didn’t have a problem with that. But then some of the sites bordered on pornographic. So I have changed the guidelines for comments. They will have to be reviewed and approved by me before being posted on the blog. I am sorry for those who have to go through an extra step to put their two-cents worth in and for those who might have been exposed to the offensive content before I closed it down.Follow this blog for more news about the world of tribal art. Thank you for your attention.

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Frank Willett passes

Coming events for July and August

More about the cost of silver

The July issue of The Indian Trader carries an article on the increasing cost of silver and its impact on Native American silversmiths. (The Indian Trader is a hard-copy monthly newspaper. It does not have a web site but subscriptions by mail are quite reasonable. Call 800-748-1624 to subscribe.)The article cites the story of Seraphine Wilson and Justin Wilson Jr, members of the Navajo tribe, who have found the 117 per cent increase in silver prices over the past year requiring them to work longer hours in order to produce sufficient product to make money.The Indian Trader quotes brokers that the "cost will nearly double again, hitting between $20 to $30 an ounce by the summer."The Wilson's claim to be working 12 to 14 hours a day vs. the 8 to 10 hours a day that they worked when silver was less expensive. They also drive the 75 miles from their home on the Navajo reservation to Gallup two or three times a week, where they sell their product to dealers and traders and buy replacement silver to work with. The Indian Trader quotes Wilson as saying, "We're not buying as much silver as we used to."The impact of the price of silver on Native American jewelry production is yet to be seen in full. It is not impossible, however, to anticipate a reduction in authentic Native American silver jewelry and an increase in the cost of it.We are covering this subject because we don't want people who are thinking about buying Navajo or Zuni silver jewelry to delay to the point that their price and selection options are severely limited.

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Tribal Artery is an occasional blog about Tribal Art from Aboriginals: Art of the First Person and its allied web sites, Native-JewelryLink, for authentic jewelry from Navajo, Zuni and other Native American artist, Native-Potterylink, for superb, authentic Native American pottery, ZuniLink, for outstanding authentic fetish carvings from Zuni, Cochiti and San Felipe, and TribalWorks, for a pot pourri of Native American folk art, Australian Aboriginal art, Arctic and Pacific Northwest art and African tribal art.Thank you for visiting. If you would like to subscribe to our periodic e-newsletter, also called Tribal Artery, click on the blue button when you visit one of our web sites.

There's gold in that 'thar' jewelry

Actually, there’s a lot more than gold and a lot more value than there was just three years ago.In July, 2002, the price of gold was between $303 and $319 per ounce. Today, an ounce of gold is quoted on the spot market at $632 per ounce.Silver has been no slouch either. In July, 2002, an ounce of silver would have cost between $4.82 and $5.05. Today, it’s worth $11.38.My math calls that doubling in value.Now, this is not an argument for going out and buying gold or silver bullion as an investment. It is a fact, however, that prices that were set by many Native American jewelry sellers based on 2002 costs have not been raised since then. Specifically, Aboriginals: Art of the First Person’s Native American jewelry web site, http://www.native-jewelrylink.com , which specializes in top quality Hopi, Isleta, Navajo and Zuni jewelry is still charging the same price for its gold and silver jewelry as it was three years ago.Today’s replacement cost for those items comes close to today’s retail price. In fact, during our most recent trip to the tribal jewelry-makers of Arizona and New Mexico, we were told by at least one highly respected name artist that she no longer works in gold because of its cost.Which makes gold and/or silver jewelry, hand-made by the artisans of Native America, an extraordinary value at today’s prices. And the beauty of the work makes it a far superior investment to precious metal bullion. After all, you can’t wear a silver bar.Native-JewelryLink is pledged to hold its Native American jewelry prices right where they are for the time being. And, as a reader of our e-newsletter and blog, Tribal Artery, if you identify yourself by citing the promo code “Tribal Artery”, we will give you a 10% discount right off the top of any regular current price if you order before August 1, 2006.Happy prospecting.Editor's Note: It has been several months since our last blog posting. Thanks for revisiting. We plan to be more active in future weeks. In the meantime, our web sites at ZuniLink and Native-PotteryLink remain active, with new items being posted whenever they arrive. We welcome your visit.

A PASSAGE TO INDIA

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