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Tribal Art Events in 2009

The Antique Tribal Art Dealers Association has issued a calendar of tribal art and other art events scheduled for 2009.

Here are those included for January and February.

January 21-25 - Fourteenth Annual Los Angeles Art Show at the Los Angeles Convention Center, West Hall A, 1201 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles CA 90015. www.LAArtShow.com 310-822-9145.

February 6-8 - High Noon Western Americana Show & Auction at Phoenix Convention Center Exhibit Hall F & G, 33 S. Third Street, Phoenix, AZ 85004. www.HighNoon.com 310-202-9010.

February 13-15 - San Francisco Tribal and Textile Arts Show at Fort Mason Center Festival Pavilion.

February 13-16 - Annual O'Odham Tash Indian Arts Festival at Casa Grande, AZ.

February 16 - Bonhams' Native American, Pre-Columbian and Tribal Art Auction at Bonhams and Butterfields, 220 San Bruno Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94103. www.bonhams.com. 415-861-7500.

February 21-22 - 25th Marin Show: Art of the Americas at Marin Civic Center and Embassy Suites Hotel, San Rafael, CA www.MarinShow.com.

If you're in the area of any of these events, it will be worth your time to visit.

This message is brought to you by Aboriginals: Art of the First Person, member of ATADA and host of tribal art web sites at ZuniLink (Native American fetish carvings), Native-JeweleryLink (featuring a wide range of authentic Native American jewelry creations), Native-PotteryLink (with authentic hand coiled and formed Pueblo pottery) and TribalWorks (offering a art from Africa, Australia and the Arctic). Visit us at your leisure.

Our Glass Corn Maiden by Ira Lujan

The Tribal Eye

If you missed it on TV, we found a You Tube video of Richard Attenborough's renowned presentation entitled the Tribal Eye. This episode (Number V)focuses on the people of Dogon and the Bandiagara Escarpment in Mali. It runs for several minutes. But you always can come back to it at this blog.

It's presented in the interest of heightened awareness of the world of African Tribal Art by William and Susanne Waites, proprietors of the web site, Tribal Works.



Hat tip to geneofisis.

Avoid Online Scams When You're Shopping for the Holidays

Periodically, we read informative independent points of view that we think may be helpful for our readers. This one was from Trend Micro, purveyors of online virus and malware protection software.


"Every year we see staggering new statistics about how many people are buying gifts online instead of braving traffic, long lines, and parking nightmares at brick-and-mortar stores. During the holidays, many online retailers will also offer breaks on shipping costs—so the advantages of less physical hassle, no sales tax, and potentially free or cheap shipping make online shopping pretty appealing. However, the risks involved in online shopping are persistent as ever. Here are a few key ways you can protect yourself.


1. Use a virtual account number. This is a service that most credit cards now offer. Here's how it works: Log onto your credit card account and with one click you can generate a random credit card number that makes it virtually impossible for anyone to steal your account number while shopping online. When your virtual number is generated, simply enter it into the merchant's form and complete your purchase without revealing your actual card number. This virtual credit card number is only valid for a short period of time-long enough for the retailer to process your transaction, which will be charged to your real credit card account. But if a retailer stores that number and a hacker later breaks into their system, the number will be useless. Please note: Virtual account numbers cannot be used for purchases that require you to show your credit card at time of pick-up (e.g., movie tickets, etc.), because the account numbers will not match.


2. Make sure you're shopping on a secure site. Look for the padlock icon or a URL that starts with https://. That means your transaction is encrypted.


3. Don't trust emails from "retailers" claiming you need to verify your credit card information. This is almost certainly a scam. Every year millions of emails go out from hackers pretending to be eBay or PayPal customer service and asking consumers to provide information that the actual service already possesses. If you're worried that a retailer really has failed to process your order, go to the site and look up your account or contact their customer service center—don't click on a link in email that could redirect to a dummy site."

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Aboriginals: Art of the First Person brings you this message in anticipation of the Christmas season, as the owners of online sites that offer Native American carvings (ZuniLink), Native American Indian jewelry (Native-JewelryLink), pueblo pottery (Native-PotteryLink) and African, Australian and Arctic tribal art (TribalWorks). We guaranteed both the authenticity of and your satisfaction with any item purchased from our websites. We have been involved in tribal art collecting and selling for 30 years. We welcome your orders via our secure (https) order form.

Australia, the film, debuts.

With great hoopla, the new epic film by Australian director, Baz Luhrman, was released in Australia this week.

We mentioned the film in a previous, pre-release article discussing it's relationship to Australian tourism efforts.

At the time, we joined a group of pre-nascent critics who were concerned, not about the film, but about its effectiveness as a tourism marketing tool.

Now, the film is in theaters in Australia and will shortly be released in the US.

Film critics give the feature mixed reviews. The Australian newspaper summarizes with, "Yet for all its flaws -- and Australia is not the masterpiece we hoped it might be -- the film is easy to take. This is partly because it looks so magnificent, partly because Luhrmann's vision is so stimulating and partly because the actors are, for the most part, so engaging in their roles."

The critic observes that the film appears to have been made more for overseas audiences, principally American, than for Australian audiences, containing cliches that make Australian audiences cringe or chuckle.

For the complete review in the Australian newspaper, visit this link -
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,24671640-16947,00.html

Tribal Artery's interest in this film springs from proprietors Bill Waites and Susanne Waites' affection for Australia, where we once lived, and our engagement with Australian Aboriginal art at TribalWorks.com. We hope the movie reflects the truth about Aboriginal culture that will increase understanding and appreciation among a worldwide audience.

ZuniLink offers free shipping to military addresses

ZuniLink.com ( http://www.ZuniLink.com ) announces a special offer to people who want to send healing and protective holiday gifts to friends and loved ones in the military.


We will ship gifts of Zuni fetish carvings to any military address at no charge. Also included are shipments to domestic addresses of members of the armed services.

“We think it is especially appropriate at this time of giving and gratitude to offer this free service. As collectors of Zuni fetishes know, they are considered by Native Americans to possess special powers of protection and healing.

“Whether or not the recipient shares Zuni beliefs in special powers, the fact of the gift manifests a material wish for good health, protection and power to the person receiving it. We are happy to pay our thanks to those who guard the ramparts by offering free shipping.”

More information about the offer and the special qualities of Zuni fetish carvings can be found at the ZuniLink website (http://www.ZuniLink.com/ZuniLink-Millitary-Shipping-Page.htm )

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Aboriginals: Art of the First Person, the parent company of ZuniLink.com is a member of the Lee County (FL) Alliance for the Arts, the Indian Arts and Crafts Association and the Southwestern Association for Indian Art. Orders may be placed online or by phoning 239-482-7025 or 800-305-0185.

A monumental chorus of Zuni corn maidens

Whilst in New Mexico, we acquired this remarkable fishrock carving by Terrence Martza, a Zuni fetish carver. Eight corn maidens, adults and children, stand side-by-side and back-to-back, with turquoise and coral adornment and a large bowl of turquoise fragments. The full size is 5 inches high, by 5 inches wide, by 3 inches deep.

It is so monumental that we decided to do something a little different and videograph it on a turntable, so you can see all sides in one sweep.

We've also added a single still shot since, upon looking at the result, the focus seems to be poor on the video camera image. But you can still make out the ladies and the work.

Let us know what you think, please.



Susanne and William Waites, Aboriginals: Art of the First Person, with web sites at ZuniLink, TribalWorks, Native-PotteryLink and Native-JewelryLink

Ira Lujan blows.........glass

A while back Susanne and I ran a video of Ira Lujan, the Taos glass sculptor, at work in his studio. (You'll find it in the archives, I think.) We have come to know him and have purchased his work, which we offer at Native-PotteryLink (on the Taos page. As with most of the artists we meet and deal with, Ira is a true artist and is dedicated to his art. We are pleased and proud to count him among our friends.

Now, we have a video that we shot in Santa Fe while watching Ira at work creating a our Corn Maiden. Unfortunately, we ran out of footage before the piece exploded. And we were not there when it was recreated.

Here, however, are some scenes from the workshop as Ira and his helper worked the ovens and the glass. It's about 8 minutes long. I think you will find it interesting and worth your time.




Now, here is a video of the final piece. It is even more gorgeous in person.

This is Florida. This is living.

When customers call us for the first time, they are surprised to learn that we live on the Gulf coast of Florida. Much of what we sell comes from elsewhere: Africa, Australia, the Arctic and, of course, the American Southwest. Since we can't live all those places, we live somewhere that we love.

So here is brief look at why we live where we live, although we spend part of the year in the Southwest and travel elsewhere when not at home.

Anyway, this was one morning in in June as seen from our lanai. I hope you enjoy it.

Pretty idyllic, eh?

William and Susanne Waites, Aboriginals: Art of the First Person with web sites at Native-JewelryLink, Native-PotteryLink, ZuniLink and TribalWorks.

PS: Watch the birdie. It's an anhinga. It flies at the end of the video.