With
their eyes on the future of Indian Market, organizers have selected
12-and 13-year-old siblings to create original artwork for the 2011
poster and official merchandise.
As
the market goes into its 90th year, the Southwestern Association
for Indian Arts wanted to honor its intergenerational nature and
highlight the artists of tomorrow.
For
Phoenix middle school student Tulane Natanni John, 13, making art
is a part of growing up. He doesn't have as much time for it during
the school year, but summers are full of creating, he said.
His
father, Alvin John, is a renowned metal sculptor and painter who
has encouraged his three children to carry out their cultural identity
as Navajos through artistic expression.
Tulane
and his sister Myleka Nizhoni John, 12, were chosen from a group
of more than 15 kids who submitted slides of past projects. The
pair is still collaborating on what will be the final image for
next year's advertising.
Myleka
will paint a canvas backdrop to set off a mask that Tulane crafted
from a material abundant at their house Lego building blocks.
"I
already had a lot of Legos around, and I just used those pieces
to make a mask," he said. "I wanted to make something
different, I guess."
Tulane's
other pieces displayed at this weekend's Winter Market were painted
wood carvings of the Yei Dine gods with multicolored faces.
Alvin
said he's proud of his sibling team and their accomplishments. The
family has been at Indian Market for about a decade and some of
the children's art is always on display, he said.
Gabe
Gomez, director of external affairs for the association, said the
Johns "have an edge of sophistication for their age and an
embodied usefulness and playfulness to reconceptualized images of
Native iconography."
The
public will get a chance to view the poster art for the first time
in March, though it will be formally unveiled at a youth event market
organizers are planning for May.
Always
steeped in tradition, Indian Market is branching out into contemporary
interpretations by Native artists.
Hoka
Skenandore, a painter of Oneida, Oglala Lakota and Luiseno heritage,
is one of eight artists or groups of artists providing demonstrations
at the two-day Winter Market that continues today.
His
graffiti-inspired acrylic paintings are the product of an education
on the spray-painted streets of Albuquerque and a fine arts degree
from the Institute of American Indian Arts.
Skenandore,
28, was happy to hear about youth being selected for next year's
poster art. He said SWAIA organizers seem increasingly interested
in up-and-coming artists and edgy takes on tradition.
"If
you had asked me five years ago if I had a future at Indian Market,
I would have said 'I don't know,' but the future is looking good,"
he said as he added bright pink to an abstract star shape on his
canvas.
"Every
year, there is a little more interest in the contemporary stuff
and it's great to have the traditional, too," he said. "Nowadays
it seems like SWAIA has tried to focus on all the sides they can
get their hands around."
Just
then, shopper Janice Moody rounded the corner, carrying a bag of
leather Lakota dolls made by Skenandore's mother. The dolls will
soon be on her Santa Fe mantle alongside others she bought last
year, she said. Moody's home already features some of Skenandore's
"degenerate fine-art" paintings.
"I've
collected all the old guys already," she said. "Once you've
got all the top-end traditional artists, what do you do? I like
to support young artists. Somebody needs to collect their work."
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