Wallace Nez, Jr. - Native American Pottery

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Indian Country Today - Newspaper
June 15, 2005

Southwest artists honored for excellence
© Indian Country Today June 15, 2005. All Rights Reserved

SANTA FE, N.M. - As Santa Fe prepares for the Aug. 20 - 21 Santa Fe Indian Market, a prestigious event that attracts artists, collectors, musicians and filmmakers, the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts recognized some of Indian country's finest artists with Lifetime Achievement awards for 2005.

This year's awards honored Luiseno painter Fritz Scholder, Pueblo artists Lucy Yepa Lowden and Josephine Nahohai, and Pueblo author Joe S. Sando. Established in 1995, the Lifetime Achievement award recognizes artists whose body of work reflects a lifetime of integrity and excellence, artists who have made significant contributions to the work of American Indian art.

''Lifetime Achievement award winners read like a 'Who's Who' of Native American artists,'' SAIA said in a statement.

The late Lowden, Jemez Pueblo, was a textile artist and ''little people'' creator, while Nahohai, Zuni Pueblo, is a traditional potter. Sando, Jemez Pueblo, is an historian and author. For the first time, a non-Indian recipient was selected: Ruth Schultz, longtime patron of American Indian art.

Meanwhile, SAIA selected Benjamin Harjo Jr., Seminole/Shawnee, as the official poster artist for the Santa Fe Indian Market.

Harjo, often referred to as the ''Indian Picasso,'' said his influences are Mayan, Aztec, Northwest Coast and even cartoons and comics. Harjo's Indian Market poster, a bright acrylic painting on paper entitled ''Market Treasures,'' is layered with symbolic shapes and humor.

While creating the painting, Harjo said he remembered all the activity and color at Indian Market and how people attend to find ''art to live with - a treasure to take back home.''

Inspiration, too, comes from the competitive buyers. Harjo joked, ''Sometimes they get there a little too late and think 'Darn, I should've been here sooner!' realizing someone else has already bought the piece they wanted.''

Scholder was well-known as a painting instructor in the 1960s at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. At a time when American Indian painting was highly stylized, he attempted to break the long-held clich?s using art as his vehicle and incorporating pop ideas. Scholder, born in 1937, died last February. Scholder's paintings and prints appear in numerous national collections.

Lowden was born in 1916 and also died this year. She called her one-foot-tall creations ''little people,'' and never referred to her works as ''dolls.''

Lowden was known as a cultural treasure for her talent in making ''little people'' and traditional Pueblo weaving. She began creating art as a weaver in the traditional Pueblo style. The winner of many national awards, she taught arts and crafts at Albuquerque and Santa Fe Indian schools and at the IAIA.

Nahohai is reknowned for her use of owl images. She said the owl ''is the protector of the night, always on the lookout for your family and making sure that your family is safe.''

Nahohai is often credited with keeping Zuni pottery making alive in the mid-20th century. In 1985 she was awarded the Katrin H. Lamon Artist's Fellowship from the School of American Research in Santa Fe to teach other Zuni women how to make traditional pottery.

Sando, Sun Clan of Jemez Pueblo, is a well-known historian and writer. He taught Pueblo history at the University of New Mexico and ethnohistory at the IAIA.

Sando has been a columnist for the Albuquerque Tribune and written several books, including ''Pueblo Profiles: Cultural Identity through Centuries of Change'' and ''Pueblo Nations: Eight Centuries of Pueblo Indian History.''

Sando currently serves as a director on the boards of the New Mexico Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque and the New Mexico Distinguished Public Service Awards Committee. A frequent lecturer on Indian issues in the United States, Sando has also appeared in numerous television documentaries.

Schultz has served as board member and volunteer for the Indian Market. Recognized many times in the Southwest, Schultz was awarded the New Mexico Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2004 for her community service and patronage toward the arts.

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