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Winter Indian Market showcases the intersection of Native art and history
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For those at the Winter Indian Market, the event is more than selling their wares; it is a way to pass down culture, stories and traditions.
“Our storytelling is representative of our cultural sovereignty, and also it directly feeds back into economic sovereignty,” Jamie Schulze, Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA) executive director, said, “and I think understanding that you’re supporting not only by buying a piece of art, but a living pathway and a living technique is pretty profound.”
Virginia Yazzie-Ballenger, owner and founder of the store Navajo Spirit, will be selling holiday gifts, including golf club covers, shawls, stockings and more.
Yazzie-Ballenger’s designs are inspired by her Navajo heritage and the story of her mother, who was a rug weaver.
She incorporates her mother’s designs into pieces, such as a motif from a yellow, gray, brown and ivory woven rug, which she photographed and replicated into a scarf named after her mother, the CheeBah scarf.
“As a Navajo woman, we are a matrilineal society,” Yazzie-Ballenger said. “So it is the responsibility of the woman to carry on the traditions.”
Franklin Chavez is a fourth-generation artist, focusing on jewelry and diverse arts. He is passing down the lessons he learned to his children.
“The winter months of the year is when a lot of these teachings are passed down, orally or physically,” Chavez said. “We’re making stuff for the Winter Market, and then you’re also teaching your techniques to your children.”
Chavez said history and traditions also get passed along.
He has been involved with the Santa Fe Indian Market since he was 7 years old, helping his parents. Now, as an adult artist, he said he realized the magnitude of all the art his parents created.
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“I am just profoundly moved by all of the resilience that I see in the room, and the creativity around these stories,” Schulze said.
The Winter Indian Market is in its 20th year and will run Saturday, Nov. 29, and Sunday, Nov. 30, at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center. The market will feature over 150 artists and over 19 Southwestern Pueblos will be represented, Schulze said.
Yazzie-Ballenger said she finds the Southwestern Association for Indian Art has dedicated so much time to uplifting Native artists and protecting the integrity of their work. She said she is proud to show at the Winter Indian Market and Santa Fe Indian Market because SWAIA champions authentic voices and emphasizes cultural representation.
“They create opportunities for us to thrive in our traditions of art,” Yazzie-Ballenger said, “and to connect and to share our stories with the world.”
Chavez said these markets are important because they continue to tell the stories of the art forms, showing they had a beginning in the past.
When it comes to silversmithing, Chavez said he uses many modern techniques and machinery, while still drawing on the traditional teachings of his father and grandfather.
“It’s a part of our history. It’s a part of culture, and it’s always nice to kind of pass that on to the next generations,” Chavez said, “and hopefully that my kids can pass it on to their kids when they grow up.”
“I love that it’s a multi-generational thing, and how we’ve been able to connect, not only my parents’ work, and incorporate it into my work,” Chavez said. “And then, of course, they’re going to have their own new ideas.”
Schulze said the market offers these artists a way to join a community of like-minded people and highlight that spirit.
“You’re celebrating not only culture, but art as an equalizer, and it creates and reminds us of our humanness,” Schulze said.
Elizabeth Secor is an arts fellow from the New Mexico Local News Fellowship program. You can reach her at esecor@abqjournal.com.
