Joseph J. Mora (1878-1947)
Hopi Man (right) & Hopi Woman (left), ca. 1910
Marble
for more on the artist and his inspirations…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_Mora
Indian Peace Medal ca. 1801
This example of a U.S. government-minted “Indian Peace Medal” can be found on the second floor of the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco. These signs of “Peace and Friendship” were given to Indian leaders by agents of Manifest Destiny until 1869. Lewis & Clark gave a number of these medals on their 1804-1806 expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase. Please click here to learn about more about these peculiar tokens of sovereignty.
According to director Melissa Henry, “Horse You See is a film that celebrates life and the Navajo language, and shows us what is the essence of being a horse.” Awarded Best Children’s Film at the Talking Circle Indigenous Film Festival in 2009, this hypnotically repetetive “exposé” details the lot of a Native-speaking equine named Ross. Any one curious about the cadence and inflection of the Navajo language will surely enjoy a few minutes of viewing.
Native(X) Interview With S.O.L.O. Co-Founder Dustin Martin
Thanks to Mac over at Native(X) for taking the time to collect some insights from a few of the movers and shakers in the Native fashion/design realm right now. Native American Heritage month should also be about the NOW and we at S.O.L.O. surely appreciate the fact that Mac agrees. Click HERE for the full interview.
SFIS XC PRODUCTION
When Santa Fe Indian School Cross Country coach Jonathan Tafoya asked S.O.L.O. to cook up some fresh team apparel to debut at their Cochiti Pueblo invitational last weekend, we jumped at the opportunity. Here are some photos of the production run and inspiration. Blessings to the Braves and Lady Braves. We hope to see them tees on the podium come November.
Mountain pattern “sash”
Three prints. One Screen.
Revolt-runner statue in the rotunda of the newly-built SFIS administration building
Native Pride. Leave it to Damian (Junior Gong) Marley and Skrillex to use a stereotype against The Man. Bass Face. XD
An intereseting rendering with obvious inspiration. Can’t endorse the tunes but image gets a tip from the hat.
Ralph T. Coe Collection- The Met
Currently nestled in that transitory space between Greek terra-cotta and the first-floor of the modern-art wing at the Met is a selection of spectacular pieces from the collection of Ralph T. Coe. First lured to the aesthetics of Native America by a totem pole he encountered in NYC in 1955, Mr. Coe spent the good part of his life collecting the most-exquisite “arts & crafts” he could find in Indian communties across North America. Known as “Ted” to those in the art world, Ralph Coe and his collection were instrumental to the creation of the 1976 exhibition Sacred Circles: 2,000 Years of North American Indian Art at the Hayward Gallery in London. The show made a powerful statement by treating the material culture of Native America as living art rather than “artifacts”.
Faw Faw Coat, ca. 1900, Otoe-Missouria, Oklahoma
When we stumbled upon the items a few months ago, we were perhaps most struck by the impossibly precise details of every piece. Without a doubt, Mr. Coe had an eye for quality craftsmanship. Then again, with the opportunity to buy bead and needle-work from the turn of the 20th century and jars from masters like Nampeyo, good ol’ Ted would have been a fool had he procured anything less.
If you happen to be in NYC anytime before October 14th, be sure to take a gander. Location: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas Special Exhibition Gallery, first floor
Jar Nampeyo, ca. 1910, Hopi (Tewa), Arizona
To learn more about Ralph Coe and collection currently on display at the Met, click here.
Signs & Symbols
Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997), ”Indian with Pony”, 1953, Woodcut
This graphic print by America’s most prominent “pop” artist currently hangs in an exhibit entitled “Sign & Symbols” at the Whitney Museum in NYC. Curated to “shed light on the development of American abstracition during the critical postwar period of the mid-1940s to the end of the 1950s,” the show is riddled with allusions to Native America. Though some artists blatantly identify the American Indian as their subject/inspiration, others choose a more subtle approach to interpreting “Native”. We were perhaps most taken with Steve Wheeler’s “Lauging Boy Rolling, 1946”:
image:http://whitney.org/Collection/SteveWheeler/473
The exhibit runs through October 28th, 2012. Give it a look if you get a chance.
“Looking for Lost Sheep”, Rick Nez, 2000
Plaque Below reads: ”the work of art was commisioned for the art in public places program of the new mexico arts. a division of the office of cultural affairs”
This large painting is hung above the stage in the great hall at Nenahnazad Chapter House, Navajo Nation, just south of Fruitland, NM. During the morning and early afternoon of June 29, 2012 it presided over a Wings of America Running & Fitness Camp. In the evening it loomed above a wedding. All art should be Chapter House art. Placed to remind viewers of their peculiar realities.
