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- By Tamara Ikenberg
Golden opportunities to get great holiday gifts and learn from leading Indigenous creatives and entrepreneurs abound in a very artsy weekend and next week in Indian Country.
Get those creative juices flowing and figure out how to spend your time and money with the help of Native News Online’s handy event roundup:
"Dissenting Hearts" by Choctaw artist Karen Clarkson will be available for purchase during The Autry Museum of the American West’s Virtual American Indian Arts Marketplace on Saturday, Nov. 14. (Karen Clarkson)Autry Museum of the American West’s Virtual American Indian Arts Marketplace
WHEN: Saturday, Nov. 14 and Sunday, Nov. 15
WHERE: https://theautry.org/events/signature-programs/american-indian-arts-marketplace; https://hopin.com/events/marketplace-live
The Autry Museum of the American West’s annual American Indian Arts Marketplace in Los Angeles usually attracts thousands of shoppers and about 200 artists from more than 40 Native nations, selling a slew of sculpture, pottery, beadwork, basketry, photography, paintings, jewelry, textiles, wooden carvings, mixed-media works and more.
This year, like many other Native art markets, the event has been transformed into an all-digital experience. The art market is just one part of the weekend-long event, which also includes film screenings, plays, and talks with artists and prominent members of the cultural community.
The interactive art market takes place on Saturday, Nov. 14, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., via the Hopin platform. Market-goers will be able to visit artists’ digital booths, make purchases, ask questions, and take a virtual stroll through the market.
Among the artists hosting virtual booths are Choctaw painter Karen Clarkson, Oneida watercolorist Dawn Dark Mountain, Tlingit bead artist Corey Stein, Spirit Lake Dakota and Diné painter and ledger artist Avis Charley, Navajo sculptor Kenneth T. White II, and Bad River Chippewa flute and jewelry maker Tim Blueflint Ramel of Shades of Rez Studio.
Theatre also plays a part in the proceedings. On Saturday and Sunday, the Marketplace will present the “Native Voices 10th Short Play Festival: More Than Moccasins.” Each mini production tackles the question: how have dress codes affected you?
The weekend also includes keynote talks from Autry Museum executives and curators, the premiere of a documentary about the American Indian Arts Marketplace , a preview screening of “Reclaiming Agriculture with the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation,” from the docu-series “Tending Nature”, screenings of short films by Indigenous filmmakers, and in-depth online “Salon Conversations” between artists and Autry curators.
Perseverance Theatre presents “Spirit of the Valley”
WHEN: Friday, Nov. 13, 7:30 p.m.- 9 p.m.; Saturday Nov 14 , 7:30 to 9 p.m.; Sunday, Nov. 15, 4 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
WHERE: Perseverance Theatre, 914 Third St., Douglas, AK; Tickets $12-27: https://www.ptalaska.org, and by live stream for Perseverance Everywhere members
“What can you do to protect the magnificent land and nature that surrounds you?”
That’s the central question of Perseverance Theatre’s new play “Spirit of the Valley,” by Tlingit playwright Frank Henry Kaash Katasse.
In the family-friendly show, Tlingit twins Kaash and Shaa suddenly get separated from their home and loved ones. To get back to where they once belonged, the pair take off on a spiritual quest to meet the mysterious Spirit of the Valley, who they hope can help bring them home.
Along the way, the twins spend time with symbolic Southeast Alaska Native clan animals, including Raven, who engages them in a rap battle.
You don’t have to be in Juneau, where Perseverance, the tiny, award-winning powerhouse of Alaska Native plays, is located, to take in a live performance.
The play is part of the Perseverance Everywhere program, which the theatre developed this season to adjust to the pandemic by bringing live streams of performances to theatre-goers all over the country who either can’t attend in person or are uncomfortable doing so.
The theatre is offering Perseverance Everywhere memberships ranging from $8 to $20 a month. Memberships also include Perseverance masks. Find out more about Perseverance Everywhere, here.
Next month, Perseverance will present “A Tlingit Christmas Carol,” by prolific Tlingit, Dena'ina and Athabascan playwright Vera Starbard, who is also a writer for Alaska Native-focused PBS Kids show “Molly of Denali.”
Toronto Indigenous Artisan Marketplace
Ancestral Tradition" by Anishinaabe painter Joseph Sagaj. Sagaj's work will be available for purchase during the Toronto Indigenous Artisan Marketplace from Tuesday, Nov. 13 through Sunday, Nov. 22. (Joseph Sagaj)
WHEN: Friday, Nov. 13, - Sunday, Nov. 22, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
WHERE: https://ncct.on.ca/indigenous-artisan-marketplace/. For more info and a daily schedule, visit the event’s Facebook page
Grab your dream catchers, jewelry, moccasins, paintings, beadwork and more directly from local talent at the Toronto Indigenous Artisan Marketplace.
Participating artists and craftspeople include owner of Red Sky Candles and beeswax candle maker Jackie Esquimaux-Hamlin, who is Anishnawbekwe from Aundeck Omni Kaning First Nation Reserve on Manitoulin Island, and painter Joseph Sagaj, who is Anishinaabe of the Sturgeon Clan from the Neskantaga First Nation.
Online market-goers can purchase pieces from the artists’ online stores, which will be listed at https://ncct.on.ca/indigenous-artisan-marketplace/
Hosted by the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto, the interactive Marketplace runs through Sunday, Nov. 22, providing plenty of time to browse and buy art, and dip into daily online events like free prize drawings, live music performances and cooking classes.
University of Wyoming’s Native American Heritage Month: Guest Speaker Joey Montoya
WHEN: Tuesday, Nov. 17, 4 - 5 p.m.
WHERE:https://uwyo.zoom.us/j/98491356169. The meeting ID is 984 9135 6169. More information can be found here
A neon sign by contemporary clothing, accessory and art brand Urban Native Era. The company's founder Joey Montoya will speak on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at a Native American Heritage Month Event presented by University of Wyoming. (Urban Native Era)
Lipan Apache multimedia artist and fashion designer Joey Montoya, founder of the awareness-raising brand Urban Native Era, has found the formula for successfully melding Indigenous activism, apparel, art and accessories.
Urban Native Era puts modern twists on tradition, highlights the resiliency of Indigenous people and draws attention to issues facing them by incorporating images like the Ohlone creation story’s hummingbird, and slogans like “You Are on Native Land” into shirts, stickers, pins, and even socks.
On Tuesday, Nov. 17, Montoya will share his expertise and experience with Native entrepreneurship and activism during a Native American Heritage Month presentation sponsored by University of Wyoming UW’s Native American Education, Research and Cultural Center UW’s Native American and Indigenous Studies Program and the UW Art Museum.
Native Artists Panel
Shoes by Michelle Sisneros, a Pueblo Couture designer from Santa Clara Pueblo. Sisneros will share her personal art history and methods of making and marketing during a virtual event on Wednesday, Nov. 18. (Michelle Sisneros)
WHEN: Wednesday, November 18, 10 a.m. PST
WHERE:https://zoom.us/j/97906048104
https://michelletsosiesisneros.artspan.com
Santa Fe’s Global Entrepreneurship Week is giving Native artists a priceless opportunity to get inspired, educated and empowered by an awesome pair of Pueblo artists.
Pueblo Couture designer Michelle Sisneros from Santa Clara Pueblo and jeweler Steve LaRance from Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo --both Santa Fe Indian Market artists — will share their personal art histories, creative processes, and methods of successful making and marketing during a virtual presentation.
Bracelet by Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo jeweler Steve LaRance. LaRance will share his personal art history and methods of making and marketing during a virtual event on Wednesday, Nov. 18. (Steve LaRance)
Sisneros, who has participated in Santa Fe Indian Market since 1977, is also a celebrated painter. Her new mural “Tsikumu Pin,” named for the highest peak in the Jemez Mountain Range, decorates the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque.
LaRance, father of recently departed champion hoop dancer Nakotah LaRance, is a world renown silversmith who often casts his work with tufa, a porous limestone.
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