Swaia - Indian Market

2009: E Newsletter #1

From Clay to Concrete: Pueblo Pottery's City Journey

For the last nine years, King Galleries/Faust Galleries from Scottsdale, AZ and Native American
Collections from Denver, CO. have traveled to New York City to present the Pueblo Pottery Exhibition and Sale.

These galleries and their distinguished owners, Jill Giller, Charles King, and Bill Faust, respectively, are the top Pueblo pottery dealers in the country. Pueblo pottery is one of the oldest and most sustained art forms in the United States and this yearly gathering has become a key component in the understanding of traditional and innovative Pueblo pottery to a growing number of collectors. As the Exhibit and Sale nears its ten-year anniversary, it has added a new dimension that will ensure its continued success and growing appreciation of Pueblo pottery.
The Southwestern Association of Indian Art (SWAIA) Executive Director and Pueblo pottery expert and scholar, Bruce Bernstein will travel to New York to be part of the 9th Annual Pueblo Pottery Exhibit and Sale. Bernstein will join the group to provide some of the historic and contemporary contexts of Pueblo pottery and their makers. Bernstein has curated several exhibitions and written dozens of articles on Pueblo pottery and is widely regarded as a leading scholar about this art form. Bernstein notes that making pottery helps preserve Pueblo culture.
"Pottery making offers artists a way to profitably fit an old pattern to contemporary needs and provides community members with a means to enter the American cash economy while staying at home,instead of traveling to urban centers for employment," Bernstein says. Bernstein will provide some of the historic and contemporary contexts for the production and meanings of Pueblo pottery. He will provide an overview of pottery and its evolution and changes through the 20th century.Bernstein notes, "In each pot are Pueblo values and beliefs, including very sacred conceptions of fertility and life. Pueblo people express themselves and teach others about themselves through pottery. For some, a momentary encounter with a pot in a museum or store is enough to appreciate the survival and vibrancy of Pueblo culture."
He will also discuss the central role that pottery continues to play at the Santa Fe Indian Market. He will be joined by artists and potters Nathan Youngblood, Virgil Ortiz, Susan Folwell and Verma Sequatewa for a round table discussion about the continued relevance and meaning of Native arts. "It is a courageous act," he
continues, "to make pottery, and even more courageous to sell it or give it away, when it means that an intrinsically pious and exceedingly Pueblo-centric entity ends up in a non-Pueblo home or museum."


For interview requests or more information on SWAIA programs, please contact Gabe Gomez at (505)983-5220 or ggomez@swaia.org