Welcome to Legacy
Each August, Santa Fe showcases Native art and culture as tens of thousands of people gather to celebrate the enduring traditions of this continent’s original inhabitants.
The coming together of cultures for Santa Fe Indian Market and other events creates a buzz in our city like no other. It’s what the summer has been building toward.
To describe all that will be happening, the Santa Fe New Mexican has created a new magazine, Legacy, focusing on what has been handed down to today’s artists from their predecessors and what today’s artists are doing with that knowledge.
In these pages, find a guide to the various markets, meet the artists, read their stories and learn about their accomplishments. From Free Indian Market and the Wheelwright Art Market to Pathways Native Arts Festival to the granddaddy of them all, Santa Fe Indian Market, the information you need is here.
This magazine also offers a way to learn about what you will be seeing — whether understanding why the authenticity of Native art matters to finding out what museum exhibits are available or learning which artist will be in what gallery.
Native art is an endlessly fascinating topic — the more you learn, the more you want to know.
What we learn, most of all, is how Indigenous culture is both contemporary and ancient. A traditional squash blossom necklace might be displayed next to a cutting-edge silver tea set in a jeweler’s booth. A potter could show traditional micaceous pieces but make them oversized so they become more sculpture than pot. Weavers shear the sheep and dye the wool, only to take those classic ingredients and create an abstract piece that defies explanation but sears the soul.
Native art is ever-changing and adapting, just like the Indigenous artists who make it.
At today’s markets, there will be contemporary music, fashion shows, glossy photography, films and avant-garde jewelry that would suit a Paris runway. And there also will be the traditional drum groups, dancers, wedding vases, turquoise bolo ties and ledger paintings. Such a rich heritage, generously shared with the tens of thousands of visitors and locals who descend on downtown Santa Fe to be transported. Let’s all celebrate these cultures, enduring and thriving despite centuries of obstacles and opposition, leaving a legacy for all of us living today.