WELCOME TO THE 61ST ANNUAL HEARD MUSEUM GUILD
INDIAN FAIR & MARKET
This is the signature event run by the Guild, the volunteer arm of the museum, and the largest annual event held at the Museum with over 10,000 guests from all over the world. Over 600 artists from American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and Canadian First Nations participate. Net proceeds from the Fair, typically $100,000, are gifted by the Guild to the Museum to support its mission and programs.
Artists return to the Heard each year to tell their stories from their perspectives through art, music and dance. Guild members, collectors and artists rekindle friendships forged over many years. Elders, who have passed along traditions and skills to their children and grandchildren, watch as they hone them and make them their own. Longstanding guild members share their knowledge with the next cohort of volunteers as they undertake the immense task of pulling together all the parts that make a successful market for the artists, the guild and the museum.
What characterizes the Heard market? A volunteer serving hot coffee and breakfast early in the morning. Wagons of freshly picked oranges delivered to artists’ booths. A booth relief volunteer giving an artist time for a much-needed break. Children eyeing one another warily before cavorting on the grassy amphitheater as if they had known each other forever. Performance artists sharing their cultures and traditions through drumming, singing, dancing and storytelling. These are some of the things that make the Heard market unique.
The Indian Fair & Market showcases the beauty and vitality of traditional and contemporary indigenous art, especially from the Southwest. An integral part of the weekend is the juried art competition. We are thrilled to offer 130 ribbon awards and $65,550 in prize money across nine classifications. Thanks to our generous donors, this is our largest prize pool ever. Join us on Friday evening at the Best of Show party and be among the first to see the award-winning art and congratulate the artists.
This year fairgoers can also experience exhibition highlights at a preview of RE:DEFINE, which is opening spring 2019. It will feature works by today’s most acclaimed contemporary American Indian and First Nations artists and will showcase the important contributions that indigenous artists are making to the field of contemporary art. This will be the largest group show of contemporary art in the Heard’s nearly 90-year history. Don’t miss the opportunity to get a peek at this exciting exhibition during the Indian Fair & Market weekend. Thank you for making the Indian Fair & Market a success and for your ongoing support.
See you at the Fair!
David M. Roche, Dickey Family Director & CEO, Heard Museum Sue Snyder, President, Heard Museum Guild
Anna Flynn, Chair, Indian Fair & Market