Paint & Paper
Painters Jason Parrish and Tokeya Waci U Richardson share merchandise artist duties at this year’s market.
Painters Jason Parrish and Tokeya Waci U Richardson share merchandise artist duties at this year’s market.
Every year the Santa Fe Indian Market chooses one artist to represent the event in its marketing, advertising and merchandise in the weeks leading up to, and the day of, the event. This is a coveted honor because it means an artist’s work essentially becomes the face of the market.
For this year’s Indian Market, two artists will share the honor. They are Diné painter Jason Parrish and
Oglala Lakota painter Tokeya Waci U Richardson. Their works, many on paper, call back to early ledger works that have a rich history unique to only Native American artists.
It’s that history that has a strong pull for Parrish, who was able to see a painting exhibition in Arizona in 2005 that deeply inspired him. “The paintings were from the students of the Santa Fe Indian School during
the 1930s. I had never seen a style that I perceived as intensely demanding, focal and super extraordinary. I was in awe at the brushwork and cultural content of these paintings,” he says. “It’s very rare and such a treat for me to see Navajo culture shown like this…in that moment, I knew that’s how I wanted to paint.”
Parrish’s piece The Antelope Hunt, which will be used on the official Indian Market poster as well as sweatshirts and hats, shows three riders as they chase down four antelope on a sacred hunt. The work was inspired by a feeling of action. “I wanted to take advantage of the watery appearance of transparent watercolor. I also knew I wanted horse riders in the painting…from there, I decided on the hunt scene based on a story my brother Josh told me. On a road trip Josh told me a story about how Navajos, long before the start of the reservation, when the Southwest was a frontier, made hunting trips far away from the Navajo homeland,” Parrish says. “I was taken by total surprise in finding out about being the poster and merchandise artist. The
Santa Fe Indian Market is such a great and unique event with a storied history. I feel honored that my painting
Antelope Hunt was chosen not only for merchandise but the representative, ambassador, and the face of an institution in its 98th year. I humbly thank SWAIA for this incredible opportunity.”
For Richardson, he was also surprised and honored at the announcement that his work would be used on merchandise for the event. “I was super surprised! I knew I was going to have a great time at Santa Fe but I didn’t think I was going to get this kind of opportunity,” he says. “This is my first year applying as a market artist and also my first year attending the
Santa Fe Indian Market, so I didnt think I would’ve gotten this chance fresh out of the chute like this.”
His work is Strength, a piece that focuses on five female figures and butterflies on ledger paper. “I would describe my work as a form of healing. I tell stories within all my drawings in hopes that people will feel something from it and find healing within it whether it’s from what they see or what the story depicts. This all started from me doing art therapy. At the time, I was searching for my own way of healing and I found that healing through art release. But with the style of ledger art, I was also trying to heal by hearing my tribal stories,” he says. “These stories stem from roots of teachings of self-esteem and trusting within your beliefs. A lot of mental healing and learning how to walk along the ‘canku luta’ or ‘red road of life’ and also how often it could change.”
The work was directly inspired by his mother and two sisters, how they would share the same dress for powwows. “Before every powwow they would discuss who would wear the dress. And when I would come in dancing, the rest of the women would be standing on the outskirts of the arena dancing and watching over the men. That’s when I would see either my mom or sisters wearing the dress,” Richardson says. “This dress was always passed down and the women who wore it took care of my brothers and I. This is how all Indigenous women are. They are the backbone and the bringers of life, without the motherly love, the men would not know the soft side that we all have. I myself have had a lot of motherly influences all from my mom, my grandmothers, aunties, sisters and adopted family. These influences helped me become the man I am today, without it I don’t believe I would even be the artist I am.”