Spirit Lines

Crocker Art Museum displays the distinctive works of Helen Hardin and her trailblazing family.

traveling,” says Scott Shields, associate director and chief curator at the Crocker. “When we did Pueblo Dynasties, the show focused on families of potters with six generations represented, but with painters, there isn’t always that lineage passed down.”

There’s such a rich pottery tradition in the Santa Clara Pueblo culture, making Spirit Lines even more unique, as Velarde was the first in her family of potters to break tradition and focus on painting. Always conscious of living in the shadow of her mother, Hardin pushed boundaries even further to set herself apart from her mother’s cultural depictions, and “emerged in the 1970s and 1980s as an example of Native American artists wishing to break from tradition.”

“Hardin was trying very much to not paint like her mother,” Shields says, “and mixed traditional imagery with European art and American art trends not associated with Native art cultures.” Hardin utilized bright color, metallic paint and varying techniques and styles that greatly departed from her mother and the majority of Native American artists.

Despite being raised in Santa Clara and living most of her life in the Albuquerque area, Hardin was rejected by the Santa Clara Pueblo elders and was shut out of traditional ceremonies because of her mixed-race background. Because of this, Hardin was careful to invent her own way, as to not take full ownership of Native imagery.

This is illustrated in Hardin’s etching piece Deerslayer’s Dream, where there are clear parallels between Native imagery typically on pottery, as with the deer appearing in the scene, and imagery and style seen in other media. Hardin’s work, while closely resembling sacred figures, is made all her own.

Continuing to push boundaries, Hardin’s daughter, Bagshaw, shared her mother’s vision to experiment with vibrant color and abstraction, but also made sure to