Careful craftsmanship rewarded with top honors
Best of Show woodcarver says piece can help others learn about pueblo culture
Winning the top prize at the 95th annual Santa Fe Indian Market wasn’t Adrian Nasafotie’s goal. But it was a welcome surprise for him when judges announced during a celebration Friday at the city’s convention center that his elaborate, kachina-themed woodcarving was the best piece in the show.
“This really surprised me,” said Nasafotie, a Hopi woodcarver who lives in the northern Arizona town of Moenkopi.
He began woodcarving at age 8, he said, and became a full-time kachina woodcarver in 1991, weaving Hopi cultural and spiritual elements into his work. His winning piece, a complex and colorful hand-painted carving, depicts an eagle dancer rising from a base holding other intricate figures. The eagle in Hopi culture is ruler of the skies and represents strength and power, Nasafotie said, and it serves as a messenger for humans to the heavens.
The artwork, six months in the making, earned him a $10,000 prize. He hopes it also will raise awareness of the culture and traditions of his pueblo.
The piece will be for sale this weekend on the Plaza during the two-day Indian Market, which organizers have called the largest juried show of indigenous artwork in the country. Thousands of people across the country visit Santa Fe for the event, where hundreds of Native artists showcase their work.
Many of the artists are from New Mexico, but others come from tribes across the nation. They focus on a variety of traditional and contemporary arts, such as jewelry-making, weaving, painting and pottery. Among them are full-time artists who work on pieces for the Indian Market year-round and depend on the weekend’s sales to sustain their families until the next market rolls around.
Another top Indian Market winner, Ed Natiya, spoke during Friday’s awards ceremony at the Santa Fe Convention Center about the importance of honoring traditions. His bronze work, The Red Man, depicts three Iroquois warriors splashing ashore from their canoe. Natiya, a member of the Navajo Nation, said he enjoys creating historical scenes from his own tribe’s history as well as others.
This was his second year at the market. “It’s been a dream of mine since I was a little child to be part of this process,” he said. “It is such an honor.”
Jason Garcia of Santa Clara Pueblo, who secured the top award in the paintings, prints and photos class, recently completed his Master of Fine Arts at the University of Wisconsin with Tewa Tales of Suspense —a series of 14-color graphic prints depicting moments of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, with superhero figures winning the day.
Navajo Berdina Charley, the top finisher in the textiles class, cried softly when her award was announced. “I never thought I’d be winning an award here,” she said.
Navajo silversmith Leonard Gene, who took first place in diverse arts, earned his prize with a clutch purse made of finely engraved silver. “I like to try new things and avoid stereotypes,” he said.
Mother-daughter duo Joyce and Juanita Growing Thunder Fogarty took a Best of Class award in beadwork and quillwork for their doll of a traditional Dakota dancer.
Afterward, Joyce noted, “I really have done this so the next generations can carry on.” She pointed to a granddaughter and said the girl is now learning the basics of the art. “And I was taught by my grandparents.”
For Nasafotie, like many of the artists, his work is about far more than art. To become a carver of kachinas — considered by the Hopi people to be immortal beings who deliver messages to the spiritual world, bring rain and control other
aspects of the natural world and society — a person must be initiated by tribal members into the Hopi Kachina Cult.
Before he became a full-time woodcarver, Nasafotie said, he was the director of a rehabilitation center for people who abused alcohol and drugs.
To help fund the center, he would sell his woodcarvings to collectors. He still uses some of the money from sales of his artwork to help people who struggle with drug and alcohol addictions.
“I’ve just seen it in Indian Country and how it affects people,” Nasafotie said.
As he explained his piece and the details of his life during the awards ceremony Friday, patrons congratulated him and inquired about his work.
“I just knew this was going to get Best of Show,” one woman
said as she approached him.
When she asked about the carving’s price tag, he said perhaps $50,000. But the woman told him he should sell it for more.
Now, with the Best of Show banner attached to the 27-inch piece, he hopes more patrons will inquire about it during the market, he said. He wants to be able to educate people about the Hopi culture and the centuriesold tradition of woodcarving among the pueblo’s people.
“If no one buys it, I’m going to keep it,” he said. “Because it can provide so much education to people.”
Freelance writer Daniel Gibson contributed to this report.