Tesuque Pueblo artist carried on family tradition
Doug Coffin called it an “epic journey.”
In the early 1980s, Coffin and Mark Swazo-Hinds — Coffin’s former student, longtime friend and fellow artist — set out on a road trip, destined for a joint gallery show in New York City.
They drove for 24 hours nonstop from Coffin’s hometown of Lawrence, Kan., to their destination, the car filled with the two artists’ sculptures.
In large part, Coffin said, the trip was fun and the exhibition was fun because Swazo-Hinds — with his inexhaustible sociability — was so much fun.
“It was always an adventure with Mark,” he said. “If he was in the room, if he was around, he was going to meet new friends — and have you meet his new friends.”
Swazo-Hinds — a renowned artist, outdoorsman, family member and friend — died Dec. 9 of natural causes. He was 64.
The son of prolific painter and printmaker Patrick Swazo-Hinds, Swazo-Hinds was born into a family of Tesuque Pueblo artists, said his sister Marita Hinds.
Swazo-Hinds carried on the family’s artistic tradition, though he primarily worked in carved stone. He studied the craft at then-Haskell Indian Junior College in Kansas and then at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, where Coffin was one of his teachers.
“Mark, he grew up in that environment and kind of followed in [his father’s] footsteps, but he definitely was on his own path when he started stonework and his fetish work, which he was renowned for,” Coffin said.
Mark Swazo-Hinds’ signature work: a piece of carved stone — especially in the shape of an animal — with fetish elements. Often, Hinds said, he would incorporate shells, pottery shards and feathers, especially parrot feathers, into his
pieces, in addition to pueblo and animal motifs.
The sculptures regularly graced the tables of the Southwestern Association for Indian Art’s annual Indian Market, said Randy Chitto, a local artist and member of the SWAIA board.
Every summer, prospective buyers enjoyed Swazo-Hinds’ work, Chitto said, but often, it was his magnetic personality that sealed his Indian Market sales. “If they met him, his personality would basically sell the work,” he said.
Now, Swazo-Hinds’ work is scattered through private and museum collections across the U.S., with pieces from the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., to the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe.
In many ways, the flexibility of Swazo-Hinds’ schedule as an artist enabled his life as an avid fisherman, hunter and outdoorsman. His refrigerator was always stocked with venison, and he would often come home with freshly caught fish for dinner.
“He was at his element when he was out in the woods, fishing and doing what he loved most,” his sister said.
Swazo-Hinds also hosted exceptional dinner parties — sometimes featuring his fresh catches and kills — for friends. It was a real honor to be invited, his sister said, because each guest was chosen from Swazo-Hinds’ long list of friends.
He was just a good guy to know, Hinds said.
“If you needed to move furniture, he’d be there. If you needed help out with moving sculpture, he was there. If you needed a flat tire fixed, he was there,” she said. “He was just that kind of a person.”
And in addition to being a loving father, uncle, grandfather and great-grandfather, Swazo-Hinds’ character made an impact those close to him.
“He was an important person in my life just because [of ] his energy and his attitude and generosity. He had a few faults, but we all do,” Coffin said. “In general, I was glad he was my friend.”
Swazo-Hinds is survived by his sister, Marita Hinds; his children, Ryan Swazo-Hinds, Nonabah Sam, Marissa Swazo-Hinds and Medina Kailahi; and other loved ones.
A celebration honoring Swazo-Hinds’ life will take place in the spring.