Tulsa, OK

Connecting with Collectors

The first-ever virtual Cherokee Art Market saw a number of strong sales and participation from collectors around the country.

Cherokee Art Market pivoted in 2020 to host its milestone 15th event in a virtual format as a way to keep artists and patrons safe during the ongoing pandemic. The online platform, through the CAM website, gave collectors a place to browse and view all of the work in one spot as well as provided contact details for each artist so collectors could inquire and purchase work.

Pestilence: Covid, Smallpox, Black Plague – A Floral Gas Mask, by Dallin Maybee (Arapaho/Seneca), received the Best of Show prize.

There was strong interest for the event from buyers all around the United States, as they reached out to artists to purchase a number of works throughout the show’s run from December 7 through 21. “Overall, I am very pleased with how it went. I’ve had a lot of artists call to tell me thank you and say how well they’ve done,” says Deborah Fitts, coordinator of the show. “We expanded to a larger audience…I’ve asked some of the artists who sold pieces where the buyers were from and it showed there were people from all over the country buying.”

The Culture Keeper Award went to Seen by Her Nation by Beverly (Bear King) Moran (Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North and South Dakota).

Each artist participating was able to display 10 available pieces at a time, and as the works sold, new inventory could be added. “The artists would email me and tell me works sold, and it would be replaced with another piece,” Fitts elaborates. Several artists had sold out shows, which was exciting for the first virtual event. Renee Hoover, who received Best of Class – Basketry for her work Tell Me Turtle Stories, reported a number of sales including her award-winning piece, while Summer Peters’ beaded ballet slippers sold on the first day. Some artists also received commissions.

Recipient of the Innovator Award was MMIW: Remember Our Sisters by Eugene Tapahe (Navajo).

Another standout among the sales was the Best of Show piece: Dallin Maybee’s breathtaking work Pestilience: Covid, Smallpox, Black Plague – A Floral Gas Mask. The piece, featuring 24k gold beads, freshwater pearls, Swarovski crystals, ermine skins, satin ribbons and brass bells and thimbles, was commentary on one of contemporary issues as well as the impact of the other diseases.

Caddo artist Chase Kahwinhut Earles received second place in the pottery category for his work ABC - Witsi Bit Dahaw.

Explaining the work, Maybee says, “This horrifying juxtaposition of the vulgarity of why gas masks even exist, coupled with the bacteria and viruses that have afflicted us, are visibly laid bare against beautiful beadwork and floral designs of bacteria and cross-sections of viruses. DNA vines weave through a petri dish of growth, with no discernable identification of whose DNA is there. Our DNA appears the same, and unfortunately we all wear this mask.”

Best of Class – Textiles went to The Alice Dress by Orlando Dugi (Navajo).

Other award winners from the show included Beverly (Bear King) Moran’s Seen by Her Nation, which received the Culture Keeper Award, and MMIW: Remember Our Sisters, by Eugene Tapahe (Navajo), which earned the Innovator Award. Best of Class prizes were handed out in all the categories of the show. Among them were The Alice Dress, by Orlando Dugi, in textiles; Renee Hoover’s Tell Me Turtle Stories in basketry; Tony Tiger’s Community Arbor: Safe to Speak Mvskoke in the diverse art forms category; Peter Nelson’s Contemporary Box Concho Belt in jewelry; and Benjamin Harjo’s She Heals from the Heart in two-dimensional works. In Pottery, Karin Walkingstick’s piece Abundance took the top prize, while the sculptural category winner was Troy Jackson’s 2 Chronicles 7:14.