Garra mask, Bahinemo people, Hunstein Mountains, Eastern Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea, Carved wood, 26½". Courtesy Galerie Flak. Photo © Galerie Flak.On February 18, the two online shows open simultaneously: the American Indian Art Show | San Francisco and San Francisco Tribal & Textile Art Show. While the American Indian Art Show will focus purely on Native American artwork and material, the Tribal & Textile Show expands past the borders of North America to include artwork from all around the globe. 
Navajo rug, ca. 1930’s, serrated diamond pattern. Courtesy KR Martindale Gallery.
This distinction is what largely sets San Francisco Tribal & Textile Art Show apart, and it’s one that gives the show a unique following—not only can collectors find objects from Navajo, Hopi, Blackfeet, Cherokee and dozens of other tribes in North America, but they can also see objects from Indigenous people from Oceania, Africa, South Africa, Australia and many other places around the world.
It is this international scope of the show that helped establish the virtual component to the 2022 edition. “We have a number of great galleries abroad, in Europe and Australia and beyond, that would not have been able to travel during the pandemic,” says show producer and owner Kim Martindale. “We didn’t want to exclude anyone. We want as many participants as possible.”
When the 11-day virtual show opens on February 18, viewers will find a revamped website that makes browsing available material easy and intuitive. There will also be a new wish list function that allows guests to mark items they want to easily return to later. Any purchases are done through each vendor, which encourages dealers and collectors to work together to get questions answered and to arrange payment and shipping. 
Pre-Columbian Colima dog. Courtesy Art Blackburn.
Garra mask, Bahinemo people, Hunstein Mountains, Eastern Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea, Carved wood, 26½". Courtesy Galerie Flak. Photo © Galerie Flak.
And while the two shows are taking place at the same time, each of them has very unique exhibitors. “The majority of our galleries participate in just one of our shows, while maybe 10 percent are crossovers that show in both,” says Martindale, who produces and owns both American Indian Art Show | San Francisco and San Francisco Tribal & Textile Art Show. “What’s fun about these shows is how well they go together. We have people who collect from Tibet, Guatemala and Japan, but then also go into the Native American materials. These two shows are a celebration of the many different cultures around the world.”
Tribal & Textile Art Show includes international exhibitors such as Galerie Flak, Paris; Louis Nierijnck, Netherlands; and Bryan Reeves, London. Stateside dealers include Thomas Murray Arts, Trotta-Bono and Mark A. Johnson Tribal Art, Art Blackburn and Dave DeRoche Art of Africa, Oceania and Americas.
The fair runs online through February 28. Native American Art is a proud media sponsor of the event. —
February 18-28, 2022
San Francisco Tribal & Textile Art Show
www.virtualtribalandtextileartshows.com
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