Every year, Native American artists come together to showcase their talents at the annual Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market. While many look forward to this spectacular event, local galleries also contribute to the celebration by hosting their own time-honored shows. This includes King Galleries’ annual Heard Market Show, this year titled Clay and Color. Held at the gallery’s Scottsdale, Arizona, location, the show will feature pottery from around 12 artists, with a few paintings in the show as well.
Al Qöyawayma (Hopi), Majestic Trail, native clay
“Clay and Color brings together the work of today’s leading Native potters along with young potters who bring a new perspective and voice to Native art,” says gallery owner Charles S. King. “There is the dynamic color of the paintings, but also the variety of colors created with clay and clay slips, as the art form continues to evolve.”
Attendees will see quite the diverse mix of representation, as King described, and will include astonishing pieces like Hopi artist Al Qöyawayma’s Majestic Trail—a sculptural piece with architectural elements inspired by the artist’s visual experience and cultural interactions.
Les Namingha (Hopi-Tewa/Zuni), Untitled, native clay and acrylic
“There is no specific cultural ‘story’ [in this piece], but the construction is the story,” Qöyawayma explains of his process. “Creating a shape and Hopi clay mixtures that would accommodate a vertical architectural theme became the hourglass shape, after much trial and error. All of the architecture had to be formed inside the vertical space; the whole section in the front is open, so normal coil clay construction had to be adapted to accommodate the open space. Then the architectural features are added as the construction progresses vertically. While this piece is conceptually simple, the piece was difficult to form, and required special drying and timing to avoid any cracks, not to mention adding the walls and stone formation within the space.”
Left: Juan de la Cruz (Santa Clara), Rabbit Jar, native clay; right: Tammy Garcia (Santa Clara), Sarafina Memories, native clay
We see color take center stage in Les Namingha’s Untitled Hopi designed jars pictured here. “The jar in the background is strongly influenced by Hopi style pottery designs found on historic low-shouldered jars,” says the artist. “The emphasis was on color within the two geometric abstract bird designs on the top of the jar. Normally, historic Hopi polychromes utilized one or two red/orange or white clay slips for color. The jar in the foreground highlights the use of bold geometric lines and triangular shapes. The triangle pattern is Pueblo in design, but it also alludes to architectural design pattern of the 1930s, such as is found on Manhattan’s Chrysler Building which was built between 1928 to 1930.”
Namingha continues, “In my recent works, I am introducing design inspired by geometric and Art Deco paintings of the 1930s. Using elements of Pueblo pottery designs as a base, I incorporate strong angular and linear forms to the surface of my jars. These works are in contrast to the free flowing, multi-layered abstractions which I continue to produce in my Layers series.”
Autumn Borts-Medlock (Santa Clara), Birds Song, native clay
Other highlights in the show include Santa Clara artist Tammy Garcia’s Sarafina Memories jar, pictured alongside another show piece by Juan de la Cruz. “I’m carving in a different way than ever before—at an angle where the design begins,” says Garcia. “This tapered technique is giving my pottery a new look. Overlapping and layering designs add to the details.”
Attendees will also see works by Autumn Borts-Medlock, Steve Lucas, Daniel Begay, Jared Tso and Kwani Povi-Winder, among many others.
Join King Galleries on March 2 for an opening from 5 to 9 p.m., occurring alongside Scottsdale’s Thursday night Native Spirit ArtWalk.
King Galleries
Opens March 2, 2023
7077 E. Main Street, Suite 20, Scottsdale, AZ 85251
(480) 481-0187, www.kinggalleries.com
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