Returning to the Santa Fe Botanical Garden and Convention Center for its second edition is the Native Elements Art Festival + Market, which celebrates Native land, plants, people and art. The event is held over Memorial Day weekend, thoughtfully dated between the Heard Museum Indian Fair & Market and Santa Fe Indian Market, to provide Native American artists with opportunities during this traditionally slower time.
Left: Prudy Correa (Acoma Pueblo) showcases her work at the 2025 Native Elements. Right: Attendees at the 2025 market shop for incredible pieces by Native American artists.
“The market will feature up to 200 artists presenting works in paint, beadwork, jewelry, pottery, carving and fashion,” say representatives from the Santa Fe Botanical Garden. “This event offers a chance for people to experience authentic Native American art and purchase directly from the artists. That direct connection and opportunity for storytelling are what make the event meaningful for both artists and patrons.”
Representatives are also excited to highlight four featured artists: Donald Lomawumu Sockyma (Hopi), Marla Allison (Laguna Pueblo), Autumn Borts-Medlock (Santa Clara Pueblo) and Veronica Poblano (Zuni). They will be given additional space in a primary location for the duration of the market.
Marla Allison (Laguna Pueblo), Petrichor, gold Leaf and acrylic on canvas, 48 x 48 in.
Borts-Medlock will bring her impressive pottery examples, often including nature themes and depicting subjects like insects, flowers, animals, landscapes, sky and clouds. The artist is also known for her parrot effigies. A show highlight offered by Borts-Medlock, is her vase Foxes and Flowers, hand coiled and finished with a fluted rim emulating moving clouds. It also features a fox as the main subject, which was inspired by an encounter the artist had with foxes while she was walking on a forested trail in a Taos, New Mexico, canyon.
“After drawing my design on the surface, I carved out multiple layers of clay to create a dramatic depth of field,” Borts-Medlock explains of her process. “I paint some of the designs with different mineral clay slips and burnish with a smooth stone for a shiny surface. Other areas are painted matte to create contrasts in the design. I [also] dig my clay from the hills that surround the village of Santa Clara Pueblo, the village where I grew up. [I’ve also included a] butterfly for pollination and flowers for their beauty. They are the wild roses that grow down by the Rio Grande.”
Autumn Borts-Medlock (Santa Clara Pueblo), Foxes and Flower, clay. Courtesy of King Galleries
Veronica Poblano (Santo Domingo), New Beginnings, 18kt gold, 24kt gold shank with pure gold granulation, orville jack inlay, natural lapis, red mediterranean coral, lander blue turquoise, 2 x 1/12 in.
Painter Marla Allison will present abstract paintings, a new direction from her landscape and figurative work. Alison’s show piece Petrichor, for example, is a love song for home and the smell of rain. The artist made a big transition by moving to Northern California from her long-time home in New Mexico. “It is a representation of the smell of dry earth and wet clay that the rain brings,” Allison explains of the piece. “Many would call it a natural gift from the sky. The name “petrichor” is the name given to the smell of the fresh rain when it interacts with water in the air and earth smell. It is more a desert scent to me, but also a memory and time in life that I cherish when I return to New Mexico. The monsoon season is special when seeing the clouds building up through the day and hearing the distant thunder; the breeze lifting. When the first rain drops hit the sand, the scent envelopes you with desert life and gratitude.”
Attendees of Native Elements can expect to find these beautiful works, and many others during the four-day event, including special programming. Kicking off the event on May 21 is the opening celebration, which will include a live and silent auction, as well as an award ceremony. This event will take place at the Santa Fe Botanical Garden.
Donald Lomawumu Sockyma (Hopi), Crow Mother Katsina, cottonwood root and acrylic watercolor, 12 x 5 in.
Beginning May 22, the Native Elements moves to the Santa Fe Community Convention Center, starting with the Night Market reception, where guests can meet the artists. The full market will take place on May 23 and 24. On May 23, there will be a panel with the featured artists moderated by Native American Art executive editor Michael Clawson.
Additional programming will take place during the market at the convention center, as well as in the nearby Santa Fe Plaza, where dancers will perform on the stage. Visit the show website for details and a full schedule. —
May 21-24, 2026
Native Elements Art Festival + Market
Santa Fe Community Convention Center, 201 W. Marcy Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501
www.visitsfbg.org/native-elements
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