Propping them Up

Established artists come together to support upcoming creative minds during the annual IAIA Benefit & Auction.

Every year, the IAIA Benefit & Auction brings together art, community and scholarship in support of the next generation of Native American artists, opening up important new opportunities for students at the Institute of American Indian Arts. The event falls within the exhilarating summer art scene in Santa Fe—from SWAIA Indian Market to dozens of gallery shows and fairs—offering collectors yet another way to absorb the cutting-edge work being created by Indigenous artists today.

Rose B. Simpson (Santa Clara Pueblo) and Pat Pruitt (Laguna and Chiricahua Apache), Insight, 2026, glazed ceramic, stainless steel and mild steel, 25¾ x 11½ x 85/8 in. Photo by Kitty Leaken.

The 2026 live auction, of which all proceeds benefit IAIA students, will feature the following artists (many of whom are IAIA alumni): Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan/Hidatsa/Arikara/Lakota), Estella Loretto (Jemez Pueblo), Douglas Miles (White Mountain Apache/San Carlos Apache/Akimel O’odham), Kent Monkman (Fisher River Cree Nation), Les Namingha (Hopi/Zuni), David Naranjo (Santa Clara Pueblo), Golga Oscar (Yup’ik), Rose B. Simpson (Santa Clara Pueblo), Pat Pruitt (Laguna Pueblo/Chiricahua Apache) and Preston Singletary (Tlingit).

Metalsmith Pruitt and sculptor Simpson will be bringing a brand new collaborative piece titled Insight, made from glazed ceramic, stainless steel and steel. “The vessel is a contemporary translation of a traditional stirrup-style wedding vase, with two small faces emerging from the balanced openings. Down each side, under the faces, are a series of descending stainless steel adornments,” Simpson explains. “Traditionally, the wedding vase is used in ceremony to signify nourishment from the same source—a coming together with intention and in a state of love and care. In this piece, we see two beings emerging from a unified center—a source. This is a representation of the manner in which we come together; from the awareness of our commonalities, from a place of common nurturing and care, romantically or otherwise.”

Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan/Hidatsa/Arikara/Lakota), The Illustrated Adventures of Thunder, 2025, six-color lithograph on Somerset Velvet Buff, ed. of 10, 38 x 30 in. Photo courtesy the artist.

Kent Monkman (Fisher River Cree Nation), Charcoal Study for Knowledge Keepers (Boy Chopping Wood with Nun), 2025, charcoal on acid-free paper, 24 x 18 in. Photo courtesy the artist.

Simpson recently introduced a new scholarship specifically for pueblo students attending IAIA called the “Homelands Scholarship.” “IAIA is an important institution for Native peoples all over the hemisphere, but the amount of representation of the people whose homelands are where IAIA resides is lacking. I am hoping that, through the support of this scholarship, more pueblo students will feel welcomed and supported at IAIA,” she explains. “Pat helped me to set up the scholarship, as well as dedicated his time and work to create this piece that will be intended to build and grow this scholarship.”

Monkman brings a drawing titled Knowledge Keepers to the 2026 event. “My Knowledge Keepers series upholds a sense of fierce hope, emphasizing the resilience, courage and determination of our communities,” he says. “Many successive generations of Indigenous children, including my grandmother and her siblings, were forced to attend government and church-run residential or boarding ‘schools,’ or, more accurately, children’s work camps. The harm of these attempts to break family bonds have left a trail of destruction through our communities to this day, but our ancestors and elders secretly held our languages and cultural teachings, waiting for the time they could come back to the light.”

Actor Zahn McClarnon views artwork during the 2025 event.

Last year’s IAIA Benefit & Auction.

He continues, “As part of the ongoing attempt to process this difficult part of our shared histories and to try to heal myself, my family and community, I chose to depict our Knowledge Keepers in my paintings as children fostering close relationships to the land and to one another, upholding the Cree values of wîcihitowin, helping one another, and sâkihitowin, love, taught to them by their families.”

The IAIA Benefit & Auction will be held at La Fonda on the Plaza on August 12 from 5 to 9:30 p.m., with advance ticket purchase required. The live auction for ticket holders and remote bidding takes place from 8 to 9 p.m. A silent auction with online bidding will open July 10 and runs through August 12. In addition, from July 10 to 26, a preview of the artworks on offer will be available for viewing in the Lloyd Kiva New Gallery in the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, free to the public. —

August 12, 2026, 5-9:30 p.m.
2026 IAIA Benefit & Auction
La Fonda on the Plaza 100 E. San Francisco Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501 www.iaia.edu