After a couple covid-diminished years, the Santa Fe Indian Market was back on this year in full force. I've taken these photos from the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper, and noted the attributions. None of these photos is my own.
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Tyrell Loretto with the Jemez Pueblo's Cloud Eagle dancers performs for a crowd on the plaza during the annual Santa Fe Indian Market and Free Indian Market downtown on Aug. 19, 2023. Jim Weber/The New Mexican |
And here is the reason why - the crowds. I don't do large crowds any more, or hot afternoons outdoors for that matter, so I stayed home.
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Crowds sluggishly move along Lincoln Ave.during the annual Santa Fe Indian Market and Free Indian Market downtown on Aug. 19, 2023. Jim Weber/The New Mexican |
But it was nice to know the largest indigenous market in the country has regained its footing and drawn so many visitors once again.
The best of show award for pottery went to a potter from Santa Clara Pueblo for her tiny but intricately etched pot, depicting, of all things, dinosaurs running through a natural landscape.
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Shoppers stop to look at the Best of Show-winning piece "Caught by Surprise" by artist Jennifer Tafoya during the annual Santa Fe Indian Market downtown on Aug. 19, 2023. Jim Weber/The New Mexican |
The artwork and crafts are the main features, but there is always lots of food, dancing, performances and lively action going on.
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Adylynn Toya, 5, with the Jemez Pueblo's Cloud Eagle dancers performs for a crowd on the plaza during the annual Santa Fe Indian Market and Free Indian Market downtown on Aug. 19, 2023. Jim Weber/The New Mexican |
The weather was dry and sunny, so that helped draw big crowds, unlike last year when it rained pretty steadily and unusually.
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Crowds line San Francisco Street in front of the cathedral Saturday during the Santa Fe Indian Market. Jim Weber/The New Mexican |
My neighbor one street over, D.Y. Begay, is a nationally known Navajo textile artist and
she exhibits at Indian Market. I would have gone to see her work displayed but couldn't brave the crowds.
I don't know her well, but we chat at the mailbox occasionally. She has
exhibited in national museums, and you'd think she'd have a big studio, but she weaves at her home. A tour of textile experts came to her house one time and the giant Greyhound bus got stuck navigating our narrow side streets. A kerfuffle and some excitement for our sleepy neighborhood.
This photo from the newspaper is of Gloria Begay weaving, not D.Y. The Begays are a large Navajo clan with many families of well known weavers.
And of course in addition to potters and weavers, there are many jewelers, sculptors, beadworkers, woodworkers, doll makers, and of course painters.
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A kiss of light touches his brush as Frank Fowler Jr. paints indigenous dancers at night during the Free Indian Market downtown on Aug. 19, 2023. Jim Weber/The New Mexican |
Not photographed for the newspaper was the indigenous fashion show, which is always a highlight and gets bigger and bigger every year. It has outgrown its niche as a side event at Indian Market and next year it will be staged as its own event over several days in early May.
Now that's an event I could manage to get to. And my group of friends from all over the country that used to meet here each August for Indian Market is up for a weekend of Native fashion next spring. They stopped coming to Santa Fe during covid, and after a decade of meeting each August for opera and Indian Market, the gathering hasn't happened since.
Several days of fashion, some good eating, a re-constituted gathering of our group: plans need to be made for 2024.
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