A SUPPLEMENT TO ANTIQUES AND THE ARTS WEEKLY • 5 CHURCH HILL RD • NEWTOWN, CONNECTICUT, 06470 • JULY 24, 2015

Your Summer Guide To Buying Native American Art and Artifacts, Cowboy Antiques, Fine Western Art, Spanish Colonial and Western Americana

THE OLD WEST

SANTA FE, N.M. — Coinciding with the high sea-son, the city will welcome the sixth annual Objectsof Art Santa Fe Show August 12–15, and the fol-lowing week, the Antique American Indian ArtShow on August 17–20. Both shows will takeplace at El Museo Cultural in the Railyard district.

Designed with the collector and art lover in mind,the Objects of Art Show presents an eclecticselection of fine arts juxtaposed against the best ofhandcrafted works, running the gamut from historicto contemporary, and offered at all price points.

Items on view for purchase will include paintings,historic and modern fine art from Taos School toleading contemporary artists, sculpture, textiles,furniture, jewelry, books, designer fashions, as wellas American Indian, African and Japanese contem-porary and folk art. More than 70 exceptional deal-ers will present thousands of one-of-a-kind items atthis annual showcase, which opens with a benefitfor New Mexico PBS on August 12. Objects of ArtSanta Fe is open to the public August 13–15.

The show will also feature a special exhibition inassociation with El Museo Cultural of works fromthe Yao people of southern China and northern

Southeast Asia. Curated by Lee and Vichai Chi-nalai, “Deeply Yao” showcases ethnographica fromthis large but relatively unknown hill tribe group.More than 100 pieces will be on view, includingsignificant and extremely fine examples of textilesand silver jewelry, making it the most completeexhibition of Yao culture in the world. Now number-ing more than three million people, the Yao aredescendants of people who lived in the mountainsaround the Changjiang River Basin in China duringthe Qin and Han dynasties (221 BCE to 220 AD).

Following the Objects of Art Show, El Museo Cul-tural will be the backdrop for the Antique AmericanIndian Art Show August 17–20, presenting morethan 40 national dealers with museum-quality bas-ketry, jewelry, textiles, kachina carvings, sculpturesand more.

A special exhibition of American Indian ChilkatDancing Blankets and their predecessors, Raven’sTail weavings, will take place at the Antique Ameri-can Indian Art Show. “Chilkat Blankets: ArtisticMasterpieces” will showcase more than a dozenhistoric and contemporary blankets and two com-plete ceremonial ensembles, as well as a stunning

contemporary Chilkat weaving by Cheryl Samuel,creator of seminal works in the field. The exhibitionrepresents some of the finest examples of theseunique art forms in the world. Never before have somany of these culturally important textiles been onview for comparison and study.

A traditional form of weaving, Chilkat Dancingblankets were made by the Haida, Tsimshian andTlinget people of British Columbia and Alaska.These complex textiles are the most recognizableof all Northwest Coast American Indian art forms.

The blankets were worn or used on ceremonialoccasions, including the potlatch, which includedspeeches, feasting and dancing…and ended withthe host’s presentation of the privileges heclaimed, which were validated by gift-giving. Onlythe wealthiest chiefs were able to give Chilkatblankets to distinguished guests, in entirety, or cutinto strips and distributed at a potlatch. These intri-cate blankets were so prized, that guests who hadreceived a piece of Chilkat blanket would sew thefragment into a piece of clothing like an apron, leg-gings or tunic.

Chilkat or dancing blankets could take in excessof one year to create. A multi-stepped process, theblankets required much planning: from gatheringthe mountain goat wool to producing the yarns, tocreating a pattern board, and finally weaving. Tradi-tionally, Chilkat blankets were woven of mountaingoat wool and yellow cedar bark. Only the “down”of the mountain goat hair was used. The cedarbark was collected, dried, split and wet, then com-bined with the mountain goat wool. “Spinning” thewool was accomplished by rolling the wool usingbare hands Dye was produced from naturalsources including tree lichen, copper or hemlockand set with aged urine. Preparation of the materi-als alone could take more than six months, and theactual weaving could take many months more.Blankets were often finished with fine fringe.

Chilkat blanket designs are abstract and symbolicin nature, and quite complex. The pattern was cre-ated by an artist on a “pattern board,” which theweaver would follow to make the blanket. Thesepatterns frequently contained the same design ele-ments seen in masks, carvings and paintings.

By the mid-1950s, there were only a very few liv-ing Chilkat weavers. Colonization had severelyaffected the First Nations communities in Canadaand the Native American community of Alaska.Consequently many of their traditional arts werebecoming more and more rare. The Antique Ameri-can Indian Art Show will be the only opportunity tosee this seminal exhibition in the New Mexico area.

The Antique American Indian Arts Show will openwith a benefit for New Mexico PBS on Monday,August 17. General show hours are from Tuesday,August 18 through Thursday, August 20.

For additional information, or to purchase ticketsfor Objects of Santa Fe or the Antique AmericanIndian Arts Show, call 505-660-4701 or visitwww.SantaFeShows.com.

6 — THE OLD WEST July 24, 2015 — Antiques and The Arts Weekly

“Chilkat Blankets: Artistic Masterpieces” will be an important special exhibition atthe Antique American Indian Art Show. Collection of Stephen Liste.

Ramos Martinez (1871–1946), “Zapatistas,” 1928, mixed media, 21 by17 inches. Courtesy of Stevens Fine Art, an exhibitor of the Objects ofArt Santa Fe Show.

Baiku Yao pleated skirt. Part of a special exhibition titled “Deeply Yao” at the Objectsof Art Santa Fe Show. Courtesy of Chinalai Tribal Antiques.

O-oto Tsuku, the Hopi Hair-Knot Clown,early Twentieth Century, 9¾ inches high.Courtesy of John C. Hill Antique IndianArt Gallery, an exhibitor at the AntiqueAmerican Indian Art Show.

Two Important Shows To Take PlaceDuring Santa Fe’s High Season

24 — THE OLD WEST July 24, 2015 — Antiques and The Arts Weekly