Two Native organizations will showcase Native art and culture from Southeast Alaska at the Santa Fe Indian Market this year in an effort to better educate art enthusiasts and collectors about the region’s distinctive indigenous art and to develop a similar market here.
The Native nonprofit Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) and its founder Sealaska Corporation are planning Native art demonstrations, art sales, dance-and-cultural performances and a high fashion show to spotlight the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures of Southeast Alaska.
The Santa Fe Indian Market over the past 90 years has been instrumental in creating worldwide demand for Southwest Indian art. The two-day market, scheduled Aug. 20-21, is operated by the nonprofit Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA), which invited SHI and Sealaska to participate.
One of the main goals is to eventually develop a Native art market in Alaska similar to the lucrative Santa Fe market, said Worl, adding such a market would be a boon for Alaska and for Native artists struggling to make a living. The Santa Fe market has made some Native artists there prosperous, she said.
The event also is an opportunity to better acquaint Lower 48 tribes with Sealaska Corporation, a Native company formed in the 1970s as a result of Alaska's Native land claims settlement. At the urging of Native Elders, Sealaska founded Sealaska Heritage Institute in 1980 to develop language and culture programs. It has continued to be a major force in supporting cultural programs.
Sealaska Heritage Institute is a nonprofit founded in 1980 to perpetuate and enhance the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures. SHI operates several programs to promote Southeast Native art, including an art website, a retail store, a juried art show, workshops, and a Native artist market held every other year at Celebration—a dance and culture festival organized by the institute. The institute also operates programs to document and teach Native languages, produce educational materials, and preserve archival and ethnographic collections. For more information see www.sealaskaheritage.org and www.alaskanativeartists.com
Sealaska Corporation is a for-profit company formed under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 and founded for the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian of Southeast Alaska. Since inception Sealaska has strengthened business with culture and operates diverse operations in Southeast Alaska and worldwide for the benefit of its 20,000 tribal member shareholders and the communities it operates within. In 1980 it established Sealaska Heritage Institute to operate its cultural and educational programs. For more information see www.sealaska.com
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