Sandra Hale Schulman
Special to ICT
SANTA FE, New Mexico — Native creatives were out in full force this past weekend for the 104th Santa Fe Indian Market hosted by the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts.
Hundreds of artists vie for awards at the start of the weekend with winners announced on Friday. Best of Show went to Sergio Youngblood Lugo, Santa Clara Pueblo, for his “4-Sided Floating Melon Pot,” a blackware pot on stilts that is a miracle of engineering design and sheer persistence.
Lugo said he had to recreate the pot and its lid after the first versions broke during firing after months of carving. His two entries for last year never even made it to market after breaking.
“A lot of people don’t see what artists go through especially when you’re doing something that has never been done before. Failure is just part of pottery-making,” Lugo said in SWAIA’s news release.
Best of Classification Winners
- Jewelry: Jack Tom (Diné) – Dragonfly
- Pottery: Sergio Lugo (Santa Clara Pueblo) – Floating Melon Bowl
- 2-D: Marla Allison (Laguna Pueblo) – Life
- Pueblo Wooden Carvings: Arthur Holmes, Jr. (Hopi) – Eototo
- Sculpture: Felix Vigil (Jicarilla Apache) – Realm of the Rainmaker
- Textiles: Lola Cody (Navajo Nation) – Transition
- Diverse Art: Jolene Bird (Santa Domingo Pueblo) & Tanya June Rafael (Navajo Nation) – Harry and Anabelle
- Beadwork & Quillwork: Juanita Growing Thunder Fogarty (Dakota / Nakoda) – Tataga Huga
- Youth: Aydrian Day (Ho-Chunk/Anishinaabe/ Lakota) – Wambli Gleska Win
- Basketry: Caleb Hoffman (Cherokee/Penobscot)- Perseverance
Beyond the market, the action started Friday with a breakfast and memoir book giveaway with former U.S. Secretary of the Interior and candidate for Governor of New Mexico Deb Haaland at a kickoff for Indigenous House at La Fonda with a jam packed terrace, food from Chef Claudia Serrato, lovely table runner decor by award winning artist Wakeah Jhane’, and vendors including TIME 100’s top brand N8IV Beauty, House of Sutai jewelry, and NDN Girls Book Club.
Haaland was interviewed by Vogue writer Christian Allaire, Ojibwe, as she spoke about growing up only being able to afford thrift shops and how amazed she is to be named one of the Best Dressed People of 2025. She tells her story in her new memoir, “A Voice Like Mine.”
The Rez Round Roundup Honky Tonk on Saturday had musical performances and a curated menu from James Beard Award-winning Chef Sean Sherman and Chef Claudia Serrato. Red Chile Rabbit Pozole anyone?
A mirrored lifesize horse, hay bales, an embroidered scarf giveaway and a personalized cowboy hat stand had guests lining up all night. Seen at the honky tonk were three-time Miss Indian World Cheyenne Kippenberger sporting the Seminole version of country, “Prey” and “Free Leonard Peltier” Producer Jhane Myers in a leopard slip dress and gold cowboy boots, Lehi Sanchez of Thunder Voice Hat Co., and Navajo weaver and designer Naiomi Glasses.
“The energy at the Santa Fe Indian Market is truly unmatched, and we could not have been more excited to bring to life Indigenous House by inviting the community together to experience some of the very best in music, fashion, art, and food,” said Indigenous House Founder and President Crystal Echo Hawk, Pawnee.
Art from incarceration
A pop-up art show by Leonard Peltier on Friday at FarahNheight Gallery showed Peltier’s considerable skill at still lifes, portraits, and abstracts. While he was denied furlough to attend at the last minute, his oldest son Chauncey Peltier hosted the show with his nephew and grand nephew.
Chef Sherman came by and bought a Peltier painting of baskets and corn, Oscar winner Wes Studi and “Dark Winds” star Zahn McClarnon showed up to meet the family and see the art.
The paintings had been carefully stored for decades by his son who took them from the prison to his home.
“I knew their value, both personally and professionally,” Chauncey told ICT, as now Leonard’s eyesight is failing and painting is challenging.
At a screening at Pathways for the “Free Leonard Peltier” documentary that will be released on Netflix on Indigenous Peoples Day Oct. 12, Chauncey spoke movingly of how difficult it was to maintain a relationship with a notorious father who went to prison when he was just 10 years old.
“We never got much time with him and sometimes they put him in lockdown right before we got there,” Chauncey said. “I’ve tried to spend as much time with him as I can and he has been more emotional with the family now that he has a home for us to come to.”
Bison and Baby Opie
Saturday at the SWAIA Gala, the well-dressed crowd packed the convention center for the auction, dinner, music and gourmet meal. One of a kind luxury bags from Jamie Okuma and Sean & Snyder went for tens for thousands of dollars, followed by a high energy dance performance by the Desnomie family featuring 8-year old Baby Opie, a prominent Cree and Anishinaabe performance group.
The delicious elegant meal was created by Chef Stephanie Pyet DeSpain and featured a Four Directions appetizer with duck and cornbread, a main course of bison tenderloin with berry BBQ reduction and acorn squash with red mole; dessert hit the sweet spot with wild rice pudding and blue corn cookies.
Pyet was one of the celebrity judges on “Chopped: Indigenous Inspirations” episode, and walked down the runway in Sunday’s fashion show, wearing Steven Paul Judd’s collection.
A two-designer fashion show featured new designs from Jamie Okuma, Luiseno, Shoshone-Bannock of knit sweaters and flowing checkered pants with scarves during the SWAIA Gala. Patricia Michaels, Taos Pueblo, brought out star actress and models Cara Jade Myers, Kiowa and Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, and Tantoo Cardinal, Cree Métis, in dresses of hand painted velvet.
High style and street wise
On Sunday, the sold out standing room-only annual SWAIA Native Fashion Show — that spawned the Native Fashion Week in May — brought out some new names and top favorites.
@indiancountrytoday ICYMI: Santa Fe Indian Market wrapped up this past weekend, bringing together Indigenous artists, creators, celebrities and leaders from across the country. Will we see you there next year? #indiancountrytoday #ICTnews #nativenews #indigenousart #Nativetiktok ✍️ Reported by Jourdan Bennett-Begaye 🎤 @debhaalandnm at @indigenoushouse ♬ original sound – ICT
Jontay Kahm started the show with Part II of his River Lily Collection he had shown in May. An astonishing whirlwind of satin, ribbons, appliqued black flowers and models in floral sunglasses sashayed down the runway. Kahm truly has a vision unlike anyone else and his craftsmanship is impeccable.
Himikalas Pam Baker showed some glamorous glittering gowns with half capes and flowing trains. Her distinctive Pacific Northwest iconography appears on prints, satin and sequin beading.
Desmon “Day Day” Pack, who is Coast Salish, Tlingit, Kwakwaka’wakw and African American, showed vibrant designs and is the son of Pam Baker. Pack presented a collection fusing Indigenous streetwear and Afro-Indigenous culture with reconstructed, upcycled designs.
Devon Tso‘s collection drew inspiration from the 1892 statement “Kill the Indian, Save the Man,” a reflection on the lasting impact of forced assimilation. The Diné designer’s first model carried a signboard on that theme. A standout red velvet embroidered dress had a high conical front.
Santa Fe designer and artist Jimmy Dean Horn of Running Horse Studio makes graphic woodblock prints he stamps onto upcycled clothing that has been worn by Kiowa Gordon of “Dark Winds” and exhibited at New York Native Fashion Week. His models all bumped each other in passing on the runway in a streetwise, “Hey man give me some space.”
Steven Paul Judd closed out the show with his collaborations with Nike, Faherty, Ginew and NTVS. He sent star models Chef DeSpain, McClarnon, Emmy winning hoop dancer Eric Hernandez, Notorious Cree from TikTok, composer Mato Wayuhi, and Kate Nelson of Cowboys & Indians Magazine down the runway to whoops and applause.
SWAIA returns May 5-9, 2027 for Native Fashion Week in May and the market on Aug. 21 and 22, 2027.
