Sandra Hale Schulman
Special to ICT
The latest: Teepee bags with fringe benefits, acorns and seaweed, art outside Indian Market
STYLE: Smart design, activism bring the thunder
Despite multiple surgeries and personal and health setbacks, Brandi Lee Sawyer, Cherokee descendant, has persevered and designed a unique leather handbag shaped like a teepee that Native stars are lining up to carry and that also helps advance the MMIW cause.
Sawyer has been involved in events to promote MMIP awareness.
“I actually created and helped a senator, I got a bill passed for Red Dress Day (with help of Sen. Eric Berthel) in the state of Connecticut and MMIWP-Day awareness day,” Sawyer told ICT. “I have been leading and coordinating the whole situation up there and we hang over 150 red dresses along the red trail outdoors. It is absolutely powerful. It is something to see and then I got my strength back and I said I am going to make it to the State Capitol for the first ever Red Dress installation. That was huge to lead that and to create the awareness day and bring all of the different nations together to stand in unity.”
Sawyer was also interested in design. She says she did the bag sketch in minutes and now has it patented. She named her company BTThunderLuxe, standing for Bring The Thunder Luxe as that’s what she needed to do to regain her health. The quality bag comes in several colors and styles and has already been seen dangling from the glam arms of actress JaNae Collins (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) and composer Genevieve Gros Louis (“Life Below Zero: First Alaskans”).
Sawyer will be seen this weekend in Santa Fe at the SWAIA Fashion Show with her daughter Maddyx. They both will be walking for a couple of Indigenous fashion designers. And her bag is sure to be seen around town as a symbol of perseverance, strength and reclamation.
BEAUTY: Acorn oil a hit at market
N8iV Beauty, founded by show host and entrepreneur Ruth-Ann Thorn, Rincon Band of Luiseño/Payómkawichum Indians, was a prominent figure at the first Native Fashion Week in Santa Fe back in May, and is a sponsor of the fashion show on Sunday at the Santa Fe Indian Market, hosted by the Southwestern Association of Indian Arts. That is sure to be the reason models get their glow on.
Her booth introduced products that draw on ancestral plant wisdom to source acorn oil from her tribe’s reservation. Harvested once a year, this acorn oil has been used for 23,000 years to restore, rejuvenate and empower the skin in creams and serums.
Her new seaweed-based line is releasing some products this month infused with kelp and cactus, plants that know about hydration. She uses recyclable packaging, and all ingredients are sustainably sourced.
Beyond these products, she has a TV series.
“I produced a series called ‘This Is Indian Country’ that got picked up by a distributor out of Canada and is showing on PBS affiliates,” Thorn says. “It’s a 12-episode series, 30 minutes, and it’s all about modern-day Natives. It’s Anthony Bourdain meets Indian Country.
“I have a couple of episodes with real people who are making a difference in the world, and they’re all Native American from different walks of life. Artists, musicians, comedians, tattoo artists, culinary artists, they all have a story of resilience. They all come from difficult times and difficult places, but they’ve overcome all of that and are major contributors to the world. That’s really what I want to show and that’s what N8iv beauty is all about. I think that’s what our ancestors would want to see.”
ART: From the Great North to the Pueblo lined streets
Two major art shows are opening in Santa Fe this week.
In the heart of the city is Arctic Highways: Unbounded Indigenous People, Aug. 16 to March 2, 2025, at the Museum of Contemporary Native Art, which features 12 Indigenous artists from Sápmi (a cultural region traditionally inhabited by the Sámi people) and North America, sharing stories of those who live on different continents yet regard themselves as kindred spirits.
Artworks explore what it means to be unbounded by political borders. The show includes photography, duodji (Sámi handicraft), sculpture, fiber art and videos. Hailing from the far North, their art touches on themes that resonate with Native American communities in the Southwest. From border issues to land loss to threats to the environment and language and cultural preservation, these artists use art to shed light on shared experiences and concerns.
There is also a contingent of artists from Canada and Alaska showing at the Indian Market thanks to a new partnership.
Outside the Museum of Contemporary Native Art, exterior portal columns got a new paint job from six artists, including Brian Taffee (Taos Pueblo), Haley Greenfeather English (Turtle Mountain Chippewa and Red Lake Nation), Topaz Jones McCoy (Shoshone Bannock) ’11, Robyn Tsinnajinnie (Diné) ’20, Eliza Naranjo-Morse (Tewa-Kha’p’o Owingeh and Santa Clara Pueblo), and Heidi Brandow (Diné and Kanaka Maoli) inspired by the theme of Land and Identity.
Each artist painted two columns, with a story and color palette inspired by the Southwest sunset.
Up on Museum Hill, a new show at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, Driving the Market, will expand the definition of Native art to include work in new mediums and breakthrough styles. In addition to customary pottery and beadwork, there is cutting-edge fashion, digital art, a video wall featuring interviews with artists and others sharing their perspectives on the role art markets play in honoring and promoting contemporary Native art.
A highlight is a fully decorated 1974 Triumph TR6 convertible collaboratively created by 12 Native artists, originally an auction item, an object that literally drives to the market.
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