My Native American father drew the Land O’Lakes maiden.

"She was never a stereotype."

A counterargument to the identity-umbrage crowd.

Interesting. And sad.

“They Got Rid of The Indian and Kept the Land.”

Ouch!

quote:

Originally posted by jodi:
Interesting. And sad.

+1

Yes, the identity-umbrage crowd. There was a very popular food cart here that sold tacos, but was forced to close because the cook/owners weren't Hispanic.

Also, I have a Hopi friend who is a kachina carver. He carves religious ones, which I've never seen and which remain with his tribe for ritual use (that I've never seen). He also carves non-religious kachinas for the tourist trade, which provides a significant source of income. I own one of the tourist kachinas.

He was at a party at my house, when I was on the receiving end of a tirade from a non-native who said my kachina was a travesty, cultural appropriation, white privilege, genocide, the full deal. The carver of the kachina, I was told, would *never* agree to have a sacred object displayed as art on top of my upright piano. This in front of the carver, who assured her that not only was he not insulted, he wanted her to know that she was essentially arguing that he should become unemployed. "Please buy my carvings, lady! It's how I make a living!"


Oops. The single time in my life when I was in the exact right position with the exact right person, who knew the exact right thing to say.

It's never happened again.

But we all want to know if calling Chinese food "Chinese food" is racist.

quote:

He was at a party at my house, when I was on the receiving end of a tirade from a non-native who said my kachina was a travesty, cultural appropriation, white privilege, genocide, the full deal. The carver of the kachina, I was told, would *never* agree to have a sacred object displayed as art on top of my upright piano. This in front of the carver, who assured her that not only was he not insulted, he wanted her to know that she was essentially arguing that he should become unemployed. "Please buy my carvings, lady! It's how I make a living!"

Oh, what a wonderful story!

Discussions like this wear me out.

I have some friends in the native community in New Mexico. They make the bulk of their living producing "art" pottery for non-Indian buyers ... for people like me.

On one hand, they're in a space that has been defined by some native activists (but not by any artist or craftsperson that I have met), and by white woke folk, as cultural exploitation. A leftover of colonial genocide.

On the other hand, this cultural market is a real market upon which they depend -- just like artists of any cultural background. And it's a market that they have had a big hand in creating, alongside promoters and gallerists. I use that term "gallerist" because "dealer" doesn't quite convey the depth of the personal connection between the (usually white) person who is promoting and selling the art to a wider public and the native creators they represent.

This duality leads to some strange conversations.

I have asked one of my potter friends to teach me the traditional way of making pottery as handed down to him by his mother (Tonita Tafoya), his grandmother (Margaret Tafoya) and his great grandmother (Sara Fina Tafoya) who was potting in the 19th century. The family still uses Sara Fina's polishing stones. I was hesitant at first to ask because of all the baggage of white/native relations, and because "traditional" pottery has a spiritual element not unlike the kachina-maker's problem. Was my request overly bold? How would he take it.

Well, he "took it" just fine. He was flattered that someone my age would ask to become a child, essentially, and start from the beginning, standing beside the master.

I'm hardly alone in wanting to experience this culture a tiny bit from the inside. In early March, I was at Charles King's gallery in Scottsdale, just before the Covid lockdown. He is one of those excellent "gallerists" who actively promote his artists. He knows all the people I know. I mentioned my desire to learn the basics, and to learn from my friend (who Charles buys from). Charles smiled, went to his shelf, and came back with a simple but very beautifully crafted piece of "native" black ware produced in the Santa Clara style. Of course it wasn't native. Charles had made it in a small class led by native artists expressly to introduce people to their art.

Just FYI, my friend is Jeff Roller.

Oh, Jeff sells online too. I'm sure he would be grateful for a referral ...

Jeff Roller Art

I think the key, when it comes to creating works that are based on another culture’s traditional works, is to do it under the guidance of someone who is of that culture. PianoDad, your desire to learn those traditional crafts and asking someone from that teach you is very different from someone who is not of that community copying that style and then selling it. That’s where the appropriation bit comes in. Taking a class or learning from someone from the community is an excellent way to help support them. Buying from someone who is from a reserve and is selling their traditional crafts is totally ok. Buying knockoffs that were made in a factory owned by someone not from the community from a souvenir shop is where the problems lie.

quote:

Originally posted by dolmansaxlil:
I think the key, when it comes to creating works that are based on another culture’s traditional works, is to do it under the guidance of someone who is of that culture. PianoDad, your desire to learn those traditional crafts and asking someone from that teach you is very different from someone who is not of that community copying that style and then selling it. That’s where the appropriation bit comes in. Taking a class or learning from someone from the community is an excellent way to help support them. Buying from someone who is from a reserve and is selling their traditional crafts is totally ok. Buying knockoffs that were made in a factory owned by someone not from the community from a souvenir shop is where the problems lie.

What Dol said.

P*D, your story reminds me that my dad learned to weave on an upright single-harness loom, the way the Navajos do it (still). He learned from some guys in Window Rock, and later took more classes in Taos. I don't think the Taos people were native, the Window Rock people most definitely were.

He kept weaving using a modified loom, still single harness, but horizontally laid out, until he died. We all have tons of his blankets and other weavings. I hadn't forgotten that he was a weaver, but I hadn't thought of how he learned in decades.

There are a lot of fine lines. One of the big things that helps me grow as an artist is to experience the work of other artists, and take what speaks to me in that work - explore it myself and incorporate those things, (techniques, material, painting styles) into my own work. Trying to balance that in a mindful way without offending, or being accused of cultural appropriation - can be difficult, especially if you are drawn to the art and rituals of a culture different than your own.

I think there is a big difference, a huge difference, between fraud on the one hand and the culture-war charges of appropriation lobbed so easily by what I termed identity umbrage activists on the other.

I don't think anyone would disagree that it's wrong (and actually illegal) to sell a knockoff "Navajo turquoise" piece as "genuine Navajo" when it was actually produced in a sweatshop in Manila. That's simple fraud.

I'm not so sure that just using stylistic motifs from another culture in YOUR work is so problematic. Cultures have interpenetrated since there have been cultural exchanges.

Many of the early 20th century pueblo potters got ideas from European ceramics they saw in eastern museums they visited. Those ideas migrated back to the pueblos. In the other direction, the impact of asian musical instruments on European composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was profound, as we all know. One of my colleagues used to roll her eyes and sneer derisively at Debussy's "orientalism" while another colleague rolled her eyes at the first one's dismissiveness of fabulous music.