Paula Baxter’s Blog
People Matter Most
Most of us who travel regularly to Indian Country count its modern inhabitants as the real draw. Our friendships spring up over time, during visits, and as the result of shared interests. The arts are a great bridge between cultures, and frankly, in this television-heavy, pop culture global society of ours, we all have more interests in common than ever. The early tourist industry in the Southwest made a business of putting Native peoples and their arts on show, but today’s artists are like artists everywhere.
Some artists may be self-taught, others have art school and/or college training. Non-Native assumptions about tradition can go out the door these days. Last year, we drove down from Kayenta to Flagstaff, and stopped into Tuba City for a strategic break. The Western Navajo Nation Fair was in full swing. McDonald’s was full of older ladies in traditional velvet blouses and broomstick skirts, wearing beautiful turquoise cluster jewelry. Clamped in one hand was an Egg McMuffin while the other hand held a cell phone. The coffee shop down the road had the younger generation busily working their Blackberries and laptops. It’s a wired world, my friends, and it pervades reservations and pueblos alike.
No, the people are the ones who matter most, Native and non-Native locals.
Orville Tsinnie, a Navajo silversmith from Shiprock, NM, with his wife Darlene
Touring through Indian Country over the years brought us into contact with Indian traders, gallery owners, small shop proprietors, friendly salespeople, and artists, lots of artists. When comparing notes, those of us who are consumed collectors of Southwestern arts always agree that meaningful friendships with dealers and artists help us with our obsession. Some of these friendships developed slowly, others took off right away, and the act of returning for visits, even those separated in time, proves to be a delightful process of renewal. Over time, people we first met in the late 1980s have weathered the years along with us, and their reports of “life, the universe, and everything” keep bringing us back.