{"id":103,"date":"2021-09-16T05:28:26","date_gmt":"2021-09-16T05:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/Artisan%20Portal\/?page_id=103"},"modified":"2021-12-16T05:29:20","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T05:29:20","slug":"buying-native-art","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/portal.nmhistorymuseum.org\/index.php\/under-the-portal\/buying-native-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Buying Native Art"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Buying Native Art<\/h4>\n

Artisans of the Portal Program adhere to stringent guidelines regarding the type and quality of materials used in their work. Items must be handmade using traditional materials and techniques. Mass-produced or imported items are strictly prohibited. Maintaining this level of excellence is a primary concern of portal program participants and History Museum staff.<\/p>\n

Portal Artisans are available to answer questions regarding how a piece is made and sources of materials used. Buyers can learn a great deal about Native craftsmanship and cultural heritage. Through these interactions visitors can gain an understanding and appreciation for the labor-intensive workmanship and traditions involved in the creation of Native made goods\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Maker\u2019s Marks<\/h4>\n

All items offered for sale have a maker\u2019s mark. Artisans can point out these distinctive \u201csignatures\u201d that enable the identification of artists\u2019 works. It is important to know the name or maker\u2019s mark of an artist or craftsperson especially if you wish to contact them in the future as the assignment of spaces under the portal changes daily.\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Pricing of Arts and Crafts<\/h4>\n

Some program participants negotiate prices; many do not. Remember that authentic Native American arts and crafts are labor intensive making handcrafted objects more costly than those that are machine made.\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Metalwork<\/h4>\n

Din\u00e9, or Navajo peoples, learned metalsmithing while incarcerated by the United States government at Bosque Redondo, New Mexico (1863-1868). They were the first Native people in the American Southwest to learn this skill. However, by the turn of the 19th century, the craft had spread to Zuni, Hopi, and the Rio Grande Pueblos. The earliest metal used was fashioned from coin silver.<\/p>\n

Today, program participants make jewelry of silver, gold, copper, and brass. All silver used is sterling\u2014that is, 92.5% pure. Silver-plate over base metals and nickel alloy may not be sold under the portal. Gold is becoming increasingly common in Native American jewelry. Program rules permit gold, gold-fill (12KGF or 14KGF) and gold overlay. <\/p>\n

Many jewelers get their start working with brass which can also provide buyers with a less expensive option. Some jewelers cut and shape the stones they use in their work; others use pre-shaped, polished stones, called \u201ccabs\u201d \u2013 short for cabochons. Certain types of attachments, called \u201cfindings\u201d are also used in the making of metal jewelry.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Pottery<\/h4>\n

Native Americans have been making pottery in the Southwest for at least 1500 years. All pottery sold on the portal is made of fine local clay gathered on the potter\u2019s Pueblo, then hand-constructed, and fired outdoors using traditional firing techniques. Under current rules, kiln-fired pottery is prohibited. The pottery may be stone polished or coated with a protective sealant. Pottery can also be decorated with natural mineral or vegetal paints, while others with commercial paints.\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Stones, Shells, and Beads<\/h4>\n

Turquoise, the most common stone under the portal, has been used for millennia by southwestern Native Americans for adornment, as a trade item, and for ceremonial purposes. It comes in various forms and many grades of quality. Natural turquoise is unaltered except for shaping and polishing. It is most often set in metal jewelry. Stabilized turquoise is a genuine stone hardened with resin to make breakage less likely. The sale of reconstituted turquoise, a combination of turquoise dust and plastic, is prohibited under the portal.<\/p>\n

Native American jewelers have incorporated many materials into their work that include a variety of shells and stones commonly found in pieces sold under the portal. These include but are not limited to mother-of-pearl, spiny oyster shell, olive shells, clam shell, melon shell, coral, jet, lapis, jasper, agate, hematite, sugilite, serpentine, black onyx, pipestone, and malachite. <\/p>\n

If you have questions about the materials, ask the artisans. They can identify the materials and inform you of its origins and how it was used in their work.<\/p>\n

Heishi<\/i> (he-she) are often made into necklaces of delicate, disk-shaped shell beads. They are made primarily by Santo Domingo artisans who are renowned for this type of work. The heishi sold under the portal are cut, drilled, and ground by hand. This is a painstaking process and a single necklace may require the fashioning of hundreds of tiny beads.
\nGlass trade beads, introduced to the region as a trade item, have been used in the adornment of objects by Native Americans since the early 19th century.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Sandpainting<\/h4>\n

The sale of decorative sandpaintings in substantial numbers dates from the early 1960s. Sandpaintings under the portal are made using natural pigments that are ground by the vendors themselves. Often vendors have samples of the original stones from which the various pigments are derived for visitors to examine. The surface of some sandpaintings is coated with a protective sealant.\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Other Goods<\/h4>\n

Other arts and crafts represented under the portal include leatherwork, textiles, carvings (both stone and wood), drums, drawings, and paintings. Others sell food items such as bread baked in traditional ovens, tamales, or pi\u00f1on nuts. Labels providing the maker\u2019s name and a list of ingredients are on all food sold. Any vendor selling food must have a food handler\u2019s card, required by city health regulations, displayed on their cloth.\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buying Native Art Artisans of the Portal Program adhere to stringent guidelines regarding the type and quality of materials used in their work. Items must be handmade using traditional materials and techniques. Mass-produced or imported items are strictly prohibited. Maintaining this level of excellence is a primary concern of portal program participants and History Museum […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":150,"parent":97,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-103","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/portal.nmhistorymuseum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/portal.nmhistorymuseum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/portal.nmhistorymuseum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portal.nmhistorymuseum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portal.nmhistorymuseum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/portal.nmhistorymuseum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/103\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portal.nmhistorymuseum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/97"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portal.nmhistorymuseum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/portal.nmhistorymuseum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}