Having Agency

Changes are afoot on Canyon Road. See, it turns out that operating in the same fashion forever and ever winds up not working all the time. So
gallerists, artists and curators looking to expand the definition of art, and galleries are taking risks. It might not sound like a particularly big deal, but it is—and with women like Nina Sanders (Crow/Apsaalooke) and her new curation brand The Agency leading the charge, good things are bound to happen.

SFR first became aware of Sanders when she was curating the show
IMPRINT at the Ralph T Coe Center for the Arts over the summer, but with her
upcoming pop-up at VQ Gallery on Canyon, she's blurring the lines between market and fine arts show with well over 20 artists, fashion designers and craftspeople—all of them Native.

"[VQ] asked me to come on as a partner in January, and [owner Viviana Cloninger] had been here a couple years and thinking about Indigenizing," Sanders says. "I set up the pop-up to help us figure out how to work together. … I'm bringing all these different sorts of artists together, and I think most people wouldn't see that as art, they'd see it as craft."

Of course, that would be selling the event and the artists and craftspeople short, and it's Sanders' hope to change or at least augment that perception. For example, when I visited the space recently, she showed me intricate, painstakingly detailed beaded bags from artist Elias Not Afraid (Crow). Not Afraid's patterns carry a traditional design familiarity, but with gold embellishments and playful elements like punk rock spikes, they also toy with the idea of what's traditional or not.

For Sanders, this is a vital facet to the pop-up. She wants artists, collectors, the media and even casual observers to understand there's a certain loaded quality to the idea of labeling Native art as traditional, and the gallery and museum systems around the country aren't much helping.

"It's really interesting how these institutions have pigeon-holed young people into creating things that are, I guess, part of the demand from the public," Sanders says. "You have the choice as the professional to say, 'We're not going to use the word traditional anymore'—we're going to create a space for people to make whatever comes from them, and it doesn't matter if it's sexual, if it's part of the LGBTQ community. … Is it really true art when you control the content of what an artist makes?"

It's a good question—one that's plagued Santa Fe arts since colonization, particularly Indigenous artists who often feel pressure to create what will sell to collectors looking for specific, traditional pieces. In other words, there is often an unspoken implication that an artist's Native-ness become an inextricable aspect of their artistic output. For Mestiza artist Andrea Isabel Vargas, who shows illustrations on paper during the pop-up, such pressures are twofold when taking her womanhood into account.

"You know what's interesting, is that I'm part of this other show that's with three women; so do we have to self-identify as feminists, or can we just be artists?" Vargas asks. "For me, I know who I am, so how do I respond to my contemporary moment? My whole journey has always been, we have to accommodate commissions to survive, but then the true challenge of the artist is, what are you truly gifting back to the world?"

Vargas, who moved to Santa Fe from Oakland five years ago, creates work that often features figures in a single color, or maybe with an accent hue, that ride the line between anatomically recognizable and a strange, almost intangible beauty. One piece, a woman's torso, shows the hint of a belly and is headless. It's gorgeous, and if we have anything to say about it, she's going to be on more Santa Feans' art radars soon.

Also taking part are notable fashion names like Bethany Yellowtail (Crow/Apsaalooke and founder of brand and collective B.Yellowtail), whom Sanders calls her "co-conspirator" for the event, Patricia Michaels (Taos Pueblo) and Loren Aragaon (Acoma) with his label ACONAV. Certainly these names have received no small amount of attention lately, from celebrity clients to big-name events and runways—but, on a local level, they're perhaps not as well-known or shown as often. We'll also see swimsuits from up-and-coming local brand Pueblo Beach.

"They're all bringing their newest lines, and what I'm hoping to do is help build them a bigger clientele," Sanders tells SFR.

Numerous other creators abound at the show as well, from the jewelry of Jhane Myers (Comanche/Blackfeet) and paintings of David Naranjo (Santa Clara Pueblo) to the bold work of Ben Pease (Crow), a borderline pop artist whose compositions mix traditional Native portraiture with contemporary painting, collage and
symbolic design elements.

"I think it's going to take a lot of work," Sanders says, "but I'm trying to change people's minds about what Canyon Road is."

She's already changed ours.

The Agency and B Yellowtail Pop-Up Shop
10 am-8 pm Saturday Dec. 15; 10 am-6 pm daily through Dec. 24 (closed Monday Dec. 17). Free.
VQ Gallery,
703 Canyon Road,
415-328-4321