NDN ART

RAMONA SAKIESTEWA

As mainstream culture permeates every aspect of Indian life, so may the work of a few Native American artists have a disproportionate impact on the esthetic experience of the population at large. The imagery and environmental aptness of their work pulls these artists into that free space where one great work of art can float up to the surface, jump into focus, and imprint itself on the collective subconscious.

Ramona Sakiestewa creates abstract works of art that crisscross all sorts of artificial boundaries. For instance, two dimensional art is normally painted rather than woven, according to the conventional wisdom, and weaving is an unsuitable medium for lyrical abstract expressionism because the warp and weft dictate geometric design. Sakiestewa does not confront these customary ways of thinking because she never acknowledged them in the first place. Her compositions allow the forms and especially the dynamic lines to move as freely as if they were set down with a fast-moving brush.

Sakiestewa is a Hopi who came to her craft first as a scholar. She researched, restored, replicated, and wrote about ancient Pueblo weaving. Her knowledge of the history of Native American textiles is unparalleled. She designed a series of Pendleton blankets using ancient motifs, and has also created wearable art for the Smithsonian catalog. In her art, her words, and her life, she brings her ideas to a consistently impeccable level.

Sakiestewa's influence extends even beyond the production of her legendary weavings-as-abstract-paintings. She was invited to develop visual vocabularies and design concepts for the interior spaces of the new National Museum of the American Indian. A division of the Smithsonian Institution, the building is nearing completion on the Mall in Washington, DC. "This is the most amazing work I've ever been involved in," says the artist. "It has given me the chance to draw on all my personal life experience, including art and architecture, and translate it into design. I never imagined that I would work on a building of that stature."

Millions of visitors from all over the world will stream through that space. Ramona Sakiestewa's ambient design, along with her peerless art, will become a vital part of their visual reality.

RAMONA SAKIESTEWA b. Albuquerque NM. Honors: IAIA Museum board member/founder; Solo exhib: Heard Museum, Taliesin West, AZ; Museum of the Southwest, Pasadena CA; Wheelwright Museum NM. Coll: Museum of Fine Arts NM; Denver Museum CO; St. Louis Museum MO; Cleveland Museum OH; Newark Museum NJ; Mobil; Neutrogena. Representation: LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM