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ATADA Lifetime Achievement Awards

Antique Tribal Arts Community Honors Its Own

More than 130 American Indian and tribal art dealers and collectors, archeologists, scholars and museum curators and administrators -- in other words, us -- attended the Antique Tribal Art Dealers Association's inaugural Lifetime Achievement Awards dinner on February 24, 2007.

Highlights of the evening included a standing ovation for dealer/honoree Marti Struever when she received her award (the event was nicknamed "the Marti Party" by her many admirers), and scholar/collector/honoree Anne Summerfield's statement that she hoped the little-known Indonesian textiles she and her husband collect, exhibit and promote, become more "Bali-hoo'ed" in the future. The dinner was held at the Embassy Suites Hotel in San Rafael, California. Many of the attendees were in town for the 23rd annual Marin Show: Art of the Americas.

The honorees were:

Warren Robbins,
who founded what has become the National Museum of African Art;

Warren Robbins in front of the Museum of African Art.
Photo by Arnold Newman.

Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, Warren Robbins is the founder and director of the Robbins Center for Cross-Cultural Communication.

But that is just one of Robbins' many, many accomplishments. He has done everything from being an office boy at a brokerage firm, from 1939-41, to being a pilot.

He was Chief of the U.S. Cultural Program for Germany, based at the American Embassy in Bonn from 1958-1960.

He was Curriculum Advisor for Hochschule fuer Gestaltung (Academy of Design and Communication), Ulm, Germany, 1955-60, the postwar successor to the Bauhaus.

As a commissioned Lieutenant, he established the University of New Hampshire squadron, Durham, N.H. 1944-45.

He received an M.A. in History and another in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Michigan, and many honorary degrees.

Honors include:
The Robbins Center for Graduate Studies, dedicated at the University of Michigan School of Art & Design, 1996
Winner, Public Humanities Award, Washington Humanities Council, 1990
Washington Art Dealers Association Second Annual Award, 1987
Joseph Henry Medal, Smithsonian Institution, 1983
"Washingtonian of the Year," 1975
Order of Merit, Republic of Cameroon, 1973
39th Annual Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecturer, sponsored by the Institute for General Semantics, Yale Club, New York, 1990
Afro-American Inaugural Committee Award, 1989
Hon. Vice President, University of Vienna, Post-Graduate Medical Faculty, 1954 (American Medical Society of Vienna)

Boards of Directors or Advisory Boards (past & present include)
Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, Advisory Board, University of Minnesota
Maryland Museum of African Art, Columbia, MD, Honorary Co-Chairman
Museum of African-American Art, Santa Monica, CA, Honorary Trustee
Library of Congress, Arts Advisory Committee
The Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, Santa Ana, California

Clubs: Explorers

Publications:
African Art in American Collections Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 and many others.
Editor/Contributor to many catalogues and publications of the Museum of African Art, as well as organizing many of the exhibitions at the Museum of African Art.

Films & Television (feature programs):
Documentary Film: "Tribute to Africa: The Photography of Eliot Elisofon" (awarded the CINE "Golden Eagle," 1974)

Has made presentations / given lectures at dozens of venues

Finally, as if the foregoing were not enough, Warren has also devoted time to working on his personal interests in art photography and abstract drawing.

. . .

Quintus and Mary Herron,
who have given their tribal art collection to Idabell, OK, through the Herron Foundation;

Quintus and Mary Herron

Quintus and Mary Herron are excellent examples of the kind of people who continually enrich the world around them. They had collected Native American art for a number of years by the early 1970s. A growing awareness of the importance of their collection, and the need for further research into the cultural connections, both historic and prehistoric, led them to create the Herron Research Foundation in 1974.

In 1975, they established the Museum of the Red River in Idabel, Oklahoma, with the gift of their own collection and an endowment from the Herron Foundation. Through continued gifts and a judicious use of acquisition funds, this museum has grown from an initial 2500 square foot building to a structure of over 22,000 square feet, a research library of 4000 volumes, and a collection of nearly 18,000 objects. The Herrons are responsible for 80 percent of this collection.

The Museum of the Red River is the largest exhibiting art museum for 150 miles in any direction, serving a four-state region. Significantly, it is also in a region where it is possibly the only museum for many of the people it serves. The collection emphasizes objects from North American cultures, but also has significant holdings of Pre-Columbian art from Central and South America as well as contemporary works from native peoples of those areas, and representative material from various cultures of Africa, East Asia and the Pacific Islands. The Herrons have approached their collecting as well as their philanthropy in a thoughtful, scholarly and logical manner. They have educated thousands of people to the richness of human endeavor and the importance of preserving this trust for future generations.

They have received numerous awards and recognition for their efforts. Among them:

1998 Mary Herron: The Oklahoma Museums Association's Laura McDonagh Streich Award honoring the person who has helped to significantly advance museum professionalism in the state, the Association's highest honor.

2003 Quintus and Mary Herron: The Oklahoma Governor's Arts Award recognizing longtime leadership and significant contributions to the arts across Oklahoma.

2006: Art and Antiques Magazine Top 100 Collectors in the U.S: Quintus and Mary Herron, Native Art of the Americas.

. . .

John and Anne Summerfield,
who donated their collection of Minagkabau textiles (Sumatra, Indonesia) to the Fowler Museum of Cultural History at UCLA;

Left: John and Anne Summerfield outside their hotel in Batu Sangkar, West Sumatra, after a trek through the hills to a macrame village.
Right: The Summerfields at the 1999 opening of their exhibition, Walk in Splendor, at the Fowler Museum, UCLA. Flanking the couple are H. Hasan Basri Durin (Governor of West Sumatra), and Doran Ross (Director of the Fowler Museum).

John and Anne Summerfield earned their doctorate degrees in economics and physics, respectively, at the University of California, Berkeley. After retiring from separate active professional lives in academia and the corporate world, they combined their talents to pursue a second career in the arts. Starting in 1977, they built on a lifetime interest in "soft" art to engage in a study of Indonesian ceremonial textiles. By 1985, that study had been narrowed from a pan- Indonesian focus to the relatively unstudied and unpublished ceremonial weavings of the Minangkabau peoples of the province of West Sumatra. At that time, the main Indonesian textile interests of Westerners were in the batiks of Java and the more tribal warp ikats of Eastern Indonesia. Los Angeles residents J. Daniel Ungerer and his wife Gerdy, Dutch Indonesians who were raised in West Sumatra, introduced the Summerfields, who also live in Los Angeles, to the West Sumatran peoples and to their unique matrilineal culture. The Ungerers' collaboration with the Summerfields has lasted since 1985, giving the Summerfields friendly access to many Minangkabau who became of great assistance in the research effort.

Some 18 visits to Indonesia have resulted in three major museum exhibitions of Minangkabau weavings collected by the Summerfields:

Trailing the Tiger, 1990-1991, at The Textile Museum in Washington, D. C.

Fabled Cloths of Minangkabau, 1991-1993, at the Santa Barbara (California) Museum of Art (the exhibition traveled to the Bellevue [Washington] Museum and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, University of Utah, Salt Lake City.

Walk in Splendor, 1999, at the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, including a major publication, Walk in Splendor, Ceremonial Dress and the Minangkabau. Not an exhibition catalog, the book contains an introduction to the history and culture of the Minangkabau; an extensive report on the Summerfields' research; and a series of essays on other ceremonial arts of the Minangkabau (dance, architecture, ceremonial food, pidato adat, or ceremonial speech), knowledge of which helps to place the exhibited textiles in context.

In addition, beginning in 2003, the Summerfields co-curated three exhibitions at the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Gallery at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts, and conducted a two-day workshop in Indonesian textiles for faculty members who want to use the gallery's textiles to provide their students hands-on experience with Asian art. The book that accompanies the current 2007 exhibition addresses an important issue in the evolution of tribal arts: what happens when an art that was once individual, and perhaps sacred, becomes commodified? A goal of exhibitions such as this is to encourage textile scholars to read more of anthropologists' writings and vice versa. The Summerfields also initiated and taught a course on the textile arts of Indonesia at the Center for the Study of Regional Dress at the Fowler Museum, UCLA. They were the founding co-chairs of he Fowler Textile Council, a group of local connoisseurs who meet to discuss current exhibitions, burgeoning trends in art appreciation, visit local collections, and provide support for the Fowler's extensive textile collection.

They also have given a series of lectures in the United States and Canada illustrated with textiles, not slides, as well as lectures at international conferences. They have published articles in professional and popular journals and newspapers, and have viewed and helped to identify and catalogue Minangkabau collections in many U. S. museums. They consult regularly with persons seeking information about the function, provenance and cultural importance of Minangkabau textiles.

For the Summerfields, a major goal has been to develop a major Minangkabau collection at the Fowler Museum, UCLA, including a representative collection of the weavings as well as Indonesian publications, relevant artifacts, and photographs pertaining to Minangkabau ceremonial weavings. When they started this project, there were five Minangkabau textiles in the Fowler textile collection. The effort is on-going; there are now more than 200 pieces in the collection.

In recognition of their efforts to extend awareness of Minangkabau arts and culture beyond the immediate communities of Indonesia, the Summerfields were adopted during a day-long ceremony conducted by elders of the West Sumatran village of Balinka, the first Caucasians to be so honored.

. . .

Archeologist Stuart Struever;

Stuart Struever on location at a dig.

Stuart Struever developed his passion for archeology as a boy, when he carefully recorded the Indian artifacts he found on his family's land in Illinois. During his college years, he directed an archeological program in the Illinois and Mississippi Valleys. His long-term goal was to achieve a comprehensive understanding of pre-rural American history for those specific regions of the country, starting with the Eurasian immigrants of 12,000 years ago to the disappearance of Indian life a century ago.

In 1964, Struever founded and for twenty years directed the Center for American Archeology, an independent archeological research center affiliated with Northwestern University. The C.A.A. established a permanent research and education campus at Kampsville, Illinois. To acquaint the public with new discoveries, Struever started Early Man magazine, the first magazine to publicize modern archeological findings.

In 1983, he founded a second independent archeological research center, Crow Canyon Archeological Center. Since its inception, Mr. Struever has worked continuously to build and develop this southern Colorado based institution.

Stuart Struever's many outstanding and varied accomplishments in his chosen science are well documented. He has been listed in Who's Who in America, received a Humanities Fellow of the Year Award (1984), a Distinguished Service Award from the Society for American Archeologists (1995) and has served as a consultant for numerous museums and television documentaries, and has served as editor for a number of scientific publications.

There have been, however, two main objectives in his career. First, to build and operate independent archeology organizations capable of implementing and sustaining a multidisciplinary, long term research program focused on understanding prehistoric human adaptations. And second, to create programs aimed at expanding archeological education beyond the university classroom.

It was, in fact, Stuart Struever who broke the age barrier for students participating in formal archeological excavations. Beginning in 1970, the Center for American Archeology, at Mr. Struever's behest, began to invite junior and senior high school students as well as adult lay persons to get involved in digs at its research campus near St. Louis. This idea has been carried on to Crow Canyon. Today, about 3000 high school students and adults annually participate in programs there. About 350 of these young students are American Indians.

Education
Dartmouth College, A.B., 1953
Northwestern University, M.A., 1960
The University of Chicago, Ph.D., 1968

Positions Held
Chairman, Department of Archeology, Northwestern University, 1975 - 1978
Instructor, University of Chicago, 1964 - 1965
Instructor through Full Professor, Northwestern University, 1965 - 1984
President, Center for American Archeology, 1964 -1984
President, Crow Canyon Archeological Center (Denver), 1985 - 1992
Recipient of the Crow Canyon Chair, 1993 - 1995

Offices
President, Illinois Archeological Survey
President, Society for American Archeology
Member, Research Grant Committee for Anthropology, National Science Foundation
Member, Grant Committee on Basic Research, National Endowment for the Humanities
Member, Founding Board of Directors, Society of Professional Archeologists
Publisher of Early Man, the Magazine of Modern Archeology
Member, Board of Scientific Governors, Chicago Academy of Sciences
Member, Advisory Board, Mitchell Indian Museum, Kendall College
Series Editor, STUDIES IN ARCHEOLOGY series, Academic Press
Editor, Memoirs series, Society for American Archeology.

. . .

and American Indian art collector/dealer Martha Hopkins Struever.

Marti and Stuart; Marti,ooking at a piece of pottery by Santa Clara artist Autumn Borts

Martha Struever entered the world of American Indian Art as a collector in 1971. In 1976, she established the Indian Tree Gallery in Chicago which continued under her direction until 1983. Finding talented new Indian artists was a primary focus of Marti Struever's early endeavors in the field. Through the exhibition of their work at her gallery, many artists were introduced to the world outside the Southwest. In the years between 1978 and 1989, the now-notable jewelers Gail Bird and Yazzie Johnson, Richard Chavez, Norbert Peshlakai and Perry Shorty, as well as potters Dextra Quotskuyva, Steve Lucas and Les Namhinga all had their first exhibitions sponsored by Marti Struever.

Over the past thirty years Marti Struever has organized and conducted more than sixty traveling art seminars. These trips are highlighted by private visits to museums, scholars and artists. The tours create new collectors and further the knowledge of veterans in the field of native art.

In part, through her association with Crow Canyon, an independent archeological research center started by her husband, Stuart, Marti Struever oversaw nine benefit Indian Art Shows in Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Denver, bringing 25 artists to each event. One of the nation's leading authorities on Nampeyo, she was a guest curator for several museum exhibits on the life and work of the famous potter. It was her great interest in Nampeyo and the people of Hopi that would lead her to the distant mesas where she would develop close friendships with Dextra Quotskuyva, the granddaughter of Nampeyo, and with the ground-breaking contemporary jeweler, Charles Loloma. These relationships in turn led to major retrospective museum exhibitions for both artists, both of which were accompanied by comprehensive books authored by Struever.

She continues to seek out young and talented artists in the Southwest, sponsoring their work at a show she curates every August in Santa Fe. From Santa Fe to New York to far-flung corners of the Hopi and Navajo reservations, if you are traveling with Marti Struever, you will be cordially greeted by collectors, scholars and artists.

Publications:
Book: Loloma, Beauty Is His Name, Wheelwright Museum, 2006
Book: Painted Perfection: The Pottery of Dextra Quotskuyva, Wheelwright Museum, 2002
Catalogue: Nampeyo, a Gift Remembered, Kendall College, Mitchell Museum, Evanston, IL, 1984
Catalogue: Hopi Art: A Century of Continuity and Change, San Francisco Craft & Folk Art Museum, 1987

Guest Curator:
Nampeyo, A Gift Remembered, Kendall College, 1984
Hopi Art: A Century of Continuity and Change, San Francisco Craft & Folk Art Museum, 1987
Painted Perfection, the Pottery of Dextra Quotskuyva, Wheelwright Museum, 2002
Loloma Beauty Is His Name, Wheelwright Museum, 2005
Loloma Beauty Is His Name, Heard Museum, 2006

Lecture Series:
"Art and the People of the Southwest," Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, 1984
"American Tribal Art," Teachers Educational Conference, Gary, IN, 1981
"Collecting American Indian Art," symposium with Richard Pohrt, Sr. and Fr. Peter Powell, Chicago, 1981
"Southwest Weaving," symposium with Joe Ben Wheat, Marion Rodee, Bill Malone, Chicago, 1982
"American Indian Jewelry," lectures and demonstrations with Gail Bird, Yazzie Johnson, Norbert Peshlakai,
Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, 1985.

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Robert Bauver

The Man Whose Idea Became Reality

Bob Bauver talks about the Lifetime Achievement Awards

After five years of discussion, the ATADA, Lifetime Achievement Awards took place on February 24th in Marin. Originally planned to take place in Santa Fe during the August show schedule, a suggestion was made to move the awards evening to Marin while people were in town for the show. This turned out to be a sound judgment, and with Kim Martindale's involvement in the preparation, it became a reality.

These awards were conceived with the idea and intent to reach beyond our organization in order to recognize the contributions of individuals involved in all aspects of tribal arts. This was done in an effort to establish a common ground among the various fields of study and by bringing people together to introduce ATADA to these representative individuals in a way that might not otherwise happen.

There has been an encouraging amount of support for the event and many have urged us to keep up the momentum by continuing the award evening next year, after which it would be presented on a two year schedule.

In the future, we would like to be able to make this event a fund raiser for the organization. However, to do so we will have to investigate seeking sponsorship from sources yet to be determined. We all owe a great debt of gratitude to K.R. Martindale for donating the expenses for the room and all the arrangements required to make the evening such a success. Very special thanks go out to Kim and his staff as well as to Alice for all their work and dedication. It was, indeed, gratifying to see an idea come to this fruition. Thank you.

Robert Bauver

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And a Good Time Was Had By All

photos by Steve Elmore

The ATADA Strings: Philip Garaway and Bob Caparas

The ATADA Strings: Philip Garaway and Bob Caparas

Elaine Tucker and Natalie Linn;    Darlene Seng and Marti Struever

Toby Herbst and Terry DeWald;    Paul Gray and Michael Higgins

Ricky Lightfoot who introduced Honoree Stuart Struever, Struever, Bob Gallegos;    Merrill Domas, Mary Herron, Quintus Herron, Philip Garaway, and Bob Bauver

Claudia and Jim Haas;    Roger and Pat Fry

Mike Bradford and Jan Duggan;    Fred King and Carol Hayes

Allan Hayes;    Merrill Domas and David Cook

John Molloy;   Tad Dale, Ted Trotta, Clint Nagy, and Teddy Trotta

John Hill;    Jamie Kahn and John Krena

Charles and Mark Sublette;    Tad Dale and Andres Moraga

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Thomas Murray, ATADA President

From the President

As my first official act as your new president, it was my pleasure to preside over the ATADA Lifetime Achievement Awards dinner. This event achieved our initial goal; it honored some very worthy people and our organization basked in some of their reflected glory, on top of which the food and ambiance were excellent and everyone present had a great time!

I would like to seize this opportunity to rectify a glaring omission made that evening: in failing to acknowledge Kim Martindale for his Herculean efforts to make the Lifetime Achievements Award event happen, we were very remiss. It is safe to say that without his help the project would never have happened and I thank him mightily. Although a bit young compared to our recipients, Kim is well on his way to his own achievement award for all he has accomplished in our field and on behalf of ATADA and we look forward to many years of mutual cooperation!

There are some constructive suggestions I would like to make for the future .among others, this would include a better PA system (luckily, no one could tell who was thanked and who wasn't!), but I admired how under quite difficult conditions, our team of volunteers pulled together to help squeeze the most out of the sound system, following the old theater dictum, "The show must go on!" To them I also give thanks!

I for one like having a large number of honorees from various fields; in so doing, we ensure a greater success not only by the prospect of attracting a more diverse audience to the event, but also there is the collective benefit of being exposed to very informed individuals with specialized interests outside our own. I know I learned a lot that night and I hope the rest of you did as well.

One suggestion might be to limit the focus of the introductions to the human side of the winners, who they are as persons, as opposed to repeating academic accomplishments that were already on the wall; yet we must encourage the spontaneous talks by the recipients, which were all very interesting and well received!

I thank everyone for their contribution for making this a success, and I welcome your suggestions for improving the event in the future.

On another note, having just made it through the February Bay Area shows and with NY Tribal in May and August in Santa Fe coming up, I would like to say a few words about vetting. This is both a sensitive subject and a difficult job. No one likes to hear that their object is a problem piece, especially now that such large sums of money can often ride on the decision of people one may feel at first blush know less about the subject than oneself. But everyone can make a mistake; I know I certainly have. It is through the process of having our material discreetly reviewed by informed colleagues that we are able to catch the occasional error. If the vetters have made a mistake and it is a good piece, then it will still be a good piece after the show; on the other side, if it is "wrong," then what a blessing! Not only are costly, traumatic, and alienating "returns" avoided on down the road, the pulling a problem artifact from the market also spares one poisonous whispers about the questionable status of one's piece, not to mention a booth often looks much better for the simplifying!

I would like to make a statement of appreciation for those who serve as vetters, for it is from their often-thankless task that the collecting community feels a greater security and, as a result, buys more freely and with greater confidence, a benefit to all of us! As ATADA's existence is predicated on the principle of serving the public interest by guaranteeing the authenticity and legal provenance of all of the art we sell, we must aggressively self-vet. Please leave "maybe" pieces at home. Be kind to vetters, next time you may be one!

Wishing all the best,

Thomas Murray

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Editor's Notebook

After our first Lifetime Achievement Awards dinner, I want to thank a lot of people who made the event possible and successful.

First, thank you Bob Bauver, for having the idea and for continuing to talk about it, even when no one seemed to be listening.

A huge thank you to Kim Martindale, without whom taking Bob's idea to reality would not have been possible. Without his vision, party planning experience, and generosity, there would have been no awards dinner.

Thank you to Kim's staff - Keith, Victoria, Linda, Doc, and everyone else who helped turn problems and crises into solutions.

Thank you to Weston Pritts and Becky Walding, who created the invitations, programs, ads and posters, sometimes on a very tight schedule.

Thank you to Deann Spitler, ATADA's printer, who was personally responsible for making sure there were copies of the ATADA News ready to give out at the awards dinner.

Thank you to Cindy Hale, who asked if there was anything she could do to help, and meant it. Thanks to her and Margaret Neal and a few others, everyone was directed toward their tables on time or close to it.

Thank you to The ATADA Strings - the talented and generous Philip Garaway and Bob Caparas -- for their wonderful music during cocktails and hors d'oeuvres.

To the entire staff of the Embassy Suites Hotel, every one of whom seemed to help in large and small ways.

To our honorees, who traveled many miles to join us and receive their awards with grace and charm. To Steve Elmore, who was our photographer. And to our members and friends, who showed up for the party and made the event -- and our organization -- shine.

Thanks again, everyone - and let's do it again in 2008! We await your nominations for the next Lifetime Awards honorees. We will tally up the nominations, print them in the next issue of the ATADA News, and invite all members to vote on who will be the 2008 honorees.

Alice Kaufman

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Member Close-Up

Robert Dowling

After graduating with honors from the University of California at Davis with a degree in European History in 1992, Robert Dowling started cooking in restaurants and playing the saxophone in a musical revue that included four go-go dancers, a Tom Jones impersonator with the improbable moniker "Johnny Splendor," and lots of props. "I had a lot of solos, usually played in a tiny cocktail dress and combat boots.

"I was rebelling against my father, who was a doctor," Dowling remembers. "I didn't want to do anything practical." But his career as a cook ended when a fire truck crashed through the front window of the San Francisco restaurant he was working at and closed it down. Incredibly, no one was hurt.

"I was unemployed when a South African friend returned to San Francisco from a trip to Johannesburg, where he'd gone to the flea market. He told me about some men from Cameroon he'd met, who offered to sell him what they described as 'a portion of a chief's ancestral treasure that the chief wanted to sell so he could rebuild his palace. You know, that old story.

"As I was interested in art and art history, this sounded great to me. My friend and I worked out a scheme so that we could import the treasure. I was supposed to be the academic brains behind the partnership! I was so happy to find something cool to do -- selling African art -- that would let me use my brain and read books!"

Once the treasure arrived in San Francisco, Dowling's euphoria lasted for three weeks, which was when he brought pictures of his purchases to Dave DeRoche to try to sell the pieces to him. Did he know DeRoche?

"No," he answers, "we were so clueless. We found one of his silent auction catalogs at a flea market and called him up."

It took DeRoche just one look at Dowling's photos to tell him that everything he had was junk, "and then he took us into his back room and showed us things." One of those things was a carved coconut from Benin.

"It's been published," DeRoche said.

Yes, Dowling replied, and gave the citation.

"I'd read the book three days before we saw Dave," Dowling explains.

Apparently DeRoche was impressed, because he called Dowling two weeks later and offered him a job. This was in 1995. "Dave was very good to me and taught me a lot," Dowling says now. "He was very generous trying to educate me, taking me, on his nickel, to see private collections in New York and Europe. And I returned the favor by treating his business as my business, trying to make as much money for him as I could. After two years, he made me a minority partner with an increasing stake in the business that was determined by how long I kept working with him."

But in 2000, Dowling left to go out on his own. "I just needed to start making my own decisions." Where did he get his starting inventory? "I had a small stake in Dave's gallery and took some inventory." But DeRoche understandably didn't want to give up any of his great pieces, so Dowling started his business with what he descries as "lots of 'middle' pieces." To add to that, "I had no clients, and I wouldn't poach Dave's clients." Then how did he make it work?

"I was able to sell what I had to other dealers. Besides, I was a young guy, a fresh face, so people would give me things to sell, but usually things they hadn't been able to sell themselves for years. I felt like I had good taste in African art, but when I started, I had no working capital, and the pieces I wanted to buy cost five figures.

"Finally, some dealers started offering better things to me, and once I started buying them, they would also give me some good things on consignment, for which I remain grateful. And as I got more important things, I had greater access to other important things."

"The African art market has exploded," he reports. "The quality of the material has increased, and there are more great things available, some of them masterpieces."

OK, that's how he did business with his fellow tribal art dealers. But how did he get his first private clients? "I'd go to new territory - Santa Fe, for instance - and basically, start knocking on doors. I'd see one person and ask if they knew anyone else I could see. And then the new people would refer me to other people."

When asked if he has any role models in the tribal art business, Dowling immediately mentions Tom Murray.

"Tom's been a good mentor to me in so many ways," Dowling says, "helping me to look at things, encouraging me to look at the very best, and reminding me to always look critically. He also taught me a lot about business, and about negotiating with people."

Dowling also mentions his friendship with Peter Boyd. "Peter stays with me when he's in San Francisco, and over the past few years of looking at things together, he's really helped me to trust in my eye, to trust my own judgment and be confident with my decisions."

Dowling admires Jim Willis as well: "He and each of his pieces have so much integrity, something I try to emulate. And he is very gutsy - he is never afraid to give his honest opinion of anything, even if it gets him in hot water, as it often does. He has a sincere, personal commitment to this art."

Even though, as he says, he has "only been around for 11 years," Dowling has seen changes in the tribal art business. "The African art market has exploded," he reports. "The quality of the material has increased, and there are more great things available, some of them masterpieces."

And is this a good thing?

"It's exciting to see," he replies, "but what happened to the Indian art market seems to be happening here - material dried up and demand increased, driving the prices through the roof."

Dowling has no personal collection. "I learned that from Jim Willis - he says it is unethical to compete with collectors. Besides, the most important thing is growing my business. If I pay a lot to get something great, I have to sell it to keep going. Even if I find a great thing for a little at an estate sale, I sell it to buy another great thing."

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Minutes of ATADA Board Meeting, San Rafael

February 22, 2007

Present
Tom Murray
Bob Gallegos
Bob Bauver
Joe Guimera
Ramona Morris
Merrill Domas
Roger Fry
Len Weakley
Mike McKissick
Arch Thiessen
Alice Kaufman
Walter Anderson

Tom Murray was elected as the new president of ATADA. He graciously accepted, and thanked outgoing president Merrill Domas for her contributions.

Mission basket dealer Walter Anderson was introduced by Merrill to address the board on and show examples of contemporary Mission baskets from Mexico that are doctored to look antique, and are being sold as such, some to people who are experts in the field. Walter offers free authentication of Mission baskets to any ATADA member. These baskets, Anderson emphasized, are not fakes, but are real Indian-made baskets. They are just not old, and should not be represented as such. Bob Gallegos said that ATADA could sponsor a trip for Walter to Mexico to investigate and try to find a way to help the weavers to make it easier to distinguish the new from the old, and said he'd be interested in accompanying him. A grant for such research was approved by the board. The website of one of the groups making these baskets is www.howka.com. It was also decided to send out a Fake Alert to the membership, emphasizing that these baskets were not fakes, but were also not old.

Ramona Morris announced that the board had decided to make ATADA's webmaster Arch Thiessen a Lifetime Member, and presented him with a plaque making it official.

Although the Lifetime Awards dinner was still two days in the future on the night of the meeting, the event was discussed. There were proponents for repeating the party every one year, two years, three years and four years. [At the dinner, president Tom Murray said the next awards dinner would take place in three years. The current schedule is to repeat the dinner in 2008.]

Bob Gallegos said that we need to give grants in a more major way, and that we should be getting PR for those grants. Various PR ideas were discussed. Bob Gallegos proposed that a PR committee be formed, and Joe Guimera was named chair. Alice Kaufman and Tom Murray are also on the committee, which will explore and execute more effective ways to be more in the public eye.

The membership process was changed somewhat in that Brant Mackley and ATADA's new graphic designer, Weston Pritts, would be in charge of lists for mailing and the Directory. Mike McKissick remains Membership chair and will develop new ways to attract new members. A discussion was held about the bylaws and acceptance of new members, and the Law Committee (Roger and Will Fry and Len Weakley) will do research and attempt an overhaul/update of the bylaws.

It was also decided that the ATADA logo is only for the use in ads for Full members, as stated in the bylaws.

Dealers can only be Associate members for three years, it was decided, and then will be asked to join as Full members. New dealers who join will join as Full members. All dealers, Tom said, should be Full members. If Full membership is a financial hardship, a grant could be arranged. Wider distribution of the ATADA Directory was suggested, and discussions are already underway with Mary Hamilton for ideas on this. Tom Murray suggested a possible article in Tribal magazine on ATADA and the shift of the tribal art market to Europe.

A discussion was them held on ads in the Directory that picture human body parts. It was agreed we will no longer accept such ads. Also, any ad in any publication featuring human body parts should not include an ATADA logo.

A committee focusing on tribal art will be formed (members need not be ATADA members), and ways to offer perks to tribal art dealers were discussed. The fact that Thomas Murray and new board member Michael Evans are tribal art dealers should help with this focus.

Bob Gallegos suggested that a grant be given to the National Parks Site Watch program, which includes electronic surveillance at archeological sites. An award of $1500 was approved.

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Galerie Flak new ATADA Members and Board Members

President Thomas Murray invited new ATADA members Edith and Roland Flak (they joined as Full members during the Marin show) to join the board as European representatives. M. and Mme. Flak accepted the invitation, and will attend the board meeting in Santa Fe this August, tentatively scheduled for Sunday morning, August 12. The General Meeting for all members (and any other interested parties) is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday morning, August 15.

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In light of Arch Thiessen's Lifetime Membership Award, Tom Murray asked ATADA's webmaster how he got started in computing. Here is Arch's reply, which includes plans for the future as well:

Hello Tom,

You asked how an old timer like me got into computing. I wrote my first computer program in 1958 as a student. I got a Ph.D. in High Energy Physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1966. I spent my entire career at the Los Alamos National Laboratory doing Nuclear and High Energy Physics. Most of my career was spent making good use of the large computers of the era. Actually, the desktop PCs that we have now are even bigger and faster than the behemoths of my time.

In 1995, I created a web site for my wife's business, Sunshine Studio. In 1998, while I was an at-large member of the board, I realized that I could do a service for ATADA by creating a web site. Nobody on the BOD really understood what was needed. I created a web site for "a professional organization," setting all the ground rules myself. I intentionally kept advertising off the site. Over the years it grew to what it is today, with a small improvement each year. The stability and direction that I provided made it useful and created a presence for ATADA. Today, the ATADA web site is visited by fifty or so people per day.

In part, my ulterior motive was to provide something to do in the retirement that would come some day, and to provide a means of contact with other dealers for my wife, Challis.

I hope to turn over the Directory portion of the site to Wes Pritts when he grows ready for it, in a few weeks to a few months. It would be best if the publisher of the printed directory publishes the web directory from exactly the same database, since errors can be more easily be found and corrected this way. It may be possible to create a web page for the advertisements from the Directory. If properly done and clearly kept separate from the rest of the site, it will not detract from the ATADA site and could provide extra value for the advertisers. We need to find additional ways to distribute the ATADA Directory, as it is not yet a very good value for the advertisers.

My wife died in June, 2003. I decided to expand Sunshine Studio. The expansion worked and business picked up. I retired from Los Alamos at the end of 2003 and I devote nearly full time to Sunshine Studio.

I am busier than ever, hence I cannot take on major new commitments. I will gradually shed some of the detailed work and turn it over to Brant Mackley and Wes Pritts as their time permits. I hope to continue to provide direction and enthusiasm for the web site and continue to maintain and improve it consistent with ATADA's goals.

I shall create an ATADA Fraud Alert web page in the next few days. I shall start it with the Navajo Weaving and Mission Basket problems that we have already identified. Shortly, with the help of Stephanie Porter, we shall publicize some of the misrepresented merchandise and dealers who are selling imported jewelry as Indian Jewelry on eBay. This will create an even stronger presence for ATADA. I have already discussed what I intend to do with Roger and Len and they support me in principle. I hope that ATADA will pay a few hundred dollars for a few fraudulently represented pieces that we will purchase.

Fraud Alerts are good business. I forwarded the most recent alert on Mission Baskets to my Zuni Fetish customers. I got back about 15 emails thanking me. Customers appreciate it. I shall never ask for your customer lists. But you could forward the ATADA theft alerts and fraud alerts to your customer mailing list with just a couple of clicks. Customers will appreciate it, and your business will improve.

There you have it in a nutshell - what I see that you gave me a lifetime award for. It was worth the trouble for all of us.

Arch Thiessen

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Book News: What an honor!

Four awards for a new book!

"Navajo and Pueblo Earrings 1850-1945" by Robert Bauver has just been honored as:

2006 Arts Book Award Finalist, USA Book News

2006 Southwest Book of the Year Award, Border Regional Library Association

2006 Southwest Books of the Year, Tucson- Pima Library System

2006 Finalist, Book of the Year Award, ForeWord Magazine

For more information and to buy this book go to http://nmsantos.com/Navajo.html

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Media Files

Excerpts from recent newspaper, magazine and Internet articles of interest to the membership. All opinions are those of the writers of the stories and of the people quoted, not of ATADA. Members are encouraged to submit press clippings or e-mail links for publication in the next Newsletter.

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"Treasure Hunt for Grown- Ups With Money" was Holland Cotter's January 19 story on the Winter Antiques Show in New York. Relevant excerpts appear below.

Mature is the word in the trade for fairs like the Winter Antiques Show," Cotter bnegan, "though time-honored, even venerable, would be closer to the mark. The show, which opens today, has been around forever (well, since 1955). It delivers substantial, sometimes spectacular retail; always has. Dealers and clients alike return, like swallows to Capistrano, year after year. So if solid tradition, rather than Art Basel Miami Beach-style blowouts, is what you want in a fair, this one's for you.

"Content-wise too it is a grown-up show (though I suspect that kids with doubloons to spend will not be turned from the door). The best material is geared to seasoned eyes, sophisticated budgets and meditated decision making rather than to random drive-by shopping.

"Finally, this fair is multiplicitous in ways that few others are anymore. Half a century ago the specialty fair - Outsider, Asian, Tribal, Ceramics - hadn't been invented. Shows were omnibus things with antiques and antiquities, Buddhas and bracelets, chef-d'oeuvres and doodads. The Winter Antiques Show encompasses all of these and more, with an ardent mixit- up spirit that was once called eclectic and is now called postmodern.

"As established as it is, though, the show is not staid. It is famous, as one is reminded with a slight shock every year, for its adventurous 'look,' a certain real-faux, regal-populist picturesqueness, like a cross between, say, the Wrightsman galleries at the Met and Wigstock.

".Still, individual objects stand out everywhere, either for their beauty, their historical weight or their oddity. A 13th-century Umbrian Italian Virgin, with mesmerized eyes, at Richard Philip, is one. An exquisite Egyptian bronze head of a cat at Rupert Wace is another. A Yupik Eskimo dance mask at Donald Ellis, with an immense carved hand wrapped around its hallucinatory, flyapart face, is a third. All fill the bill on all three counts.

".Add to them Teotihuacan carvings at Throckmorton Fine Art, fantastic Oceanic masks at Conru Primitive Art and early American portraits at Peter Tillou, and a message comes clear: Geopolitical encounters, across the centuries, across continents and across artfair aisles, are what make the world of art the thrilling, forward-looking place it is.

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Roberta Smith's January 19 New York Times reviews of The American Antiques Show in New York was headlined "Decorative Tradition, Laced With Bursts of Eccentricity," and included mention of participating ATADA members.

Art fairs can put some fairly magnificent obsessions on display, where they function like traps. Step into a booth, and an unfamiliar area of visual culture suddenly exerts an irresistible force, changing your life," the review began.

"Few art fairs do this as seductively as the American Antiques Show, which is ensconced in the Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea through Sunday. The fair is manageable in size - 44 dealers this year - and relatively precise in focus. Nearly everything on view is American, made either by American Indians or settlers and dating from about 1750 forward. The prevalence of objects made by the people and for the people with plainspoken modesty and simply handled materials gives it a very satisfying coherence.

".An especially rewarding circuit of the booths at Brant Mackley, Marcy Burns and David Cook will take you deep into American Indian material. One of the fair's most beautiful displays is Trotta-Bono's, where the standouts include three Penobscot Indian clubs that contrast Expressionist faces with intricately carved handles. But pride of place is accorded a set of Omaha maple burl avian effigy bowls and horse effigy ladles that come with their own small trunk made of hardened animal hide. Distinguished by elegant distillations of the animal forms and a beautiful patina, the ensemble exudes the instinctive sophistication that, over all, gives the American Antiques Show such a high rate of revelation."

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"It Takes a Tribe," Susan Fornoff's February 7 story in the San Francisco Chronicle's Home Section, was a close-up on Bob Wall and Margaret Rinkevich as they opened "their doors, shelves and even bathroom to a remarkable collection of African art figures."

In the story, Jim Willis calls the collection "the biggest, deepest collection of African tribal art in San Francisco." Bob Wall and Margaret Rinkevich," the story began, "are never alone at their Russian Hill home. When they're at the dining room table, a Bamileke sculpture from Cameroon peers down at their meal. At Wall's desk, a Fang female from 19th century Cameroon joins forces with Dogon figures from the 13th, 15th and 16th centuries to keep him feeling youthful; on Rinkevich's desk, a chi wara headpiece from Mali bids (so far unsuccessfully) for a more prominent place in their collection.

"On the wet bar, Kaka strongmen carved in wood guard the remains of last night's wine, stored in the cooler behind them. Assorted tribal masks line a shelf behind the headboard in the master bedroom. And in the bathroom, a Suku mask from the Congo presides over the corner just inside the door.

"Wall and Rinkevich didn't spend millions of dollars on what dealer Jim Willis describes as the biggest, deepest collection of African tribal art in San Francisco to lock their prizes away under glass. Everything is reachable, touchable, accessible -- and the couple invites visitors to hold up a mask, try a headpiece, caress a figure that's sweating palm oil leftover from some ancient ceremony.

" 'Not only do we have it in the bedroom, we have it in the bathroom,' said Wall, who with Rinkevich is co-chairing Thursday's Gala Opening Preview for the weekend's San Francisco Tribal & Textile Arts Show. 'I mean, if you're going to live with it. ... We get up in the morning and we look at that Suku mask and it makes us feel better. Because we look better than that does. So, we think it can pretty much go anywhere.'

"Wall's two-story space had a history of housing art collections even before he moved in 21 years ago. Previous resident John Berggruen is a well-known San Francisco art dealer.

" 'Everything was beige,' Wall said. 'He didn't want anything to compete with the art that he sold. So we remodeled about six years ago, and added a lot of stone and colors and textures. Which I think goes well with the African art. Besides, I like rocks.'

"Wall's father was a geologist, which partly explains his attraction to three dimensional objects. In Wall's undergraduate days studying business at DePauw University, a professor showed off a collection of perhaps a dozen African tribal masks that, Wall said, 'blew me away.' "But, he said, 'Other than going into the occasional museum, I didn't do anything about it, because I didn't have any money to collect anything. Finally, back in the early to mid- '80s, I thought, OK, I'm starting to have a little bit so that I could maybe buy something, and I went in and talked to a couple of dealers.'

"Wall made that money as a CEO for hightech startups and companies including Theatrix Interactive and Clarity Wireless. But this artistic startup intimidated him.

" 'A dealer would say, "That's a great piece, that's a great piece, those two are fakes," ' he said. 'And I couldn't tell the difference. And I went to another dealer and it was basically a similar thing, and it freaked me out. I didn't buy anything at that time. I couldn't tell the difference between an authentic piece and one that wasn't, a so-called fake. Some people would go out and get an adviser to tell them. That's not my nature.'

"So Wall instead went out and got a library, embarking on a collection of volumes on African art that now totals more than 5,000. (Yes, there are a lot of shelves in this Russian Hill home. The couple's recommended reading for beginners: 'The Art of Africa,' by Jacques Kerchache, and 'Tribal Arts of Africa' by Jean-Baptiste Bacquart. They also recommend this weekend's Tribal & Textile Arts Show for a rare chance to chat informally with dealers.)

"It took, Wall guesses, about 10 years of research before he bought his first piece. In 1998, he said, he really got going. 'It's remarkable what they have collected in such a short period of time,' said Willis, a dealer for 35 years. 'They've bought very important and, in our field, relatively expensive objects. In the Bay Area, I'd be hard put to think of anybody who has collected as assiduously.'

"Willis said it's not unusual for collectors to share their passion with a significant other; rather, he noted, 'When you're going to be that devoted and have your environment that filled with it and spend that kind of money, it's unusual to find only one in a couple who likes it.'

"And in 2001, in a Santa Fe gallery specializing in contemporary art, Wall found Rinkevich. 'I loved the art,' said Wall, who keeps the paintings he bought that day in his house in Telluride, Colo. 'I also was attracted to the person. It's an open question whether I would have bought four oils from somebody else.'

"Rinkevich asked Wall if he collected contemporary art, and he revealed that his true passion was African art, and the two were off and running. 'In college, I had taken a few African art classes and really liked them,' said Rinkevich, who studied art history at the University of Arizona. 'But I didn't really know what to do with it, and was really thrilled to return to it when I met Bob.'

"They made the first of what Wall describes as their 'really significant' (synonym: really expensive) purchases together at a 2002 Christie's auction in Paris, a fiercely soughtafter Boyo figure from the Congo for which Wall paid 'about half a million.'

" 'It was the one and only time I've seen him say,

"I'm getting it," ' Rinkevich remembered.

" 'Then we went out in search of a really strong drink,' Wall said.

"Both say they are attracted to the same sorts of objects, mostly strong or abstract figures from Nigeria, Congo, Gabon and Cameroon. They have no textiles, for example, and few of the Baule and Yoruba masks that are popular among other Americans.

"Aesthetics grab Wall, while Rinkevich finds more excitement in discovering how a piece wasused. During The Chronicle's tour, there was no discussion about value or investment: He'd pick up a piece, offer touches and comment on patina, while she'd explain that it had been an ancestral figure whose nose was rubbed for luck, or a headrest that was used during circumcision.

"Oh, did we mention, not all of this stuff is for the kiddies? (There aren't any living with the couple, and Coco the dog seems unintimidated.) 'I've heard people say, "I'm not sure I could live with that," ' of some objects, Wall said. Rinkevich remembers a Janus mask that had been in the guest bedroom in Telluride that had to be moved so that one guest could sleep.

" 'It was a helmet mask that fit all the way over your head, with the outer part skin -- typically hyena skin, or in some cases, not this one, missionary skin -- and it's peeling away and, yeah, it's pretty intense,' Wall said.

"Said Rinkevich, 'I don't know if the guest didn't like it, but it was powerful and ...'

" 'Didn't want to sleep with it,' Wall concluded.

"They've got a similarly scary skull on a shelf in their Russian Hill living room. Wall, by the way, does the dusting -- it's problematic for a housekeeper to overclean, he said. Conditions in San Francisco generally are ideal for preserving this mostly wood collection because the humidity is constant. So 60 percent of the collection is on Russian Hill, the other 40 percent in Telluride, where the bigger house has to be humidified.

" 'A lot of museums will put it in cases that are hermetically sealed, where they maintain a constant temperature and constant humidity,' he said. 'We don't do that.'

"It would spoil so much of the fun. 'One of the wonderful things we do and expect everybody to do is pick up the pieces,' Wall said. 'You want to feel the weight, you want to look at it a little differently, you might want to smell it. I heard of one guy who would lick a mask. I'm not going there, I'll tell you. But what he was looking for "Chimed in Rinkevich, 'With a mask, this is how he would tell if it had been worn or not.'

" 'Because if it had been,' Wall said, 'with the rest of the costume of raffia or cloth or whatever, in a hot climate, there would have been a lot of perspiration, and if you like it, you can tell, it would taste salty. I don't do that.'

" 'There's the line,' Rinkevich concluded."

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From the Christian Science Monitor published a year ago, April 19, 2006, "Removing relics vs. preserving history" by freelance writer Randy Salzman is a meditation on the old questions, whose culture is this anyway?

Datelined Charlottesville, VA, the story began, "It took trips to opposite corners of the globe to settle my opinion as to whether museums' collections represented the 'preservation' or 'theft' of other cultures' artifacts. In Australia, the Melbourne Museum broadcasts this debate through a video featuring actors playing two 19th-century historical figures - a museum curator and an Aboriginal chieftain. Baldwin Spencer, who collected 5,000 objects from indigenous Aboriginals, argued that anthropology preserved history. Irrapwe, an Arrernte leader known as "King Charley," argued it was theft of culture.

"Since Aboriginal law differentiates between men's and women's knowledge and prohibits entire races from even seeing their cultural icons, I left Australia secure that native cultures should reserve the absolute right to control their artifacts.

"But after having recently spent months in Oxford and London museums, I'm changing my mind. Many great works of art and history wouldn't exist today if Europeans, especially the British, weren't unstoppable collectors. Should the world be deprived of the Rosetta Stone, or Raphael's Madonna, or the frieze on the Parthenon because the progeny of their originators weren't as fascinated as early English collectors?

"Over centuries, furthermore, the Visigoths and Vandals mangled much beauty from Roman life. In the Spanish Civil War, communists destroyed most of their country's Catholic splendor. Spanish explorer Francisco Pizarro eliminated the glory of Peru. Gold and silver throughout the world is melted as fashion changes and, just before 9/11, the Taliban dynamited the great Buddha statues in Afghanistan.

'Today, the world's best preserved Grecian ruins are in London's British Museum. At the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, the concept that 'Those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it' became obvious. Sixty years before the Scopes Trial, the museum previewed the question about 'intelligent design' that Kansas and other states are grappling with today.

"In 1860, Thomas Huxley, a loyal defender of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, debated Archbishop Samuel Wilberforce over 'The Origin of the Species.' (Mr. Wilberforce agreed with many of the day's leading biologists that God commanded and nature followed.) The best line was uttered by awoman who wasn't even allowed to attend: 'Descended from an ape? Let us hope that it's not true, but if it is, let us pray that it will not become generally known.'

"In the nearby Pitt Rivers Museum, curators exhibit by theme, not nationality or region. The museum showcases such things as the methods of firemaking from all cultures, bagpipes from around the world, bark clothing from seven or eight civilizations, and the methods of headshrinking from three continents.

"The tiny, dark museum demonstrates brilliantly that mankind is one big - but rarely happy - family. The items crammed into each museum case and the graying, handwritten signage describing them illustrate, with splendid subtlety, how we all share the same needs and desires.

"For example, one exhibit explains that aggrieved parties in early Nigeria drove nails into large wooden heads representing their antagonists. This practice satisfied the 'nail driver' and helped relieve some of the malice he may have felt. Perhaps significantly, Nigeria - now with many of its indigenous conflict resolution practices replaced by Westerninfluenced legal processes - is verging on another civil war.

"I still wrestled with the 'theft or preservation' debate until the world's oldest museum enabled me to relate significantly to both sides. My state, Virginia, is gearing up for the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, and buried in Oxford's Ashmolean Museum is one of the crowning pieces of early American history.

"According to Capt. John Smith, Jamestown's military leader, native American Chief Powhatan gave another colonist his royal shell-covered mantle not long after the colonists' landing in 1607. In his diary, Captain Smith proclaimed that American nobles wore such deerskin capes.

"Two decades later, Smith willed his accumulations to an English 'curiosity' collector who gathered rarities from sea captains, ambassadors, and merchants. By 1634, people were coming to John Tradescant the Elder's house 'persuing, and that superficially, such as he had gathered.' "

One 1638 visitor recorded seeing 'the robe of the King of Virginia,' and by 1656, so many people wanted a look that Mr. Tradescant's son, the Younger, began selling tickets. That piece was cataloged, 'Pohatan, King of Virginia's habit all embroidered with shells, or Roanoke.'

"At the Younger's death, the collection was deeded to Elias Ashmole who chose Oxford to house his museum in 1683. Today, tucked away on the second floorof the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology are the remains of Tradescant's artifacts, including an item labeled in 1886 as the 'earliest North American Indian garment to survive.' Many today would feel safe pronouncing this Powhatan's mantle.

"I doubt that I have native American blood, but, as an American, I'm glad that Powhatan and Messrs. Smith, Tradescant, and Ashmole, as well as the museum curators since, decided to preserve this relic before it turned to dust. I can only hope it might be returned to Virginia for the 400th anniversary of this country's oldest settlement.

"If it weren't for collectors' and curators' love of history and culture, I'm afraid all of us the world over (whether Aboriginal or not) would be losing ours."

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Grace Glueck reviewed two shows of contemporary Indian art in The New York Times on March 23 in one story called "Off the Map: Lands You Can't See in a Guidebook."

The first show, a very contemporary multi-media exhibit, included work by an artist whose influences "range from 19th-century Iroquois beadwork to contemporary techno rave and club culture."

The second show is more traditional. Glueck's review: "Can a South American Indian landscape painter find inspiration in Brooklyn? In a word, yes. Carlos Jacanamijoy (of the Inga people of Colombia) has no trouble making a connection between the urban jungle where he lives now and the Putumayo rain forest on whose edge he grew up. 'Here, the roar of the subway or the incessant traffic of cars and pedestrians on the Brooklyn Bridge, projected by the sun, is right in front of me, through my window,' he writes. 'In the same way I remember listening, among lights and shadows, to the cacophony of animals during an overwhelming night in the middle of the jungle.'

"Mr. Jacanamijoy, whose luminous, explosive landscapes mix the rich colors and events of the rain forest with hints of Brooklyn's bustling environment, is one of five artists in 'Off the Map: Landscape in the Native Imagination,' a refreshing show of landscapes, or better, mindscapes, at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Lower Manhattan. Not exactly in the American tradition of the sublime, their work doesn't speak of spacious skies and amber waves of grain, but of complex personal relations with their culture, ancestry, past and present surroundings.

"Most of it doesn't relate to places you can locate in a guidebook or on a map, writes Kathleen Ash-Milby (Navajo), an assistant curator at the museum, who conceived and organized the show. Instead it 'reveals the unexpected in a genre of painting dominated by European convention.' But the show isn't all painting.One artist, Erica Lord, of Finnish-American and Native Alaskan parentage, uses video in 'Binary Selves' to fashion a more site-specific environment that evokes a split and shifting self.

"Gravitating as a child between her father's Alaskan village and her mother's in rural Michigan, Ms. Lord sees home as an indeterminate space without a fixed geographical location and herself as a person of multiple cultural identities that can't be teased apart. Looped film of the villages and her voyages between them alternate with depictions of the Inuit tradition of 'throat singing,' in which two women face each other, vocalizing wordlessly in an almost competitive duet. In this mirror-lined installation she plays the part of both singers, appearing in one role with the face tattoos, native shells and beads that suggest her Alaskan descent; in the other, assuming the more conventional appearance of her European ancestry. It's a touching performance.

"Another arresting presentation is made by Jeffrey Gibson (Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians/Cherokee), who also lives and works in Brooklyn. His wonderfully ornate, colorific abstractions, incorporating beads, thick impasto, pigmented silicone and other relief elements, are inflected by a blobby spill of silvery urethane that breaks through a wall in the gallery to cascade onto the floor, a sardonic attempt to mess up the pristine, white box of the gallery's space.

"His influences range from 19th-century Iroquois beadwork to contemporary techno rave and club culture, he has written, adding that his desire to 'act out the role of an explorer depicting an inviting landscape was a reaction to Native tribes being consistently described as part of a nostalgic and romantic vision of pre-colonized Indian life.'

"The two other painters in the show, Emmi Whitehorse (Navajo) and James Lavadour (Walla Walla) work in more traditional but still lively modes. Ms. Whitehorse's Navajo heritage is reflected in the Southwestern elements that inform her paintings: nuanced grounds in the deep-to-pale colors of sky, land and water, against which float delicate seeds, floral and vegetable forms, insects, squiggles and calligraphic notations along with echoes of Indian ornament.

"In his group of intensely colored oils, Mr. Lavadour explores geological formations, fierce firestorms, ruined or ghostly buildings and layered mountains, built up in authoritative brush strokes. Inspired by jazz, he orchestrates his work with discordances and offbeat juxtapositions, making sudden shifts in hue and composition. A powerful effort is 'Blanket,' a grid arrangement of 15 same-size but different landscapes in three rows, each unit neither fully abstract nor explicitly realist, each contributing to the overall impact by its teasingly ambiguous structure and the heat of its color. "What gives this show its flavor and vitality is the sophisticated integration of indigenous American motifs with a vibrant contemporary approach.

"It's a different story at the uptown UBS Gallery, where 'Gifts of the Forest: Native Traditions in Wood and Bark' holds forth. Drawn from the collections of the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, a vital part of the tribal reservation in southeastern Connecticut famous for its Foxwoods casino, the show celebrates the trees of the rich forests that once covered the Northeast, yielding essential materials to the Pequot and other Eastern Woodland cultures. The materials go back hundreds of years to ancient woodworking tools used in New England before the introduction of European iron implements.

"Contemporary objects in the show for the most part carry on the tribal traditions, like the simple and beautiful wooden flute made in 1999 by Hawk Henries (Nipmuc) and adorned with an elegantly carved bird motif; the exquisite containers covered with showy dyed quills done around 1996 by Vicky Sanipass (Micmac) and displayed with Micmac boxes of the mid-19th century; and a carved and painted root club made in 2000 by Stan Neptune (Penobscot), topped by a stylized eagle and ending in a delicate deer's hoof. It is based on traditional Penobscot root clubs that originally served as weapons, like the 19thcentury model also shown here, with a formidable spiky head.

"Many of the objects were made in the 19th or early-20th century: handsome woven baskets, carved bowls and spoons; decorated cradle boards to which babies were strapped; birch bark canoe models; an elegant birch bark hamper whose sides bear a stylized tree motif. One of the show's most arresting displays is an array of 19th- and early- 20th-century tools, most embellished with decoration, including an apple corer, a knife with a handle in the shape of a curved hand, and splint gauges that allowed basket makers to cut several splints of the same width at the same time.

"But this is just a taste of the treasures at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum. For a truly indepth experience, go there."

"Off the Map: Landscape in the Native Imagination" continues through Sept. 3 at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, George Gustav Heye Center, 1 Bowling Green, Lower Manhattan, (212) 514-3700.

"Gifts of the Forest: Native Traditions in Wood and Bark" continues through April 27 at the UBS Art Gallery, 1285 Avenue of the Americas, between 51st and 52nd Streets, (212) 713-2885.

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"On March 23, Holland Cotter reviewed several shows that make up New York's Asia Week in The New York Times, some of which featured ATADA members as exhibitors.

Cotter began: "All things must change, the Tao tells us. New York City's Asia Week is not exempt. When this early spring week of sales and shows was officially begun a dozen years ago, a brand-new International Asian Art Fair was its centerpiece. Installed at the Seventh Regiment Armory, it was a charismatic event.

"You went each year expecting to get your socks knocked off, and you weren't disappointed. European dealers like Gisèle Croës, John Eskenazi and Rossi & Rossi brought Chinese and South Asian objects so magnificent as to cast even the most masterly old masters of other fairs into the shade.

"But problems developed. Top-shelf material to sell became harder to find. For various reasons, the fair's starriest exhibitors dropped out, often to put on Asia-week shows on their own. When the fair added the phrase 'also featuring the arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas' to its title last year, the distress signal was loud and clear.

"The sad news is that this year's fair, which opens today, is a ghost of what it once was. There's just no other way to put it. As compensation, something very like the original fair can now be found on East 57th Street, where dozens of dealers - Ms. Croës, Mr. Eskenazi and Rossi & Rossi among them - have set up shop for the week, in quite spectacular fashion, illustrating another piece of Taoist wisdom: things change, but life goes on.

INTERNATIONAL ASIAN ART FAIR

"To its credit, the Asian fair struggles impressively. Its signature suaveness is intact, and it still has some memorable art moments. A small, fabulous Khmer bronze of the god Krishna doing a Martha Graham kick is among them. It's at Nancy Wiener's booth, along with an early Indian Buddhist sandstone frieze that distills an entire history of muted devotional joy. It is to weep for.

"Another New York gallery, Kaikodo, makes its fair debut with a wall-to-wall hanging of Chinese scroll paintings, the only significant display of this traditional medium you're likely to see this week, other than two dozen pieces by Shao Yixuan (1886- 1954) at China 2000 Fine Art on East 57th Street. Kaikodo's booth is really a show in itself, and its title, 'The Aesthetics of Change,' could apply to this Asia Week as a whole.

"Which raises the issue of the fair's altered, or extended, focus, now in its second year. So far, the non-Asian component is concentrated in just a few of the 54 galleries at the Armory at Park Avenue and 67th Street. David M. Lanz and Tambaran have African and Oceanic art; Ned Jalbert, American Indian. Phoenix Ancient Art deals in Egyptian antiquities but also ventures into western Asia. Unsurprisingly, none of this material jars with what's around it. 'Asia,' whatever that may be, has always been broadly, deeply cosmopolitan. But contemporary Asian art, which can be found in at least half the booths, is another story. There's a ton of it being pumped out, of which New Yorkers see but a fraction, nowhere near enough to give an idea of what's really going on, which is the only way to separate gold from dreck. As a result, almost everything we see exists without a context, and looks odd and marooned. Maybe the Asian Fair could give it a context. I mean, if the fair really sees contemporary art as its future, why not go for it? A pan-Asian Modern and contemporary fair would be a valuable addition to the city. Done right, with savvy heads in charge (how about Michael Goedhuis's, for one; he's been with the fair, showing contemporary art from the start), it could be an event, make news. There must be some way to anchor a show now adrift.

ARTS OF PACIFIC ASIA SHOW

"Partly as a result of drift, a once-firm difference in status between the International Asia Art Fair and the Arts of Pacific Asia Show at the 69th Regiment Armory at Lexington Avenue and 26th Street has eroded. Initially, they occupied separate realms: elite versus popular, high end versus low end. But as the uptown fair has lost steam and the downtown fair gained exuberance, distinctions have blurred.

"The Pacific Asia show certainly is a kick. With almost twice the number of dealers (92) as its counterpart, and exhibitors winging in from as far away as Australia, Brazil, Singapore and New Hampshire, there's lots of variety but not a lot of space. Booths tend to be jammed tight; the Collyer brothers would look normal here.

"So you savor moments of respite (Kashima Arts' bare, sandcolored booth) and of solitary spectacle (an embroidered Ming ceremonial hanging at Chinalai Tribal Antiques). And where else in town are you going find six square feet dedicated almost entirely to Islamic art (Anavian Gallery), or to Sumatran silks that glow like Rothkos (Thomas Murray), or shelves full of Chinese hardwood stands, utilitarian items made to support sculptures, here treated as sculptures (Fleurdelys Antiquités)?

EAST 57TH STREET

"For the connoisseurial grandeur for which the Asian Fair was, and to some degree still is, renowned, East 57th Street is the destination. That's where the real action is this week. The Fuller Building, at No. 41, is host to no fewer than 16 Asia-intensive shows. Four more are at No. 5, three presented by galleries - Berwald Oriental Art, China 2000 and Priestly & Ferraro - that were in the Asian fair until this year.

"In addition, big, isolated shows dot the street. John Eskenazi, with South Asian sculpture, is crashing at M. D. Flacks (No. 38). Throckmorton, farther east at No. 145, has early Chinese Buddhist stone figures of the kind that caused a sensation in London and Washington a few seasons back. At PaceWildenstein at No. 32, Giuseppe Eskenazi (John's cousin) is on his annual visit from London, this time with a valise-size selection of empyreal Song ceramics.

"When I walked into that show, my city-crazed pulse instantly calmed. Ceramics, an art form designed to make you look before you think, can do that, and Song ceramics are like no others in their combination of finesse and suggestiveness. A flower-shaped 12th-century dish is the blue of every morning glory you've ever seen. Purple sworls inside a tiny bowl are dark clouds in a lightning sky. A tall white stoneware vase has a Cycladic profile; it's as inviting of mediation as any Buddha.

CHINESE ART, FULLER BUILDING

"By coincidence, across the street in the Fuller Building, J. J. Lally Oriental Art, a necessary stop on even the short version of the Asia Week tour, has Song pieces too. One is a bowl covered with woozy marbling patterns, not painted on but, apparently, formed by rolling sheets of light and dark clay together and slicing them up, like icebox cookies. And from inside a dark, glazed "hare's fur" tea bowl, a silvery Whistler nocturne, fireworks and all, radiates.

"Silver and gold, often combined, are precious ingredients of ancient Chinese metal sculptures in Gisèle Croës's show at Nohra Haime Gallery. Ms. Croës's displays were always one of the thrills of the early years of the Asian fair. She would arrive late, and relaxed, during the frantic set-up process in the armory. And because her booth was one of the last to be installed, and because her famous, people gathered and watched as she unwrapped one fantastic bronze after another and set them under lights. Oohs, aahs and sighs all around.

"Her gallery shows since have inspired comparable awe and elation. This year's does with three filigree gilded silver crowns glowing, as if self-illuminated, against a black ground, a true coup de théâtre.

HIMALAYAN ART

"Rossi & Rossi's ensemble of some two dozen gilded cast-metal Himalaya Buddhist sculptures at Neuhoff is luminous in a quieter though no less magnificent way. The focal point is a 17th- or early- 18th-century Mongolian group of the bodhisattva Padmasambhava with two consorts. But the gem for me is a crowned celestial Buddha, about half a foot high, from northwestern India, with his delicate body, linear skirt and mesmerized, leaf-shaped, silver- inlay eyes.

"The news, though, is that the Rossis - Anna Maria and Fabio, mother and son - also have an ambitious show of contemporary Tibetan art, interspersed with antique ritual objects and thangka paintings. Some of the artists draw heavily on these traditional sources; others avoid cultural references. It's always hard to draw conclusions about anyone in group shows, but some of this stuff looks interesting. Perhaps someone in New York will pick up the lead and give us more.

"The Milan-based dealer Carlo Cristi has Himalayan and Central Asian material at AFP Galleries, including miraculously well-preserved textiles. And be sure to head to the back gallery at Carlton Rochell for a scorching painting of the tantric deity Achala embracing his ardent wife in an intimate, ego-blasting dance.

"At Rochell you'll also begin a descent from the mountains into Central India with the blithesome sight of the goddess Lakshmi being showered by elephants in a sixth-century sandstone panel. And a set of five exquisite, pocketable bronze mandala figures takes you farther south into Indonesia and East Java (after a stop to see Thai bronzes at William Lipton), a jumpingoff spot for destinations further east, which in this case also means farther uptown.

JAPANESE ART

"Two of the week's outstanding shows of Japanese art are on the Upper East Side. (Others are at Mika and Carole Davenport in the Fuller Building.) Koichi Yanagi Oriental Fine Arts on East 66th Street routinely assembles ultra-refined, economy- size shows, and 'Japanese Choose Chinese Arts: Porcelains and Painting Themes' is in that line. If the topic of cultural influence sounds dry, it sure doesn't look it here.

"Zen Buddhism came to Japan from China, so Japanese Zen art is Chinese-inspired by default, evident in a wisp of a Muromachi painting of the deity Kannon, called Guanyin in China, on a seaside rock. The scene of barbarians hunting on a splendid 17th-century screen is cribbed from a Chinese romance and quotes Chinese paintings, but the Japanese painter, name unknown, comes through with a Kurosawastyle swashbuckler, with yurts on a gold-leaf ground.

"Ten blocks north, 'Scrolls of Faith' at Sebastian Izzard is one of the most moving of the week's special shows, a sensual stimulant and a psychic soother. Composed of Japanese Buddhist paintings, manuscripts and sculptures, it revolves around an altarlike arrangement of a slender 13th-century Buddha flanked by celestial bodyguards. Mandala paintings adorn the walls, and bronze sutra containers stand in vitrines.

"But the essence of the 'faith' in question lies in the sutras, or holy scriptures, themselves, one of which, copied in gold on paper stained midnight blue, comes with its original wrapper of woven bamboo strips inlaid with glinting mica chips, an item as modest as it is rare.

"A final stop - though, of course, you could make many others - is E&J Frankel on Madison Avenue at 79th Street. Edith and Joel Frankel have been in the Asian art business for four decades. Their Asia Week show is an anniversary 'retrospective' of types of things they've bought, exhibited, sold and occasionally fallen in love with and kept for themselves.

"Some items have recent historical significance. Two Qing horseshoe chairs were owned by the scholar Laurence Sickman. A 1949 ink painting of chicks under bamboo leaves by C. C. Wang was a gift from the artist to someone who helped him leave China for the United States in a difficult time. Certain pieces document milestones in the Frankels' careers. They were, for example, early advocates of contemporary art from Mongolia, and there's some here.

"And some things they just loved. One is a sinuously bending scholar's rock that chimes like a bell when tapped. None holds greater spiritual resonance than a Yuan dynasty carved figure of a disciple of the Buddha. It's Ms. Frankel's favorite. So how could she bear to sell it? Time passes. Things change."

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"Head of Smithsonian Resigns After Audit," a March 26 New York Times story by Elizabeth Olsen, was considerably longer than the Times story reporting Richard West's resignation from NMAI. Then again, it was a much juicier story. Former Smithsonian head Lawrence Small has been in the ATADA News before, in 2004, when he was convicted on violating the Migratory Bird Act because of certain pieces in his collection of Amazonian artifacts (see the last paragraph of the story).

The governing board of the Smithsonian Institution announced today that it had accepted the resignation of its top official, Lawrence M. Small, following an internal audit showing that the museum complex had paid for his routine use of such lavish perks as chauffeured cars, private jets, top-rated hotels and catered meals," Olsen's story began.

"Mr. Small, 66, a former executive at Citibank and mortgage financier Fannie Mae, had led the Smithsonian since January 2000. He submitted his resignation over the weekend, and the governing board unanimously accepted it, effective immediately.

"Cristián Samper, director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, was named acting secretary, replacing Mr. Small.

"The Smithsonian includes world renowned research institutions and 19 museums and galleries, including the National Zoo and the Air and Space Museum. The $1 billion annual budget for the Smithsonian is 70 percent taxpayer-supported, with the rest coming from private donors and commercial ventures. Attractions like the Hope Diamond and attracted some 23 million visitors last year.

"The announcement of Mr. Small's resignation comes four days after Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, persuaded the Senate to freeze a $17 million increase in the Smithsonian's funding, singling out what he called 'out-of-control spending.' Mr. Grassley was especially upset over Mr. Small's compensation, which totaled $915,698 this year, and 'hundreds of thousands' in reimbursements for items like 'chandelier cleaning and pool heaters' at Mr. Small's home.

"Denying that Mr. Small had been pressured to leave, Roger W. Sant, chairman of the executive committee of the Smithsonian's Board of Regents, said today that Mr. Small 'was really concerned about the possibility of the institution being changed fundamentally' by the Senate's vote to withhold money.

"Mr. Small, who will not receive a severance package, was not present for the announcement, which Mr. Grassley praised.

" 'New leadership brings new opportunity for this American institution,' said Mr. Grassley, who also urged reforming the way the Smithsonian is governed, noting that 'the board needs to continue to recognize its responsibility and take action.'

"In addition to two statutorily mandated regents - Vice President Dick Cheney and John G. Roberts Jr., Chief Justice of the United States - the board includes six lawmakers, three of whom are chosen by the Senate and three by the House. The rest are selected by the existing regents.

"Such a system, said Rick Cohen, former executive director of the Center for Responsive Philanthropy, can lead to inadequate oversight.

" 'What seemed to be the operating measure here is that Small was raising lots of money, so the board was prepared to turn a blind eye to questionable expenditures,' said Mr. Cohen, who now writes for a journal on nonprofit management.

"Mr. Small alluded to his fund-raising in his resignation letter, noting that he had spent 'countless days and evenings promoting the interests of the institution.' He also mentioned giving 'a half million of my own money as well.'

"Mr. Cohen noted that how much money Mr. Small gave or raised should not have been used to gauge how much he was reimbursed for expenditures. 'Rather,' he said, 'it should have been whether he was behaving in the proper way. Otherwise, it's playing fast and loose with taxpayers' money.'

"During his sevenyear tenure, Mr. Small more than doubled his initial salary of $330,000. In addition, he received reimbursement for first-class air fare and stays at exclusive hotels in Hawaii, among other places - perks that the regents regularly approved.

"Mr. Sant had defended Mr. Small's reimbursements, even in the face of revelations that $90,000 of them were unauthorized. And Chief Justice Roberts, replying to his resignation letter, said the board had 'sincere appreciation for your lasting contributions over the past seven years.'

"In response to criticism, the regents announced earlier this month that they were setting up a new committee on governance, to be led by Patty Stonesifer, the cochairman and president of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who has been on the board since December 2001 . The committee will compare the Smithsonian's governance to other institutions and present a 'best practices' plan to the full board.

"Although it receives about 70 percent of its $1 billion budget from taxpayer funds, the Smithsonian's museums charge no admission fee and rely on receipts from its retail shops and other commercial ventures for income - along with public donations. Its business ventures division has come under major criticism, in part because of a recent deal with Showtime Networks, where the Smithsonian agreed to restrict access to its archives and scientists - which critics said violated its publicly supported status.

"The regents also announced a search for a new head of the Smithsonian. Mr. Sant said that both Mr. Samper, the Smithsonian's acting secretary and a Harvard University-trained biologist, and Sheila Burke, the institution's chief operating officer, were potential internal candidates to succeed Mr. Small.

"The rival candidacies of Ms. Burke, once a top aide to former Senator Bob Dole, and Mr. Samper, a 41-year-old native of Costa Rica who also had served as deputy director of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, illustrate the dichotomy facing the Smithsonian.

"Ms. Burke has been linked with Mr. Small's efforts to put the Smithsonian on a more commercial footing, especially after the attendance plummeted following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. Mr. Samper's credentials would allay fears among the institution's scientific staff that the Smithsonian has drifted away from its traditional science moorings.

"Mr. Small was only the second nonscientist to head the prestigious 161- year-old institution, and his lack of scientific credentials created friction with many of the scientists at the 6,000-employee institution from the start. Soon after taking office, he drew their ire by announcing the closure of several facilities, including the Conservation and Research Center near Front Royal, Va., which won renown for training conservation scientists.

"Further straining his credibility, Mr. Small was convicted in 2004 of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty with his collection of Amazonian artifacts that included feathers and other parts of endangered species. (He was sentenced to two years probation and 100 hours of community service.) Then last year, he was named in a government report as being one of the Fannie Mae executives who encouraged a system of meeting earnings targets that was directly tied to the amount of annual bonuses that he and other executives received."

---

A related(?) Associated Press story in The New York Times on March 28 had the headline, "Smithsonian's David L. Evans Resigns".

Datelined Washington, D.C., the story began, "The Smithsonian Institution's under secretary for science, who oversaw the complex's science museums and research facilities, has resigned.

"David L. Evans' resignation was announced Tuesday, one day after the Smithsonian's top official, Secretary Lawrence M. Small, stepped down amid criticism about his spending.

"Ira Rubinoff, director of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, was appointed acting under secretary for science. The Smithsonian will begin a search for Evans' permanent replacement in the coming weeks.

"In his resignation letter, Evans said, 'While it is with great affection for all of my colleagues and some reluctance, I feel that I must resign my position at the Smithsonian to adequately chart my own course.'

"Smithsonian spokeswoman Linda St. Thomas said Evans' resignation did not appear to be related to Small's departure. 'From what he told me and all I know, it's purely personal,' she said..."

---

Most of the information in "A Past Worth Preserving," president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation Richard Moe's March 31 Op-Ed commentary in The New York Times, is well-known to ATADA members, but it is compelling reading nonetheless. But for many readers not as familiar with certain aspects of the history of this country, and of the fragility of what remains of that history, reading this could be instructional and illuminating.

The headline in the online version of this piece was "Preserve These Ruins." Datelined, Chaco Canyon, NM, Moe's piece began, "This May the nation celebrates the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown as the first permanent English settlement in America. It was a consequential event in 1607, to be sure, but we shouldn't confuse it with the beginning of the American experience.

"For thousands of years before the first Europeans arrived, there were people on this continent who represented highly developed civilizations and who were proficient in art, architecture, agriculture and astronomy. These were the first Americans, and their story is also part of our common heritage.

"The most significant evidence of this legacy is here at Chaco Canyon, in the remote desert of northwestern New Mexico, where Native Americans a thousand years ago built a huge complex of great houses, pueblos of exquisite stonework whose rooms sometimes numbered in the hundreds. They built roads that were as wide as 30 feet and extended up to 60 miles to ease trade, ritual and communication. They created, in effect, an empire.

"Chaco Canyon today is a collection of magnificent ruins whose archeology tells us as much as we know, which is not enough, about these mysterious people. A unit of the National Park Service, the canyon is as well preserved and interpreted as an underfinanced budget allows. Unfortunately, other significant archeological sites nearby are increasingly at great risk. Most of these are also on public lands, largely those of the Bureau of Land Management, which has a bifurcated and inherently conflicted mission to both preserve and exploit the resources entrusted to it. With ever increasing pressure for oil and gas drilling on these lands, coupled with greater access by off-road vehicles that can go nearly anywhere and when unmanaged can do great harm, more and more of our heritage on these lands is in danger of being obliterated.

"Utah's Nine Mile Canyon, known as the world's longest art gallery because it contains more than 10,000 petroglyphs, could soon be home to nearly 2,000 oil and gas wells. With them will come hundreds of miles of pipeline, compressor stations, new roads and hundreds of heavy trucks whose vibrations and dust can cause irreversible damage to ancient rock art.

"Agua Fria National Monument in Arizona, abundant in archeological sites, is attracting growing numbers of visitors from nearby Phoenix seeking recreation, too many of them unfortunately in offroad vehicles. From 2000 to 2004, their number increased fivefold. In spite of the growth in visitors, which increases the threat of looting and vandalism, there is still only one ranger to protect the monument.

"Similarly affected by these vehicles is Gold Butte, near Las Vegas. A recent study by volunteers monitoring vandalism at Gold Butte showed a 366 percent increase in major damage to cultural sites in the area from 2004 to 2005, including numerous incidents of graffiti and bullet holes in petroglyph panels. The same sad story is too familiar elsewhere.

"More federal financing is needed to protect these places and to survey archeological sites. Only about 6 percent of Bureau of Land Management lands have been surveyed. And we can't protect these sites if we don't know where they are. While much of this land is generating huge oil and gas revenue, some reasonable share of that revenue should be returned to care for these sites.

"Over the years, Congress and the president have protected a number of sites by designating them national monuments, wilderness and conservation areas, historic trails and wild and scenic rivers. The most important of these sites - the "crown jewels" of the sites under the Bureau of Land Management - have been included in the National Landscape Conservation System to highlight their scientific, educational, cultural and ecological values. Unfortunately, this system has no official statutory basis and can be eliminated at the whim of the interior secretary. Congress needs to make this conservation system permanent and provide money to protect these priceless sites for future generations.

"What is needed most urgently, however, is an appreciation by the American people that these pueblos and panels of rock art are not only places considered sacred by many living Native Americans but also that they are part of the American experience, and thus part of our shared history."

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In The New York Times on April 4: "A Modern Totem Pole For the Field Museum".

The story-ette: "The Field Museum in Chicago has the latest in totem poles. It is a 15-foot-high, 3- foot-wide, 1,500-pound red-and-turquoise cedar ornament that combines traditional carving styles with current techniques and features representations of a bear and birds, and an abstract, swooshing molded silicone element.

Carved by a father-and- son team from a Western red cedar tree given to the museum by the Tlingit people of Cape Fox, Alaska, the new pole replaces one that was returned to the Tlingit by the museum in 2001 under the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, The Associated Press reported. That 26-foot totem pole had been removed from southeast Alaska in 1899 by a scientific expedition.

Installed on Monday, the replacement was carved by Nathan Jackson, a master carver and member of the Chilkoot-Tlingit Tribe of Alaska, and his son, Stephen Jackson, a sculptor based in New York. Nathan's wife, Dorica Jackson, did much of the painting."

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Please direct inquiries and report errors, omissions, and corrections to Alice Kaufman at Alice@ATADA.org, phone 415-863-3173.

This WWW page and all referenced images are Copyright ©1998-2008 by ATADA, 355 Buena Vista East #710W, San Francisco, CA 94117. All rights reserved.

Last modified on 15-Jun-08 by the ATADA Webmaster.

 

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