Native Art Market 2024 | Arts + Literature Laboratory | Madison Contemporary Arts Center

Native Art Market 2024

Arts + Literature Laboratory, with artists and curators Dakota Mace and Paige Skenandore invite the public to celebrate and support local and regional Indigenous culture and heritage at the 2024 Native Art Market, Saturday, November 16, 2024, from 10:00am to 6:00pm in the first floor galleries. Admission to the Market is free and open to the public. Artist demonstrations will also take place throughout the day.

Musician Wade Fernandez will perform between 2pm and 4pm during the Native Art Market.

Musician Wade Fernandez (Menominee)

Wade Fernandez / Wicīwen Apīs-Mahwaew (Walks With The Black Wolf) is a “deeply authentic” multi-award winning international touring artist and educator from the Menominee Nation. Winning numerous awards in multiple musical genres, Fernandez's musical and educational style know no bounds. His music and his message are firmly grounded in his Menominee Reservation roots and love for the land, animals, and people.  A passion to educate, share music, serve community, share culture and honor Grandmother Earth is reflected in Wade's performances and presentations.

Additional programs will take place leading up to the Market on Saturday. The afternoon of Thursday, November 14, silversmith Joe Mace (Diné) will lead a Jewelry Stamping Workshop from 10:00am to 1:00pm in the third floor Education Studio (registration required). 

Friday, November 15, artist and Native Art Market co-founder Paige Skenandore will lead a Porcupine Quill Jewelry Workshop from 5:00pm to 8:00pm in the third floor Education Studio at ALL (currently wait-list only). And several participants in the Native Art Market will present a panel discussion on Indigenous Design in the first floor galleries starting at 6:00pm (free admission).

Finally, on Sunday, November 17 from 1:00pm to 4:00pm, artist Liandra Skenandore will lead a Black Ash Plaited Basket workshop (registration required) at Textile Arts Center of Madison, 2436 Pennsylvania Avenue.

The Native Art Market was established in 2023 to provide public education on Indigenous culture and professional benefit to Indigenous artists. The 2024 edition of the Native Art Market will contribute to the economic health of Native communities by paying artists for teaching and providing an opportunity to sell their work. 

Interdisciplinary artist Dakota Mace approached Arts + Literature Laboratory to create the first Native Art Market in 2023. Mace’s art practice focuses on translating the language of Diné history and beliefs. “My work draws from the history of my Diné heritage, exploring the themes of family lineage, community, and identity,” Mace explains, “My work pushes the viewer's understanding of Diné culture through alternative photography techniques, weaving, beadwork, and papermaking.” Mace currently occupies an artist studio on the third floor of Arts + Literature Laboratory.

A beading conference at Arts + Literature Laboratory in 2022, organized by the UW-School of Human Ecology’s Indigenous Arts EcoWell Initiative (Dr. Carolee Dodge Francis, Oneida Nation, & the Initiative Team Leader), inspired Mace to pursue a new Native Art Market. Research coordinator for the Indigenous EcoWell Initiative, Paige Skenandore (Oneida Nation), was a part of a specially funded research project where her and another indigenous graduate student, Josie Lee (Ho-Chunk Nation) conducted a scoping review of published academic articles to examine the impact of beadwork in indigenous communities. Not long after, Skenandore joined Mace as the co-founder and co-director of the Native Art Market.

Skenandore creates custom beadwork and porcupine quillwork art pieces, and teaches various Indigenous art workshops and classes throughout Wisconsin, including classes at Arts + Literature Laboratory. She founded Moody NDN, an Indigenous artist collective based in Oneida and Madison in 2022.

2024 Native Art Market participants include:

with support from the Department of Civil Society & Community Studies, and additional funds provided by Endres Manufacturing Company Foundation, the Evjue Foundation, Inc., charitable arm of The Capital Times, the W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation, and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation.

PLAN YOUR VISIT

Arts + Literature Laboratory is located at 111 S. Livingston Street #100, Madison, Wisconsin, 53703.

Our galleries are open Tuesday through Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday noon to 5pm, and other programs take place throughout the week. Please check the events calendar and education section for details.

CALENDAR

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