Roxanne Swentzell (Kah'p'oo Owinge (Santa Clara Pueblo), born 1962). <em>Making Babies for Indian Market</em>, 2004. Clay, pigment, 23 1/2 x 8 1/2 x 17 in. (59.7 x 21.6 x 43.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift in memory of Helen Thomas Kennedy, 2004.80. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2004.80_SL3.jpg)

Roxanne Swentzell (Kah'p'oo Owinge (Santa Clara Pueblo), born 1962). Making Babies for Indian Market, 2004. Clay, pigment, 23 1/2 x 8 1/2 x 17 in. (59.7 x 21.6 x 43.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift in memory of Helen Thomas Kennedy, 2004.80. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2004.80_SL3.jpg)

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This is so interesting! Can you tell me about this?

"Making Babies for Indian Market" is by Roxanne Swentzell. In the work, she is referencing the Santa Fe Indian Market, which occurs on one weekend a year in Santa Fe. It began in 1922.

Pottery as a Native art form is practiced by women in the Southwest and Swentzell comes from a family of acclaimed potters. Roxanne Swentzell has said about this work: "Making Babies for Indian Market is about the creative process. My pieces are like children that are born through me. Its about all the 'babies of artwork' born because of Indian Market."

I love this piece!

It's an effort our curatorial team has made to show that Native art and culture remains present, despite the attempts in the past to place them in an archaeological context.

That's exactly why I love it.

What is the artist trying to convey?

This work by Roxanne Swentzell and can be seen as a commentary on both the role of the artist as a creator and the commercial aspect of the art world. Swentzell is referencing the Santa Fe Indian Market, which is a major venue for Native artists to sell their work. The woman is making/giving birth to the next generation of artists who will sell their work at Santa Fe Indian Market.

What about this? Were they into giants or something?

Interesting thought, this is actually the work of a contemporary Santa Clara Pueblo artist, Roxanne Swentzell. This sculpture is called "Making Babies for Indian Market" and is based on the historical form of Storyteller figures which are women surrounded by children.

Oh wow.

The Indian Market is an annual art market held in downtown Santa Fe for one weekend every August. In addition, hundreds of gallery openings, art shows and related events take place during the weekend of Indian Market and during the two weeks immediately preceding it. Indian art collectors and artists from around the world make the pilgrimage to Santa Fe.

The smaller people on top look afraid.

Fear could definitely be at least one of the emotions involved in the work. This is a work by contemporary artist Roxanne Swentzell which comments on the sale of Native American culture. The babies, in this case, could be interpreted as a commodity to be sold.

Ok, thanks.

Making Babies for Indian Market

Arts of the Americas

Roxanne Swentzell’s work often plays on the interaction between native and non-native worlds. Here she uses clay, an ancient artistic medium, to depict a traditional Pueblo woman, whose face is much like Swentzell’s own. The woman in the sculpture looks up at the Santa Clara black pot balanced on her head, from which babies are emerging. But there is a contemporary ironic twist to what the woman is doing: is she “birthing” pots to be sold at an Indian market, or is it the baby Indians themselves that the consumer will want to buy? The work challenges the viewer to acknowledge the treatment of Native Americans as a stereotype and commodity in representations by non-natives in popular culture and advertising.

ARTIST Roxanne Swentzell, Kah'p'oo Owinge (Santa Clara Pueblo), born 1962

CULTURE Santa Clara

MEDIUM Clay, pigment

Place Made: Santa Clara, New Mexico, United States

DATES 2004

DIMENSIONS 23 1/2 x 8 1/2 x 17 in. (59.7 x 21.6 x 43.2 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Arts of the Americas

ACCESSION NUMBER 2004.80

CREDIT LINE Gift in memory of Helen Thomas Kennedy

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION The sculpture is a contemporary version of the traditional storyteller figure with an ironic twist. It makes a dual statement on the production of traditional-style pottery for the Santa Fe Indian Market, for sale as well as on the Pueblo potter's desire to create something lasting for generations to come. A Pueblo woman sits with her legs and arms outstretched in front of her. The figure's face resembles Roxanne Swentzell, the artist responsible for the sculpture. Her eyes look up towards the Santa Clara black pot balanced on her head. Two babies emerge from the pot. One is shown half way out, the other with its head poking up. A third baby stands on the woman's shoulder and is reaching towards one of the babies coming from the pot. A fourth baby sits on the Pueblo woman's lap with an expression of deep contentment. Making babies and making pots are equated, perhaps to protest how indigenous people themselves and their traditions are often considered as if commodities, to be purchased by non-Native people at commercial Indian Markets throughout the Southwest. The entire piece is a tour-de-force of workmanship, a hand formed sculpture that merges two worlds, the time-honored and the modern. The entire surface of the work is highly polished and is in excellent condition.

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view

CAPTION Roxanne Swentzell (Kah'p'oo Owinge (Santa Clara Pueblo), born 1962). Making Babies for Indian Market, 2004. Clay, pigment, 23 1/2 x 8 1/2 x 17 in. (59.7 x 21.6 x 43.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift in memory of Helen Thomas Kennedy, 2004.80. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2004.80_SL3.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 2004.80_SL3.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph

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RIGHTS STATEMENT © Roxanne Swentzell

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