The Whitehawk Antique Indian and Ethnographic Art Show , dubbed “the grandaddy of them all” by Maine Antique Digest ‘s Alice Kaufman, just got bigger. The Whitehawk Show, which opens Friday, August 9, and runs through Monday, August 12, has been showcasing historic Native American art objects and collections in Santa Fe for more than 46 years. It is an event that is known to bring together expert exhibitors and art collectors from around the world, but this year, the show’s scope has expanded on multiple fronts.
The show includes more than 125 exhibitors and is shaping up to be 25% bigger than last year’s, filling every space of the Santa Fe Community Convention Center. And this year’s event will feature Native American art from across the U.S.
as it has in the past but this year will also feature contemporary tribal and folk art pieces from Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Americas. “There’s no other moment like it anywhere in the world to really see this wide variety of material and this amount of material,” says show owner and producer Kim Martindale. “And then to augment the Native American aspect of it is that we have work from these other cultures as well, which I think just lends itself to the Indigenous reference.
” Martindale says this inclusion of tribal work outside of the Western world is important in avoiding a “myopic” view of art. “You’re really missing out on some amazing artists and artwork when you just look at that very myopic f.