Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-08-12
INDIAN ARTS
HOBBY in THE WEST
Daily Letter by Frederic j.. Haskin

WASHINGTON. Aug. 9.-The In.
diar "curios" picked up by tourists
in the Southwest as souvenirs for
the folks back home are not just
eddy fashioned articles made to sell
to fasteners. They represent the
earliest art and handcraft of the
first Americans, the aboriginal In
dams who lived in the Southwest
in the days Of the prehistoric cave
dwellings, nobody knows how many
centuries ago.
These arts of blanket weaving,
pottery molding, silver hammering.
basketry and beading have been
handed down from generation to gen.
Grafton. Each tribe or pueblo has
retained to a certain extent it's dis
tinctive type of handiwork which
Immediately identities the artist with
the product. 1t is common knowl-
edge that the Navajo is the premier
blanket weaver, that the Hopi
makes the finest baskets and that
the Pueblo excels in pottery max
ing. Even among the several pueb-
los the styles of pottery are easily
distinguished.
Indian arts are fast dying out in
this country. To effect a revival of
thu native arts and crafts and to
encourage the Indians to strive for
the early perfection of their fore
fathers, a great fair is to be held
among the Indians of New Mexico
and Arizona in September at the
the city of Holy Faith, Sante Fe,
New Mexico.
The Southwest Indian Fair and
Industrial Arts and Crafts Exhibit
ton, as it will be known, is the lrst
of its kind in that section OF the
country. Local fairs have been held
on reservations and there have been
exhibitions of Indian handiwork at
county fairs, but nothing of the
scope and character of this exhibi-
ton has ever been held in the South
west.
The exhibition, which is primar-
lily for the Indians themselves. out
will be an added attraction for the
fiesta as well, is being conducted by
the School of American Research
and its director. Edgar L. Hewett,
an. by the Santa Fe Chamber of
Commerce, which is in charge of the
annual fiesta and historical pageant.
Lansing B. Bloom, a director of the
state museum, is to be superlnten-
dent of exhibits.
Indiana Woman Provided Prizes
The fair is the outgrowth of ideas
l dQNdIlItu Gals . ~ N<NS
Rose Dugan of Richmond, Indiana,
who has interested herself in a prac-
teal way in Indian handicraft. She
has rendered an endowment from
the income of which some of the
prizes for the fair are derived. Other
trophies have been offered by the
Sante Fe business men who are in
lterested in the development OF the
Indian arts and industries,
~-A- 80 h~ n 20
given as the announcement OF
native arts and crafts among the
Indians; to revive old arts and to
keep the arts of each tribe and
pueblo as distinct as possible; The
establishment and locating of mar
kets for Indian products; the secur-
ing of reasonable prices; anthem
ITCHY of all handicraft offered for
sale; and protection of the Indian
in all his business dealings with
traders and buyers"
All of the villages and reserva-
tons in the Southwest have been
notified OF the exhibition and are
busting with preparation to send
tho best of their products and their
craftsmen to the big fair. Camping
facilities for the visiting Indians,
many of whom will ride their horses
lin, will be provided by Sante Fe'
an6 their valued handlwork VIII ne
guarded in the state armory there,
The entries of Pueblo pottery VIII
be among the largest at the fair
Dugan fund prizes having been Of
lfered for the best individual exhioit
from each pueblo and a grand prize
for the best of all. The following
rueblos will enter exhibits of POT
terry: San Juan, Santa Clara. San
lIloefonso, Tesuque. Santo Domingo
ICochiti, San Felipe, Santa Ana, Zia'
Jemez. Sandia. Isleta, Laguna, AGO.
ma. Zuni and Hopi.
The exhibit room will not resem-
BILE a museum with its articles on
display under glass, nor a country
, fair with tables covered with tagged
wares. The Indians themselves will
be present in costume to display
!, their own handiwork. That is a fea-
tura of the competitive regulations
: The Navajo blanket weaver must be
present in native working apparel
and with his working loom in order
to enter his exhibits. The Indlan
textile workers must wear their gar
, ments made of home-spun wool and
native dyes. and the silversmith
must bring the tools Of his trade