Berlin Gallery Artists Fall Preview: Allan Houser

The genius of the late Chiricahua Apache sculptor Allan Houser takes center stage from November 4^th, 2009- January 12^th, 2010. An extraordinary selection of bronzes made available by the Houser Estate will be for sale at the Berlin Gallery. Considered one of the best-known and celebrated American Indian artists of the 20th century, Allan Houser’s work has been widely recognized throughout the world. The breadth of Allan Houser’s work can be seen in the selection of art work currently on display in the Berlin Gallery.

Please visit us in the gallery while you are touring the collaborative exhibition Allan Houser: Tradition to Abstraction. Which features 18 large sculptures from the Houser Foundation on the Desert Botanical Garden’s grounds and an extended variety of paintings, drawings, sketches and smaller sculptures by this master artist at the Heard Museum’s Lovena Ohl Gallery.

Another Wish Procession by Eliza Naranjo-Morse.

Another Wish Procession, Stencil, spray paint on Japanese paper, 25" x 37", 2009

We are excited to receive additional prints including Another Wish Procession by Eliza Naranjo-Morse (Santa Clara Pueblo). The elegant imagery of the procession was made with stencil and spray paint on Japanese Paper. The paper's texture and lightness add to the overall sophistication of these prints. Please stop by the gallery to view more of Eliza’s prints.

New work by Julie Buffalohead

I Feel This Much, Mixed Media on Paper, 29x19.50

We recently got a number of new mixed media pieces in from Ponca artist Julie Buffalohead. They are amazing.

Says Buffalohead about this work,

Living and working in Saint Paul, Minnesota, My recent series began in 2008. This body of work manifests new directions in drawing, through both personal and artistic maturation. Principally brought on as a result of becoming pregnant, it became necessary for me to embrace a reduction of scale, and a detoxification of my studio methods. In absence of oil paint and solvent, this resulted in my adoption of a simplified, streamlined approached to developing narrative and imagery on paper.

The works are crafted on pastel and earthen toned handmade paper surfaces. The mediums of pen, ink, and acrylic, fueled the economy and flexibility for me to devise and fabricate my unique formal cosmology. While my previous works addressed Native politics and identity overtly, my recent series reflects a journey of a more personal nature.

With these works, I have redefined familiar motifs from past works, while engendering this world with an emerging maternity. I re-purpose the dominant trickster archetype through animated theatricality, where I explore this figure's mythic paradoxical nature. The narrative tension my work creates, emanates from Native oral tradition of story telling, while I blend in my own distinct strands of make believe. Employing a cast of anthropomorphic characters, props, and often visceral gestures, My goal is to disrupt ordinary consciousness. Diverging from the sometimes grand scale of past work, these drawings realize a humor and intimacy.

Marla Allison explains "Mother" and "Father" paintings!

A year ago the Heard Museum accessioned a Marla Alllison multimedia portrait of her mother (Sharon L. Allison) called "Mother," into the Heard Museum permanent collection. Marla Allison (Laguna Pueblo) who is represented by the Berlin Gallery won the inaugural Dobkin Award for Innovation at SWAIA Indian Market in Santa Fe for this particular painting. Allison recently contacted the curatorial department about a companion piece, "Father," which she donated to the Heard Museum. Each of these portraits has a video component, which includes photographs and personal stories. Together these pieces provide a fascinating narrative of the family and heritage of a Laguna artist exploring new ways of using technology. Please view Marla's video below explain these works.

Please stop by the Berlin Gallery to view additional works of art by Marla Allison.

Richard Zane Smith

The Berlin Gallery is pleased to announce it's newest artist, Richard Zane Smith.

Large Wyandot Vessel, Clay,17x14.50 SOLD

Born in 1955 in Augusta Georgia, Wyandot sculptor Richard Zane Smith is regarded as one of the most unique contemporary American Indian potters of his generation. Smith’s works are constructed with tiny coils, following the model of the prehistoric corrugated ware of the Southwest. He was raised in Missouri, and grew up in a spiritual and creative home where artistic expression was encouraged from both parents. “My art education began as a child at home in Missouri.”“I attended University City High School, where I was introduced to clay and working all kinds of natural materials became a passion. I went on to Meramec Jr. College, serious about the arts, especially ceramics, and then on to Kansas City Art Institute where I worked hard to learn as much as I could in one year. One year was all I could afford.”

Says Smith, “at the end of 1977, with my truck, tools and possessions I traveled and worked odd-jobs out west.” The following year he and his wife settled on the Navajo Nation, in Ganado, Arizona at a Navajo boarding school and he began teaching art. “I was handed a check for fifty dollars for the year for art supplies and so I began to make trips in the desert to find clays and other materials we could scrounge for art supplies. It was here I was exposed to the pottery shards of the ancient Anasazi and first experimented with the ancient corrugated technique using tiny coils of clay that I still use today.”

The Southwest inspired Smith to focus on forms more indigenous to that area of the country. Smith has since developed his own unique style of laying tiny coils in fluid forms. Smith’s play with perspective and depth also result is highly unconventional sculptures and vessels. Smith's signature colors and designs often combined with natural slips enhanced with commercial stains create breathtaking pieces of artwork. Interesting also to note that Smith fires his work in an adobe and mud kiln that he both designed and built.

Smith raised his family in Glorieta, New Mexico before moving to Wyandtte Oklahoma to be closer and more active with his Tribe. “I am actively involved with other Wendat/Wyandots who are restoring traditions and reviving our language. I have a dream to help restore to our people the pottery traditions of our ancestors as has happened among the Pueblo peoples of the Southwest.” He is currently active in Wyandot/Wendat language revitalization, longhouse ceremony, teaching Wyandot language in public schools, and occasionally holding pottery workshops for First Nations people. Mr. Smith's work has appeared in numerous books and publications and has been featured in exhibitions including the Philbrook Museum of Art, Oklahoma; The American Craft Museum, New York, and the Kunstindustrie Museum, Denmark. His work is held in my private and permanent and public collections including the Museum of Art and Design (formerly the American Craft Museum), the Cooper Hewitt Museum, and the Denver Art Museum just to name a few.

Berlin Artist Will Wilson

Berlin Gallery artist, Will Wilson has been working in Indianapolis for the past couple of weeks on a mural project that not only introduces young people to art and indigenous cultures, but also helps them to give back to the Indianapolis community by beautifying a neighborhood building. Students will assist Wilson, in tracing and filling in a mural celebrating the Indians of Indiana.

The mural, which will be placed on an empty building at 1201 S. Meridian, is being created as part of Christel House Academy's efforts to bring a multicultural education to their students. As part of the project, Wilson will be talking to students about Navajo culture and how it influences his art.

3 was just reviewed by Java Magazine!

3 was just reviewed by Java Magazine! Please stop by the Berlin Gallery to see this magnificent show which highlights Marla Allison, Eliza Naranjo-Morse and Rose B. Simpson.