SWAIA’s New Indian Market Standards

SWAIA’s New Standards Allow Indian Market Artists More Flexibility,

Increase Value of Prize-Winning Ribbons

originally published in The Santa Fe, New Mexican, March 9, 2009

By Gregory Pleshaw

SWAIA Director of Artist Services John Torres-Nez sits behind his desk at the SWAIA offices with a sheaf of print-outs representing a document that has a lot of people very excited. These are the new Indian Market Standards, which spell out which Classification, Division and Category each piece of art belongs in and what materials can be part of the work in order for it to be judged “authentic” and worthy of inclusion in Indian Market. In short, this is the document that contains the rules which govern the guarantee that whatever you buy at Indian Market is an authentic piece of handmade Native American art.

“The initial thoughts behind Standards remains sound to this day,” said Torres-Nez. “And that was to keep the bar high with the quality of the work and to ensure authenticity.”

Over the years, however, the Standards have become a hodge-podge of rules and regulations so arcane that even the artists in a particular Classification might not know which Division or Category their work would be placed in any given year. The upside of this was that many Divisions and Categories were often spread so thin that many artists were almost guaranteed ribbons in their respective categories. The downside of this is that ribbons had begun to lose value as a sign of quality simply because there were so many of them awarded.

How the New Standards Work.

Each piece of work that is entered into judging at Indian Market is designated by a Classification, a Division within that Classification, and a Category within the Division. All told, the New Standards contain 8 Classifications as before, including the following: jewelry, pottery, Paintings, katchinas, Sculpture, Textiles/Basket, Diverse Arts, & Beadwork, and each have their own particular Divisions and Categories that are used to help direct the judging of each piece.

For example, in the case of a piece like a Navajo style concho belt, the piece would first be Classified in Jewelry, then placed in the Division of A (Traditional Jewelry using culturally acceptable materials) and the Category of Concho Belts. A work must win Best in Category in order to view for Best in Division, then Best in Division to qualify for Best in Classification. The eight pieces that comprise the winners of Best(s) in Classifications are then used to determine the Best in Show award.

Under the new Standards, the number of Divisions and Categories have changed dramatically, with just 29 Divisions (vs. 42) and 151 Categories (vs. 238.) Much of this is due to the fact that SWAIA felt that many Categories could easily be combined in order to streamline the process. As Torres-Nez, nearly all of the Divisions are new or changed because of the way they are organized.

“In the case of jewelry, for example, instead of three traditional categories, four nontraditional categories and one nonwearable category, there is now one traditional category, one contemporary category and one uber traditional/old school/precolumbian/stones and shells only category, while non-wearable pieces will be moved to sculpture,” he said.

The downside to all of this is that with a decrease in the number of Divisions and Categories, many artists who’ve come to expect a prize-winning award of one kind or another may find themselves going home without one. The upside, however, is that the prize money for every ribbon will be increased, and the value of ribbons is increased as well, because there are more people vying for fewer ribbons.

“Artists need to know that the changes were made with artists advisors in attempt to honor and respect both contemporary and traditional artists by allowing them to express themselves as artists without feeling restricted,” said Torres-Nez.

 

March 9th, 2009 by