Family boasts three winners in Indian Arts Show

Art runs in the Coyote family.

And if the jurors of the 2003 Lawrence Indian Arts Show are on target, the Colorado artists are good at what they do.

Mac Coyote’s “Our Flag is Freedom,” an acrylic on canvas, snagged best of show honors in the two-dimensional category. His 11-year-old daughter, Faith, won best of show in the youth category for her acrylic “How Were the Mutton Ribs, Thomas.” And Mac’s wife, Cecelia Coyote, was recognized with a judge’s honorable mention award for “Going to the Water Hole,” a mixed media piece.

Mac’s son couldn’t enter work in this year’s Lawrence show because he took first, second and third place ribbons at the Santa Fe Indian Market in late August, and his work is tied up.

“It keeps us busy,” Mac Coyote said from the family’s home in Cortez, Colo.

Members of the public can see the Coyotes’ work beginning Friday night, when the 15th annual Lawrence Indian Arts show opens with a benefit reception at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 N.H. Jurors Kalley Keams Lucero and Roger McKinney whittled nearly 150 works by 78 American Indian artists from 35 tribes and 19 states to the 134 works by 74 artists that will appear in the show.

The exhibition will be on view through Oct. 11, and many of the artists will be in town Saturday and Sunday to sell their work at the Haskell Indian Art Market at Haskell Indian Nations University.

Winning best of show honors in the three-dimensional category was Mary Annette Clause of Sanborn, N.Y. She outfitted a purchased doll in dance regalia, complete with intricate, hand-done bead and leather work and a feathered cap.

Orlan Oliveao, who works for a Kansas City, Mo., tent company, sets up one of several tents Wednesday at Haskell Indian Nations University in preparation for this weekend's Indian Arts Show.

“She did a phenomenal job,” Lucero said. “She just takes a lot of pride in her work.”

“The clothing itself is just an incredible piece of artwork,” McKinney added. “It is very unified. The execution of technique and the attention to detail are just incredible.”

Mac Coyote’s painting takes a while to digest. An American Indian face decked in a headdress peers off the canvas next to a billowing American flag. Dozens of smaller images, including human faces, animal forms and other objects, appear amid swirls of blue tones — but you have to look close to catch them all.

“A lot of Native Americans are veterans,” Coyote said, explaining the imagery in his painting. “Some of them put their lives on the line, so some of them have paid a price for freedom. My father was a World War II veteran and my grandfather also. … It’s an honorable thing, not only as tribal members but as Americans, that they did this, sacrificed their time and effort in the armed forces.”

Lucero and McKinney praised the painting’s technical execution.

“It was not that hard at all to come up with best of show in 2-D or 3-D,” Lucero said.

“The quality has always been excellent,” McKinney said of the work in the show. “I feel like it gets better every year.”

J-W Staff ReportsHere are the winners in the 2003 Lawrence Indian Arts Show:¢ Best of show ($1,500 award): Mac Coyote, Cortez, Colo., “Our Flag is Freedom,” acrylic on canvas, two-dimensional; and Mary Annette Clause, Sanborn, N.Y., untitled, doll in dance regalia with beadwork, mixed media, three-dimensional.¢ Merit awards, two-dimensional ($300): Louis Baca, Espanola, N.M., “Heart in Hand,” digital photography; Benjamin Harjo Jr., Oklahoma City, “Not My Pet,” ink and acrylic; Roger Morgan, Aztec, N.M., “Helping Hands,” graphics, charcoal drawing; Patta LT, Norman, Okla., “Terapin Races II,” silk painting; Shawna Andrea Romero, Lawrence, “The Invisible Game,” graphic, pastel drawing; Sharon Sahlfeld, Beloit, “Buffalo Spirit,” photography; Felix Vigil, Jemez Pueblo, N.M., “Gentle Breeze Over the Land,” mixed media, collage; and Jeff Yellowhair, Apache, Okla., “Place of Wonder,” acrylic.¢ Merit awards, three-dimensional ($300): George Blackwood, Lawrence, “Travelers,” peyote beadwork; Barbara D. Francis, Old Town, Maine, “Two tone Medium Curly Workbasket,” basketry; Ronnieleigh Goeman, Nedrow, N.Y., “Sky Woman/Creation Story,” basketry, quillwork, moose hair on antler stand; Patricia Baxter Shebola, Lawrence, “Different Perspective,” clay and pigment; Sandra Walker, Orneville Township, Maine, “Trail of Life,” basketry; and Connie Hart Yellowman, El Reno, Olka., “Cheyenne Pipe Bag,” beadwork, quillwork on deer hide.¢ Judge’s honorable mention, two-dimensional (ribbon award only): Walter Big Bee, Tesuque, N.M., “Kiza Sunset,” photography; Marcus Cadman, Shiprock, N.M., “Buffalo on the Horizon,” painting; Gordon M. Coons, Minneapolis, “Summer Solstice II,” printmaking, and “Coyote Dancing with Wolves,” painting; Ron Toahani Jackson, Tempe, Ariz., “Dragonfly Emergence,” monotype; Levi Jiron, Odessa, Mo., “Self Portrait,” painting; Randy G. Kemp, Phoenix, “Seven Buffalo Sky,” painting; Merlin Little Thunder, Tulsa, Okla., “Old Time Conversation/Brother & Sister,” painting; Luther Narcomey, Lawrence, “Passerbys in the Sawtooth,” painting; Amado M. Pena Jr., Santa Fe, N.M., “Mestizo Series: Ellos del Valle,” painting; Chessney Sevier, “River Walk,” printmaking; Joseph Skywolf, Teton Village, Wyo., “Crow Warrior Accolades,” mixed media; Felix Vigil, Jemez Pueblo, N.M., “Hemish Kachina,” painting; and Alice Yazzie, Albuquerque, N.M., “Here Kitty, Kitty,” graphic, pastel.¢ Judge’s honorable mention, three-dimensional (ribbon award only): Heidi Big Knife, Tulsa, Okla., “Leaf Pin,” jewelry; Mary Annette Claus, Sanborn, N.Y., untitled ladies handbag, beadwork; Cecelia Coyote, Cortez, Colo., “Going to the Water Hole,” mixed media, canvas bowl; Sharon Dry Flower Reyna, Taos, N.M., “Dough Bowl (Traditional),” pottery; Marylou Schultz, Mesa, Ariz., “Classic Blanket,” Navajo weaving; and Penny Singer, Albuquerque, N.M., “Betty and Great Grandsons at the Four Corners Farm Picking Corn,” textile,¢ Youth competition (up to age 16): best of show ($100), Faith Coyote, age 11, Cortez, Colo., “How Were the Mutton Ribs, Thomas,” acrylic; second place ($50), Marcus Slim, age 13, Albuquerque, N.M., “Hoop Dancer” pin, jewelry; and third place ($25), Julian Lujan, Taos, N.M., “Koshare Boy,” pottery.