Research Activities
As is explicit in its name, the Indian Arts Research Center exists primarily as a research institution, focused especially on the Collection. We define the word “research” broadly, to include not only traditional scholarly pursuits but also inspirational quests by Native artists wishing to explore their objective heritage.
Research currently being conducted by IARC staff
Katsinam project. Dr. Kathleen Whitaker, Director of IARC, and Shannon Parker, Collections Manager, are interviewing Hopi carvers in order to better understand how Hopis negotiate their identity as artists and tribal members in an increasingly complicated world. Subjects considered with the carvers include their home and village life in relation to dominant outside culture, how market forces affect their art, the religious strictures which surround the carving of katsinam, and the tensions as women take up carving.
Textiles. Dr. Whitaker, a recognized authority on Southwest Native textiles, pursues her interests in three principal areas: 1) social, political, and economic viability of Navajo weaving; 2) physical analysis of textiles from the past 200 years as materials have evolved; and 3) interactive ideas of weaving through time and cultures. Recent presentations by Dr. Whitaker have included “Navajo Blankets and Rugs, Past and Present: The Mexican Connection,” at the symposium “Marketing Native North America,” hosted by The British Museum in London; “Pueblo Weaving,” at the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos; and “Pueblo and Navajo Weaving,” for the docents at the Museum of Indian Arts and Cultures in Santa Fe.
Interviews with Sallie Wagner, who, with her husband Bill Lippencott, ran the Wide Ruins Trading Post on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona from 1938 to 1950, illuminate the changing history of Navajo artistic production. From the early 1950s Ms. Wagner has lived in Santa Fe, where she has played an active role in the cultural life of the city. The Wagners were collectors as well as traders, and Ms. Wagner has left most of her collection to the School of American Research. In an attempt to learn as much about this collection as possible (its provenance) Dr. Whitaker has interviewed Ms. Wagner for the past two years. Discussions range from life on the Reservation in the 1940s to circumstances of collection to key personalities Ms. Wagner has interacted with in Santa Fe, accompanied by information related to her extensive photograph collection. Of particular importance has been information related to the life and career of Beatien Yazz (Jimmy Toddy), a celebrated Navajo painter and Ms. Wagner’s godson (see The Collection: Painting and The Collection: Additions to the Collection). Videotapes have been made of Ms. Wagner discussing each of the paintings by Yazz with which she is familiar. Daniel Kurnit, Administrative Assistant at IARC, has been transcribing these interviews as well. Volunteers Diane Webster and Jim Fusco have assisted both Dr. Whitaker and Mr. Kurnit. This body of documentation will be of enduring value to future researchers interested in Navajo culture, the trading post system, the Wagner collection, the painter Beatien Yazz, and the Santa Fe cultural scene in the mid twentieth century.
Research Associates
Research Associates are honorary appointees at the Indian Arts Research Center. They come to this position from a variety of backgrounds, but because of their intellectual contributions they receive unlimited access to the Collection for independent research endeavors (sometimes in collaboration with IARC staff). These have resulted in important publications based on the Collection.
Projects (current or recent)
Dr. Duane Anderson. Santa Ana pottery. The Pottery of Santa Ana Pueblo, Museum of New Mexico Press, 2005, with Francis Harlow and Dwight Lanmon. See also Dr. Dwight Lanmon.
Dr. J. J. Brody. Native painting, Mimbres pottery. Mimbres Painted Pottery, Revised Edition, SAR Press, 2005.
Ms. Katherin Chase. Southwest Native painters. Indian Painters of the Southwest: The Deep Remembering, SAR Press, 2002.
Mr. Larry Dalrymple. Native basketry. Indian Basketmakers of the Southwest, Museum of New Mexico Press, 2000.
Ms. Gloria Emerson. Navajo artist and poet. At the Hems of the Lowest Clouds: Meditations on Navajo Landscapes, SAR Press, 2003.
Dr. Jill Furst. Mojave culture and pottery. Mojave Pottery, Mojave People, SAR Press, 2001.
Dr. Frank Harlow. Pre-contact and modern pottery. The Pottery of Zia Pueblo, SAR Press, 2003. See also Dr. Duane Anderson and Dr. Dwight Lanmon.
Dr. Ann L. Hedlund. Textiles. Blanket Weaving of the Southwest, Joe Ben Wheat and Ann Lane Hedlund, editor, University of Arizona Press, 2003.
Ms. Cindra Kline. Silver esoterica. Navajo Spoons: Indian Artistry and the Souvenir Trade, 1880s-1940s. Museum of New Mexico Press, 2001.
Dr. Dwight Lanmon. Pueblo pottery. The Pottery of Zia Pueblo, SAR Press, 2003. See also Dr. Duane Anderson. Santa Ana Pueblo Pottery (with Drs. Duane Anderson and Frank Harlow) and Pueblo Man-Woman Potters and the Pottery Made by the Laguna Man-Woman, Arroh-a-och, in American Indian Art Magazine, Winter 2005.
Ms. Susan Brown McGreevy. General Southwest art. Indian Basketry Artists of the Southwest: Deep Roots, New Growth, SAR Press, 2001.
Ms. Nora Naranjo Morse. Native artist and filmmaker. Clay Beings, with Roger Salles, Indian Arts Research Center, 2003.
Mr. Mateo Romero. Native American painter. Painting the Underworld Sky: Cultural Experience and Subversion in Art, School of American Research Press, forthcoming 2006.
Mr. Richard Spivey. Pueblo pottery. The Legacy of Maria Poveka Martinez, Museum of New Mexico Press, 2003.
Interns
Unpaid internships are available at the IARC for both high school and college students. Candidates must be willing to commit to 160 hours over an agreed upon time period; demonstrate an ability to interact with a wide variety of scholars, Native American groups, and the general public; and have basic computer skills and good oral and written communication skills. Interns must keep a written journal documenting the experience (one hour a week is dedicated to this purpose) and develop an independent project in conjunction with IARC staff to be completed by the end of the internship.
IARC will tailor internships to meet the interests of each individual to the extent that we can accommodate those interests. Interested students should review the Internship Proposal and Application Form. The applicant should submit the form and a letter of intent to the appropriate faculty advisor at his or her institution with a copy submitted to the Indian Arts Research Center. The letter should include the student’s background, coursework taken, and a statement about why he or she would like to be an intern at the IARC. The letter should also include a commitment to the requirements as outlined in the Internship Proposal and any additional requirements needed by the student’s institution for course credit.
Upon receipt of the application and letter, IARC staff will arrange an interview with the student to determine what she or he wishes to achieve during the internship and whether IARC will be able to accommodate the proposal. Interns are also given an exit interview, allowing participants to express their thoughts on the experience, enabling staff to continually improve the internship program.
For inquiries on Student Internships at IARC, please contact us at:
Indian Arts Research Center
School of American Research
P.O. Box 2188
Santa Fe, NM 87504-2188
Phone: 505-954-7205
Fax: 505-954-7207
Email: iarc@sarsf.org
Visiting Researchers
Researchers are welcome at the Indian Arts Research Center. All researchers must fill out the Research Request Form and submit it to the Collections Manager 30 days in advance of their proposed visit. Requests submitted fewer than 30 days in advance will be reviewed; however, it may not be possible to accommodate them. Requests are reviewed twice a month. Notification of approval or other decisions are provided by email or phone. Please contact the IARC Collections Manager for more information or questions at 505-954-7205.
