Program Description
The School's Indian Arts Research Center
(IARC) houses one of the world's most significant collections of traditional Southwest
Indian arts and artifacts, spanning the 450-year period from Spanish contact to the
present. These collections and a range of associated programs have made the IARC an
outstanding cultural and educational resource for the Native American community,
researchers, scholars, and the public.
Native American Fellowship and Internship
Program
Since 1987 more than 2,000 Native American artists and craftspersons have studied and been
inspired by the IARC collections, with support from such SAR programs as the Native
American Arts Education Program, the Native American Artist Mentor Program, and the Native
American Artist Fellowships. Fellows have included, among others, Zia Pueblo potter
Elizabeth Medina, Hopi/Laguna metalsmith Duane Maktima, and Isabel Gonzales, a textile
embroiderer from San Ildefonso Pueblo.
Currently, the Ron and Susan Dubin Native American Artist Fellowship, the Eric and Barbara Dobkin Native American Artist
Fellowship, and the Mary Ella King Native Artist Fellowship are available each year at the IARC.
Volunteers and Docents
Volunteers are the lifeblood of an institution such as IARC. There are many projects that would never be completed without their assistance, and we are fortunate to have a dedicated group of volunteers. During the last two years, more than thirty volunteers, docents, and interns at IARC have given 2500 hours of their time.
Docents guide the regular weekly public tours as well as the many private groups that come through our doors. They provide visitors with the introductory knowledge required to make connections between the material culture they are seeing and the historical and intellectual context of which they were and are a significant part.
Collections volunteers work on many tasks essential to IARC’s operation, including object accessioning, collections photography and inventory, data entry, and a host of other duties that arise in the management of the collection. They allow IARC to maintain, improve, and preserve the Collection and its records, thereby making them more accessible.
Volunteers and docents become SAR members, are noted in the annual report, and participate in several special events. Every year SAR hosts a Volunteer Appreciation Dinner and regularly IARC holds a coffee klatch for everyone to get together and discuss topics of interest.
Training
Potential docents and volunteers participate in a five-month course in which they devote one morning a week to learning about the IARC Collection, the management and philosophical ideals behind it, and practical lessons that range from making a pot to giving a tour to handling objects within the collection. Guest speakers from a wide variety of backgrounds are the primary instructors, with the IARC staff members lecturing on areas of their own expertise.
Training classes usually begin in January or February and run until May or June. The course is conducted in alternate years, most sessions are videotaped, and these videos are available both as refreshment tools for current volunteers and docents and for individuals interested in volunteering at IARC prior to the next training course.
In addition, volunteers and docents have an opportunity to participate in continuing educational programs and field trips through the Native Arts Forum. (See the hyper-link.)
Current Volunteers and Docents
Jeri Ah-be-hill
Barbara Anderson-Acosta
Sammye Beron
Beezy Bing
Barbara Bishop
Melanie Brunner
Janet Boor
Hal Bolton
Clarice Cole
Jane Colman
Darla Cox
Larry Dalrymple
Alice and Houston Davis
Louis Erhard
Douglas Fine
Jim Fusco
Herman and Mimi Gordon
Nelson Grice
Henry Haskell
Beverly Hayden
Dwight Lanmon
Nancy Leonard
Virginia Lierz
Pam Lytle
Margie McKhann
Gene Miller
Kathleen Mulder
Charles Perkins
Jeanette Rattner
Estelle Rebec
Don Thomas
Toba Tucker
Diane Webster
Contact
For more information about the IARC, please call or write to us.
INDIAN ARTS RESEARCH CENTER
School for Advanced Research
Post Office Box 2188, Santa Fe, NM 87504-2188
Phone: (505) 954-7205
Fax: (505) 954-7207
E-mail: iarc@sarsf.org
