Porcupine Quill Jewelry

media release: Arts + Literature Laboratory, with artists and curators Dakota Mace and Paige Skenandore invite the public to celebrate and support local and regional Indigenous culture and heritage at the 2024 Native Art Market, Saturday, November 16, 2024, from 10:00am to 6:00pm in the first floor galleries. Admission to the Market is free and open to the public. Artist demonstrations will also take place throughout the day.

Additional programs will take place throughout the weekend. Friday, November 15, artist and Native Art Market co-founder Paige Skenandore will lead a Porcupine Quill Jewelry Workshop from 5:00pm to 8:00pm in the third floor Education Studio at ALL (registration required). And several participants in the Native Art Market will present a series of artist talks in the first floor galleries starting at 7:00pm (free admission). Finally, on Sunday, November 17 from 1:00pm to 4:00pm, artist Liandra Skenandore will lead a Black Ash Plaited Basket workshop (registration required) at Textile Arts Center of Madison, 2436 Pennsylvania Avenue.

The Native Art Market was established in 2023 to provide public education on Indigenous culture and professional benefit to Indigenous artists. The 2024 edition of the Native Art Market will contribute to the economic health of Native communities by paying artists for teaching and providing an opportunity to sell their work. 

Interdisciplinary artist Dakota Mace approached Arts + Literature Laboratory to create the first Native Art Market in 2023. Mace’s art practice focuses on translating the language of Diné history and beliefs. “My work draws from the history of my Diné heritage, exploring the themes of family lineage, community, and identity,” Mace explains, “My work pushes the viewer's understanding of Diné culture through alternative photography techniques, weaving, beadwork, and papermaking.” Mace currently occupies an artist studio on the third floor of Arts + Literature Laboratory.

A beading conference at Arts + Literature Laboratory in 2022, organized by the UW-School of Human Ecology’s Indigenous Arts EcoWell Initiative and the Wunk Sheek Native student organization, inspired Mace to pursue a new Native Art Market. Then-President of Wunk Sheek, artist Paige Skenandore, joined Mace as the co-founder and co-director of the Native Art Market.

Skenandore creates custom beadwork and porcupine quillwork art pieces, and teaches various Indigenous art workshops and classes throughout Wisconsin, including classes at Arts + Literature Laboratory. In addition to serving as President of Wunk Sheek, Skenandore was the research coordinator for the Indigenous EcoWell Initiative within the School of Human Ecology. She founded Moody NDN, an Indigenous artist collective based in Oneida and Madison in 2022.

2024 Native Art Market participants include:

Andi Cloud (Ho-Chunk)

Josanna Cornelius (Bad River)

Charlotte Easterling (Oglala Sioux)

Joel Hernandez (Navajo, Sicangu Lakota)

Xav Horkman (Oneida)

Robin John (Oneida)

Jennifer Jordan (Oneida)

Rita Louise Lush (Yankton Sioux)

Katerra Hicks (Klamath Tribes)

Joe Mace (Diné)

Laura Manthe (Oneida) 

• Karen Martin (Ho-Chunk, Stockbridge-Munsee, Ojibwe, Menominee)

MicahMarie McCann (Ho-Chunk)

Hattie Mendoza (Cherokee)

Liz Morrison (Oglala Sioux)

Victor Pascual (Navajo)

Yvette Peguero (Menominee)

Adriana Peguero (Menominee)

Eliza Skenandore (Oneida)

Liandra Skenandore (Oneida)

Paige Skenandore (Oneida)

• Christopher Sweet (Ho-Chunk)

Crystal Wabnum (Kickapoo)

Sunny Webster (Oneida)

Sadie Wilson (Oneida)

Marjorie MorningStar Mehojah (Oneida/Kaw)

Crystal Lepscier (Little Shell Chippewa, Menomonee, Stockbridge-Munsee)

Rachel Jeske (Potawatomi-Hannahville Indian Community)