Niwot to host inaugural Niwot Native Art Market

Niwot will host its first-ever Native Art Market on Sunday, March 16, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Niwot Hall. The free event is co-sponsored by the Niwot Cultural Arts Association and Create áyA, a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering marginalized artists.

This unique event will feature a number of talented emerging Indigenous artists, both local to Colorado and from across the region, offering a diverse array of handcrafted artwork for the community to admire and purchase.

The participating artists represent various Tribal Nations, including Apache, Lakota, Navajo, Cheyenne, Haudenosaunee, and Native Hawaiian, and bring diverse artistic backgrounds to the market. Their work spans traditional Native arts such as textiles, beadwork, and pottery, but also includes more contemporary mediums such as digital art and connections to such pop culture phenomena such as Star Wars.

Nico Strange Owl, the proprietor of Eagle Plume's Trading in Allenspark, 10 miles south of Estes Park, will be one of the featured vendors at the Niwot Native Art Market. "We're so looking forward to helping indigenize Niwot," Strange Owl said, laughing. "Our shop contains both prehistoric and historic Native art that spans from the Aleutian Islands to the tip of Florida, with a special focus on the Southwest and the Plains. I'll be bringing sculpture, jewelry, fetishes and other pieces."

Starr Vipi Arens is a Native Hawaiian artist who draws inspiration from outer space. "I am super excited to share a native space again," Arens said. "Connecting with the community through art and heritage is so special, I'm excited to meet everyone who comes by."

"We are incredibly excited to bring this event to Niwot," said Tom Myer, a Native digital artist and Gunbarrel resident who is helping to organize the event. "This market isn't just about supporting Indigenous artists. It's also an opportunity for the community to engage with and learn about the rich cultural heritage of contemporary Native peoples and the art they're making right now."

"Native art isn't just about traditional and ancestral practices," said Kristina Maldonado Bad Hand, a Denver-based Lakota artist and co-founder of Create áyA. She and her husband Rafael, a comic book artist, will be selling prints at the market. "Yes, we honor the past, but also create in the present, and affect up to seven generations in the future. In that way, Native artists exist out of time."

Dustin Wolf, Eddie Running Wolf's son, will also be at the Native Art Market. Dustin Wolf has been working to restore his father's iconic wooden sculptures formerly located on Niwot Road.

"My identity as an artist has always been tied to my dad, Eddie Running Wolf," Dustin Wolf said. "And in his life and work he really struggled with the difference between Native art and Native artist. He made some very powerful pieces tied to his indigeneity, like the child's shirt from the Sand Creek Massacre with a bullet hole right through the heart, and the U.S. flag in the background, and that really punches you hard. And it has an auction plate on it, and how horrific it is that it is being auctioned off to the highest bidder."

"But he also made other pieces that were just about being human and had nothing to do with being Native," Wolf continued, "like the sculpture he made to capture his grief at losing his own father. It's a bit like that for me. My art isn't necessarily tied to Native themes, but I'm Native, and therefore it is Native art."

Learn more about Niwot Native Art Market and participating artists through the event webpage at bit.ly/niwot-art-market. Beyond purchasing unique art, participants can contribute to artists through the event webpage. No tickets are needed to enter the market.