Native Businesses in Santa Fe, NM
Santa Fe's success is indisputably made on the labor, love, and creativity of Indigenous Businesses
Like many young Native American artists, I grew up feeling a lot of angst toward the idea of Santa Fe. Instinctually, I felt that I knew that there was so much wealth hoarded away from Native artists. When I was a kid, I would go with my mom to sell my cousin’s pottery at galleries. She helped him do this because she was a great salesperson and often got him well above his asking price. I, of course, was offended that the gallery owner didn’t understand how insanely talented my cousin is so I grew to dislike and distrust collectors and gallery/shop owners as a whole.
In high school, I was living overseas and I got my first job working at a Mongolian-owned art gallery. What I learned is that the art business is extremely unpredictable and that can really hinder an art business’ ability to stay in business. The gallery owner, Gana, is so incredibly talented at what she does and now regularly features artists at major international art shows. Her expertise helped me see how exceptionally rare a business-minded approach is in the art world.
When I started to work in the Native American jewelry industry in college, I began to see the underlying mechanisms of the Native American art market specifically. The more I learned about corruption, nepotism, and appropriation, the angrier I became.
Eventually, my anger felt unproductive and I just had to sit with that energy. In moments like that, I like to challenge myself to actually try to do something to positively contribute to the situation.
When I tried to seek solutions, I realized how complicated everything is! There really is no one issue or one source for any of the big problems in the Native American art market. Just like every other industry, the individuals that make up the whole bring a lot to the table— some good, some bad.
Many people generalize Santa Fe’s business community as predatory and exploitative while refusing to reach out, ask and engage. My personal experience illustrates how easy it is to negatively judge a situation from the sidelines.
Santa Fe’s success is indisputably made on the labor, love, and creativity of Indigenous businesses. Because of that, it is a well-known international art hub, yet many fail to acknowledge the indigenous businesses that make up the supportive network underlying this community.
In the Santa Fe Plaza area, we enjoy many Native-owned storefronts such as Sorrel Sky Gallery (Cheyenne), Kenneth Johnson Studio (Muscogee/Seminole), Ofuskie Studio (Muscogee), Cara Romero Gallery (Chemehuevi), Boogie Gallery (Diné), Stanley Nanchez Gallery (Shoshone), RC Gorman Gallery (Navajo), and Niman Fine Art (Hopi).
Outside of the plaza area, we have Native-owned artisanal operations at Cody Sanderson (Navajo), Rhiannon Griego Studio (Mexican, Hispanic and Tohono O'odham), Dineh Jewelry (Diné), Orlando Dugi (Diné), Patricia Michaels (Taos), and LAND+OBJECT (Diné).
The IAIA Shop in the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts and the Collen Cloney Duncan Shop in the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture also feature well-curated selections of indigenous products. Both indigenous-led shops are located within larger cultural institutions that were built to support the advancement of Indigenous arts.
Other independent Native artists run businesses from their homes, some are successful musicians, filmmakers, tv stars, and social media influencers— you name it!
Despite this, many people still have the perception that Native Americans have no business presence in Santa Fe. Some Santa Fe-based businesses mentioned in this article do exceptionally well on social media, which is great and will do a lot to change that perception. Further, I believe everyone could learn a lot from diverse indigenous perspectives on business and entrepreneurship.
Some artists in Santa Fe don’t really do social media because they can barely keep up with the number of commissions they get through word-of-mouth. These types of artists are not few and far between. They also make a great living.
One such artist is Raymond Dennis, a Muscogee artist who has successfully managed his own studio/gallery on Canyon Road for many years. He has a healthy collector base that travels to Santa Fe specifically to collect his work. He doesn’t have a website or social media (to my knowledge) but you can absolutely go pay him a visit next time you are in the Canyon Road area by asking around!
People who feel strongly about technological advancement may have a problem with this, but this is how business has predominately been done in Santa Fe for decades. Essentially, if you’re a Native artist living in Santa Fe and you: (1) are happy with your level of success; (2) can comfortably keep up with the demand for your work; and (3) want to remain a solopreneur— this approach can actually be a lot less stressful and allow you to have a better work/life balance.
While indigenous stories are becoming more of a “hot” topic in the media, mainstream journalists do not know how to do due diligence on NDN country, in my opinion. As a recent example, all of the long-standing indigenous-owned shops in Santa Fe were completely erased in an article published by Women’s Wear Daily, the most well-respected fashion trade magazine in the world.
In spite of articles like this, it is my firm belief that Indigenous business owners will be just fine. Artists thrive in Santa Fe because they have an authentic community (or collector base) they’ve built through genuine connections occurring over a long period of time. I truly learn so much by talking to other artists in my community about their business strategies.
There is undeniably still a long way to go for Santa Fe to truly embrace Native business. Specifically, I would like to see a Native-led business incubator program for Native American artists, ideally as an initiative funded by the city itself. This would create a feedback loop that enhances the extremely positive economic impact Native artists have in this community.
Additionally, like many places around the country, there is a lack of affordable housing. I would also like to see affordable housing options near the Santa Fe Plaza for Native American artists, whether they live in Santa Fe full-time, are trying to move here, or are just here for a market. Having these options available for Native artists would make it easier to do business in Santa Fe.
It was only once I was able to start carving my own path in the Santa Fe business community, that I realized now how many indigenous businesses make Santa Fe what it is. I was never naive enough to believe that I would be the first and only Native-run store in Santa Fe. But the warm, collaborative, and welcoming attitude of the Native business community was a shock because I had been so ignorant of it.
The idea that only non-Natives own businesses in Santa Fe really fails to properly acknowledge the dignity, power, and value of the contemporary Native American art scene. Native American artists are not reliant on non-native gallery/shop owners and carve our paths in many unique ways.