For Irene, MacKnight was a perfect artist to represent in her new gallery. “I’ve been friends with Sheridan for years and I’ve always been drawn to her work,” she says. “Collectors are drawn to her work because of the stories her pieces tell of real people.” Another artist M.E.I. represents is the multi-talented Craig George. George has established himself as one of the leading contemporary native painters. He is most famous for his traditional native dancers riding bicycles with graffiti-covered walls in the backgrounds. “Living on the ‘rez’ gives me a wealth of material right in my backyard —night skies, ceremonies, music and landscape,” says George. “As an artist, I visualize and record what’s important to me and my culture.” George grew up in south central Los Angeles but was born on the Navajo reservation in Ganado, Arizona. He studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe and the Kansas City Art Institute. He has paintings in the permanent collections of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe and the Fred Jones Museum at the University of Oklahoma. M.E.I. artist Anderson Kee exhibits traditional native portraits and landscapes of New Mexico. Kee, who grew up in Cottonwood, 25 miles from Chinle, has consulted on movies such as Dog Soldiers, The Little Big Horn and Into the West.
Artwork by Andersen Kee
ON THE VANGUARD OF
Contemporary Native Art
Kee also studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts and the California College of Arts and Crafts. He now lives in Taos, where he has spent the last 25 years of his life. Kee finds inspiration in Indian life from the end of the 19th century, most notably Plains Indian tribes and their ceremonial use of feathers, colors and beads.
Photos Carolyn Wright
M
ary Irene is used to being early on the scene when it comes to the art world; she was accepted into the prestigious Santa Fe Indian Market at the age of 22. In the five years since, Irene has won many awards for her jewelry and has participated in shows at the Autry in Los Angeles, the Heard in Phoenix and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in New York. This past September, Irene decided to take a step in an entirely new direction — she opened her own gallery, M.E.I. The name is Mary’s initials, Mary Elizabeth Irene. An art gallery owned by a young native woman is an anomaly even in Santa Fe, but the response has been tremendous. Established artists such as Sheridan MacKnight, Craig George, Anderson Kee, Ira Lujan, Sheldon Harvey, Patrick Hubbell, Upton Greyshoes Ethelbah and Ric Charlie are currently represented by the gallery. Artwork by Craig George
TOP: Glasswork by Ira Lujan BOTTOM: Ledger art by Sheridan MacKnight
“I am so honored to share my paintings with such incredible talent,” says MacKnight, an artist with deep ties to the native art community. Her aunt, Tawacin WasteWin, helped establish 17 tribal colleges, received a MacArthur
Fellowship, and was posthumously inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. MacKnight works within the ledger art tradition — something she is drawn to because of the medium’s narrative potential.
For Irene though, how the gallery’s artists support one another is what is most important: “I have found the art business to be very demanding and strenuous, but what makes it all worthwhile is being able to help friends succeed with their artistic careers. Seeing that is very rewarding.” MEI Gallery 662 Canyon Rd. 505.780.5476 www.MEIgallery.com