August 12, 2011

Painting by Native American artist Fritz Scholder seen at
the Ethnographic Art Show this morning. Mr. B and I
have a work-on-paper by Scholder in Pettita Casita.

This morning I went to the Ethnographic Art Show. This is my fourth year to go and I'm not sure I've ever bought anything, but I enjoy the "dry shopping." For anyone unfamiliar with "ethnographic art," it's created by indigenous people around the world, including Native Americans, African tribes and Oceanic islanders. Most of the art and artifacts seen in the show are antiques, such as masks, paintings, jewelry and carved sculptures, but some are new. This year's market seemed to have more Native American art, which I like much more than the African tribal and Asian art and artifacts. There were a few  dealers who had textiles, but they were really high priced. FTR (translation from texting dictionary: for the record), I spent $11 (for admission and a bottled water.

There's another ethnographic market on Saturday and Sunday. At some point, someone got mad at the organizers of today's show, so s/he started a new show. There are a lot of the same dealers in both shows, but the market that is on the weekend is held in the Railyard District, right next to the Farmer's Market, and the prices seem more reasonable. FTR, I don't remember spending any money at the second market, either, except for admission and water.

Today I'm creating some tote bags using some mudcloth from Africa. At the ethnographic shows, the mudcloth would cost $200+, but I get mine at one of the two flea markets in town for around $50. I feel much better cutting up the $50 mudcloth than I would cutting up a $200+ piece. So frugal of me!