The Virtual Coe Being together while being apart....
June 12, 2020
Collections Spotlight
with Elizabeth James-Perry

Collections Spotlight , a program developed in partnership with  First American Art Magazine , is an interactive, online discussion that brings together scholars and Native artists who select artworks from the Coe’s collection to interpret and discuss. Via the free virtual Zoom format, attendees from diverse regions are encouraged to engage with the artist through the questions asked.

Our next event will be on Tuesday, June 16, 2020 at 3 pm MDT with Elizabeth James-Perry.

Elizabeth is an enrolled member of the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe on the island of Noepe (Marthas Vineyard). Her fine art work focuses on Northeastern Woodlands Algonquian artistic expressions: Wampum carving, weaving and natural dyeing. 

For more information about Elizabeth, or this event, please visit Spotlight .

To register for this free event, click here .
Time to Fly...

This expressive inlaid pin that perfectly captures a pheasant in mid-flight was created by the Zuni artist Dale Edaakie . Edaakie is part of a lineage of master inlay artists from Zuni, including his parents Dennis and Nancy Edaakie , who are widely known for their highly detailed bird imagery.

Dale learned the technique from his parents, making many striking bird images such as this one, and eventually coming to focus on etched and inlay animal imagery which includes bolos, pins, and bracelets adorned with elk, bears, horses, even frogs and bees.

Edaakie is a master of color and detail and this pin illustrates his ability to express movement and action through the iridescent shells and stones and his carefully etched lines and markings.

Dale Edaakie (Zuni), Pheasant Pin , c. 2007.
Silver, inlaid mother of pearl, opal, and coral, 5.5 x 3.5 in. NA1314

Made of the Earth...

Twill rivercane baskets are the oldest Cherokee basket tradition, and burden baskets are an ancient basket form as well.

The Cherokee region was once filled with rivercane, but as agriculture and settlements changed from Cherokee to Europeans, the sense of landscape and its multiple uses and care changed. The rivercane patches which once grew in abundance and were used to make houses and baskets and mats were now nothing but a nuisance to Euro-American settlers.

Want to find out more? Click here.



The Youngbird Family (attrib.) (Eastern Band of Cherokee ), Basket , 1930s. Twilled (plaited) dyed and undyed rivercane, 20.5 x 18.5 in. (diameter). NA0370


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The Ralph T. Coe Center for the Arts is a private operating 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent of the Internal Revenue Code. Please donate online or mail checks to the Ralph T. Coe Center for the Arts, 1590 B Pacheco Street, Santa Fe, NM 87505. Your support creates connection. Thank you.

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