The Native Arts team and administration of the Denver Art Museum (DAM) have anticipated the new NAGPRA guidelines, which went into effect on January 12, since they were initially proposed. In preparation, members of our staff participated in a recent training conference and webinar on the revised law and new regulations through the Association on American Indian Affairs and National NAPGRA program. These new regulations require tribal consultation and approval from the affiliated Native communities before an institution can display human remains, associated funerary objects, unassociated funerary objects, objects of cultural patrimony and sacred objects (collectively called “cultural items” in the new regulations). The national NAPGRA program issued recommendations to museums on how to maintain compliance, which our staff has carefully reviewed. While we are continuing to do research, speak with our colleagues, and reach out to NAGPRA advisors and Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPOs), we have no specific concerns regarding the current displays of items in the DAM’s galleries.
The Denver Art Museum has been in compliance with NAGPRA since its launch and the team is committed to ensuring the museum remains in compliance. While we are confident in our internal processes, on January 12th, out of an abundance of caution, museum staff removed a case with Mississippian/Caddoan ceramics from view. More than 30 Indigenous tribes claim descent from these cultures, and while all descendant communities were notified of these holdings when we completed our original NAGPRA inventories, not all chose to conduct consultations. While the museum doesn’t believe that displaying these items puts its galleries out of compliance with new NAGPRA guidelines, we are reaching out to these communities to give them another opportunity to voice any concerns before displaying these items again.
As always, now and into the future, we will honor any additional display changes requested. The DAM has a long history of working closely with Indigenous communities and their leaders in its ongoing work collecting, conserving, and presenting important artworks by Native artists. Additionally, our actions have long been guided by an internal Policy on Collections Use and Repatriation of Culturally Sensitive Materials, written in collaboration with Walter Echo-Hawk (Pawnee) and Jhon Goes in Center (Oglala Lakota), and formally adopted by DAM’s board, in 1994. We support the spirit of the new regulations and the ongoing efforts of NAGPRA, which afford us a wonderful opportunity to connect and be in dialogue with Native communities. To this end, we continue to respect the wishes of Native community members as we work to incorporate the new NAGPRA requirements into our ongoing work.
Simplicity often holds the key to powerful imagery. It challenges photographers to strip back to the essentials, focusing on the core elements that make a photo compelling. This philosophy is particularly relevant in an era where the temptation is to overcomplicate or rely heavily on post-processing. This excellent video essay discusses how embracing simplicity can make you a better photographer.
Coming to you from Joshua Peg, this reflective video explores the power of simplicity in photography. Peg shares his personal journey of overcoming a creative block and rediscovering his passion for photography by embracing simplicity. He highlights the importance of going back to basics, especially when faced with challenging conditions like poor light or unremarkable landscapes. This means finding beauty and stories in mundane settings and working on your ability to create compelling images regardless of the circumstances.
Peg’s experience underscores a vital lesson: photography is not just about capturing perfect conditions or subjects, but about finding and telling stories. He emphasizes the role of simplicity in storytelling, where even the most ordinary scenes can become extraordinary thanks to a photographer’s skilled eye. This is particularly important for anyone who feels limited by their environment or gear. By focusing on simple, yet powerful narratives, photographers can elevate their work and connect more deeply with their audience. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Peg.
AFP via Getty Images
After an uneven year, most experts surveyed by the London data and analysis firm ArtTactic are expecting the global contemporary art market to remain much the same for 2024.
There’s “a sense of business as usual,” says Lindsay Dewar, head of analytics at ArtTactic. Respondents seem to be saying: “We don’t think it’s going to be bad, we don’t think it’s going to be good, we just need to get through another year,” Dewar says.
Dewar experienced this sentiment anecdotally during opening night of the London Art Fair this week, which was “as busy as ever,” she says. “Transactions and deals were happening.” A dealer who was on a panel discussion with her said, “I’m just going to do exactly the same this year as I did last year, and we’re going to see what happens.”
The outlook could shift dramatically, however, depending on the outcomes of wars and conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, and how the world weathers difficult economic conditions, ArtTactic found in its survey.
Among experts participating, 79% said geopolitical uncertainty “is the greatest challenge facing the art market this year,” and 77% feared high interest rates, persistent inflation, and slower economic growth could undermine a recovery.
“We could have a bumpy year ahead, mainly fueled by external factors outside the art market’s control,” ArtTactic founder
Anders Petterson
said in the report. He added, however, that “the art market has shown resilience before, and for some, the downturn last year, might provide an opportunity to re-enter the art market, as price expectations align with a new reality.”
The survey is based on responses from 124 auction specialists, collectors, dealers, curators, and other market experts surveyed earlier this month. ArtTactic has conducted the survey annually since January 2010.
Last year, respondents were more optimistic that sales would rise this year, with 37% of those surveyed expecting an uptick compared to only 20% this year. The vast majority of art experts—68%—expect sales will remain flat this year compared to 47% who thought so last year.
Digging deeper, the survey found experts to be slightly more optimistic about the secondary market than the primary market for contemporary art. Although 38% of experts were negative about future secondary market performance, 36% were neutral, and 27% were positive. For the primary market, 34% were negative, but 47% were neutral and only 19% were positive.
Those surveyed were most upbeat about the potential performance of works by post-war artists this year, with 45% expecting to see positive results. The experts were more neutral on the future of works by blue-chip artists (with 55% expressing a neutral view) and established contemporary artists (51%).
As for works by young contemporary artists (under 45 years old)—a category that slumped 43.3% last year—the experts were divided, with 34% expecting negative results this year and the same percentage expective positive results.
The findings suggest “a neutral-to-positive outlook” for the sector, the report said. “With more younger buyers entering the art market, we would expect interest and demand for a younger generation of artists to continue.”
A big factor in the future performance of works by young contemporary artists is the appetite of Asian collectors. According to ArtTactic, 39.2% of sales in this category last year were by buyers in Hong Kong, a major art hub for the region. Those sales could be dragged lower by the economic slowdown in China. The International Monetary Fund is projecting China’s economy will grow by 4.6% this year, down from 5.2% in 2023.
Of the experts surveyed, 55% believe the Chinese art market will weaken further this year, and only 17% expect it to rebound. The hit to the broader art market could be significant as buyers from China, and more broadly in Asia, accounted for 30% of bidding for works valued at US$1 million or more in the first half of last year, ArtTactic said.
“Lower demand could have a significant impact on the top-end of the market, which accounted for roughly 75% of the fine art market sales at Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips,” the firm said.
Contraction is likely to continue at the very top end of the market, “where people are a bit more wary, and you have to have the right buyer and the right seller to make these kinds of deals happen,” Dewar says.
As was the case last year, she expects sellers will continue to manage expectations so that they can close deals—because collectors are still willing to buy at the right price. Sellers “want to transact and they’re willing to lower the price if that’s what it takes,” Dewar says.
A bright spot for the auction market last year was, in fact, in lower-priced works, snapped up by new, younger buyers. Sales of art valued below US$50,000 rose 10.3% from a year earlier to US$140.4 million, and the number of lots sold rose 21.6% to more than 9,100 works.
The experts are divided on the future of this segment for 2024, however, with 38% expecting a positive outcome and 41% expecting a downturn, ArtTactic said.
“As the top-end of the art market has softened in 2023, there is a risk that the weaker sentiment in the market will start to trickle down to the lower price segments,” the firm said. Still, the experts are optimistic on the market for limited editions and prints, which tend to be offered at lower price points. Among those surveyed, 34% have a positive view of this segment, up from 33% the previous year.
As an undervalued sector, prints and editions could present an opportunity this year, Dewar says. “When the top end is on the go-slow, people will start turning their attention to the lower end of the market and the print sections,” she says.
Among the most positive perspectives in the report is the outlook for art by women. Sales of works by female artists rose 10.5% last year to nearly US$788 million. That’s 14.4% of total sales, up from 9.5% in 2022, ArtTactic said.
The outlook is strong in part because of a series of big museum and gallery shows planned for this year, including “Women Artists in Britain, 1520-1920,” through March at the Tate in London and Mary Cassat at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in May.
“This year offers ample opportunities to learn about and revisit an older generation of women artists, who have largely been neglected by the market up until now,” the report said.
Feeling stressed? Overwhelmed? Get away from the stimuli of modern life by tuning into tree.fm, a stream of ambient forest sounds from around the globe. Designed by the Berlin-based design studio New Now, the soothing platform compiles crowd-sourced audio clips from the lush tropics of Kerala to the lively jungles of Madagascar. If you, like us, are stuck at your desk, take a moment to escape those emails and listen to Ecuadorian birdsong or the insect chirps of Panama. It might even boost your health. (via swissmiss)
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Escape to Forests Around the World with the Ambient Sounds of tree.fm appeared first on Colossal.
LAC LA BICHE – Her unique artwork has been on display at several local shows in recent months, and the current Native Arts and Culture student at Portage College has even hosted some art workshops for community members since moving to Lac La Biche from Grimshaw.
For Soul Dachuk, her artwork is about self-expression and preserving her Indigenous heritage.
Dachuk enjoys working in various Indigenous art forms, and makes items such as beaded earrings, bracelets, ribbon skirts and dreamcatchers. She is also fond of creative writing, singing, painting, and sculpting.
“Making art or doing crafts is important to me because it is my legacy, it is the very essence of who I am, who I will become, and who I will be remembered as,” Dachuk told Lakeland This Week.
Dachuk also assists her mother in teaching Indigenous art workshops in communities surrounding her hometown in northwestern Alberta. She has also done three workshops since arriving in Lac La Biche to start her studies.
“I do workshops on how to make dreamcatchers, often harvesting the natural materials needed weeks before the actual date, which is always fun,” she stated.
With regards to how this artist goes about starting a project, she usually finds herself inspired either by something she has read, dreamt about, seen, or felt on an emotional level. Once an idea takes shape, the next step involves brainstorming and thinking of how she will present her piece to have the greatest impact on a viewer.
“Then I bring it to life with any medium of my choosing,” she said.
Since childhood, Dachuk has been highly creative, and as she got older, her arts and crafts became her greatest form of self-expression.
“My art allowed me to convey my emotions without having to utter a word and create connections with people in ways I never could have imagined,” she said.
Dachuk describes her artistic tendencies as a family tradition. Growing up, she watched her grandfather and older brother making art. Sitting next to them as they went about drawing in sketchbooks, or sculpting things out of a variety of materials, she took it all in, and before long, she started a sketchbook of her own.
While she was still in high school in Grimshaw, Dachuk taught art to elementary school students. Most of the classes, she said, were done during specific Indigenous awareness events. She also went into classes and taught the basics of traditional dancing, jigging, songwriting, and creating dreamcatchers.
“I always enjoyed those experiences, and often get told I would make a great teacher,” she said.
“My favourite part of teaching in schools is seeing young children show interest in what they are doing, and problem-solving instead of giving up.”
Once she has completed the Native Arts and Culture program, Dachuk hopes to become a knowledge keeper, preserving and passing on the traditional Indigenous art forms she has learned to future generations. Dachuk also would like to eventually earn a steady enough income through her future endeavours to create Indigenous-based programs to provide relief to people who are struggling.
The young artists says her family and her recent studying at Portage has helped make her a better artist and better person. Her current schooling has offered so many new ways to spark not only her creativity, she said, but also satisfy her thirst for knowledge.
“My style has become more confident and reflective of who I am, and the person I would like to become,” she said.
Working around her busy college schedule, Dachuk hopes to host more community workshops in the coming months.
