We were particularly excited
to acquire this piece by Santa Fe Indian Market Best of Show
winner, Dallin Maybee. You'll notice this bag incorporates a
similar color scheme and theme from his award-winng ledger books.
If you look closely, you'll notice one of the books behind him
in the photograph above.
This bag captures the sacred
image of the buffalo, alongside a stylized horse, or buffalo
runner.
The bag is very contemporary
in terms of color and aesthetic, but is very much fashioned in
the traditional manner. The subtle aroma of the smoke tanned
hide lingers, and the cut glass beads catch and reflect the beautiful
rays of light.
The bag has a beaded handle
and can be hung, worn, or displayed with such, but also has an
extension strap on the back, allowing the buyer to wear the piece
as a pendant, amulet, or breastplate, if you will.
Dallin Maybee was raised on
the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation in Western New York, but he
also has family on the Wind River Indian Reservation in central
Wyoming. He is an accomplished dancer and has traveled extensively
throughout the world as both a performer and choreographer.
His tours have taken him to
locations such as: China, Mongolia, South Korea, Qatar, most
of Europe, Mexico and South America, as well as throughout the
United States. He tours regularly with the critically acclaimed
American Indian Dance Theater and has served as a Dance Captain
and performer.
He most recently completed
a contemporary world premiere Opera hosted by Opera Omaha in
Omaha, Nebraska. There he was Assistant Dance Director and worked
with Hanay Geigomah, the director of American Indian Dance Theater
and professor at UCLA, renowned Opera director Rhoda Levine,
Pulitzer Prize winning poet/Librettist Yusef Komunyakka, and
Grammy award winning composer, Anthony Davis.
He was also able to lecture
at various universities and schools in the area as part of Opera
Omaha’s outreach program. Other tours include traveling
with the group Spirit: The Seventh Fire as well as serving as
a consulting choreographer to the 2002 Winter Olympic Opening
Ceremonies where he worked with a cast of 600 native dancers
and singers.
He has a BA in Philosophy
and has currently finished coursework in a Masters of Fine Arts
program at UCLA where he studied federal Indian law. He worked
as a summer law clerk for a securities litigation firm in Los
Angeles and has been accepted and enrolled in the Sandra Day
O’Conner School of Law at Arizona State University.
Dallin is grateful for the
gifts, talents, and opportunities afforded him and hopes to offer
those experiences for the education and enjoyment of others.
“I have learned so many values and life lessons from the
cultural structure of our song and dance; it has made me who
I am today. It is up to God to decide in what way He chooses
to bless our lives, it is up to us to decide in what ways we
will use those blessings to serve others.”
Materials for conservation purposes:
cut glass seed beads, braintan smoked buckskin, Swaroski crystals,
pearls, brass thimbles, and dyed horsehair.
