Pablita Velarde
Born at Santa Clara Pueblo in 1918, Pablita Velarde was the first female student at the Santa Fe Indian School under Dorothy Dunn in 1932. Dorothy Dunn’s arrival marked the beginning of “Native Art” being recognized in the “Fine Art” genre. Dorothy Dunn, a recent graduate of the Chicago Art Institute was hired in 1932, by the federal government, to teach art at the Santa Fe Indian School. Out of Dorothy Dunn’s classes at the Santa Fe Indian School came such other well known artists as: Allan Houser, Karl Gorman, Fred Kabotie, Narcisco Abeyta “Ha So-Deh”, Ben Quintana, Harrison Begay, Joe H. Herrera, Quincy Tahoma, Andy Tsihnajinnie, Eva Mirabel, Tonita Lujan, Pop-Chalee, Oscar Howe, and Geronima Cruz Montoya. Many of Dorothy’s students became iconic Native artists, but it was Alan Houser and Pablita Velarde that made the most impact on the art world over their long careers. Pablita is recognized as “the first Native woman to paint as a full time career”. From an early age, the only job Pablita Velarde held was that of professional painter. Her cultural significance is twofold – she was the first, and she believed it her life mission to chronicle the images of her people in everyday life and ceremonial activities alike – she recorded Native life – for 75 years. As a 14 year old, Velarde painted a mural for the Chicago Worlds Fair in 1934. In 1938, she was the first winner of a blue ribbon, first place award at Santa Fe Indian Market - the first time awards were given. She was the W.P.A. artist in residence during the construction of Bandelier National Monument from 1938 to 1945. Winning almost every Native art award – many times over, she has had a place in almost every major Native museum show and collection in America. In 1953, she was the first woman to receive the Grand Purchase Award at the Philbrook Museum of Art’s Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Indian Painting. In 1954 the French government honored her with the Palmes Académiques for excellence in art. In 1959 she became the first Pueblo woman published, with her book “Old Father The Story Teller”. Widely recognized by collectors and museums alike as the most significant Native female painter, she painted up to her death in 2006. Along with famous potter Maria Martinez, the two of them have been credited with being the founding force of the American Indian Modernist Movement. In 1978 Pablita was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Letters from the University of New Mexico, and in 1988 was named a “Living Treasure”.
Helen Hardin
Pablita Velarde’s daughter – Helen Hardin is acknowledged as being the first Native female painter to move from traditional representational painting to modern/abstract works. During her lifetime, she won almost as many awards as her mother – Pablita Velarde. Clearly a crossover artist, during the development of the “contemporary Native art scene”, she was the lone female in the 1960’s vanguard of Native artists that included: Fritz Scholder, Michael Kabotie, RC Gorman and Charles Loloma. In her short life (she died in 1984 at age 41 of breast cancer) she achieved fame and success unknown to most artists. By the end of her life, her work was selling more in New York and California than her home of New Mexico. Known for incredible detail and technical accuracy, today her etchings are selling in the 10’s of thousands of dollars. Her significant “end period” paintings (when available) are six figure masterpieces. Like her mother, Helen Hardin has a place in Native collections – private and museum throughout America. In 2003, the “Helen Hardin Theatre” was established in her honor by the Smithsonian, at the I.A.I.A. Contemporary Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Margarete Bagshaw
Helen Hardin’s daughter and Pablita Velarde’s granddaughter – Margarete Bagshaw is a Modernist/Contemporary oil painter. Bagshaw has been featured in many publications including but not limited to: Southwest Art magazine, Native Peoples magazine, the New Mexico Magazine, the Albuquerque Journal. ABQ Arts, Native Arts, Santafean Magazine, and el Palasio magazine - with covers in many of these publications. She was one of the featured artists in the 2003 book - NDN Art, as well as the 1998 book - Pueblo Artists Portraits, by Toba Tucker, which featured all 3 generations in Margarete’s family. Margarete has taken part in over a dozen major museum exhibitions, including: the Eiteljorge Museum Of American and Western Art in Indianapolis, Indiana, the Wheelwright Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Hamden Museum in Virginia, and numerous invitational shows with the Museum of Albuquerque in New Mexico. In 1996, she gave a personal slide presentation at the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand. As the subject of a documentary film project, Bagshaw spoke at the dedication ceremony for the donation of "The White Collection" (featuring a number of Bagshaw's works), at the Lakeview Museum in Illinois in September 2008. In March of 2010, Bagshaw presented a "One Woman Show" at the SMOKI Museum in Prescott Arizona. Margarete was asked to judge “2 dimensional art” at Santa Fe Indian Market for 2010. In September of 2010, she was the keynote speaker at the National Folk Art Association annual meeting. In 2011, Bagshaw was part of a group show at the Smithsonian “National Museum of The American Indian”, and lectured at the Smithsonian in March of 2011 for “Women in History Month.” Her painting “Keeping Something Safe” was selected as the “Gathering Of Nations 2011” image for all promotions – the first time a female artist has been selected for this event in it’s 18 year history. Her 2012 solo Museum show at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture was a 20 year retrospective, and her 2013 solo museum show at the Ellen Noel Museum in Odessa Texas featyred 25 large paintings from the past 4 years.
Her paintings are colorful combinations of shape, texture, and light. The intricate and detailed multi-compositional aspect of her images reveals the many layers of thought that all of her work contains. From small works to larger canvases – all include complex compositions that hold their own individually throughout each painting and as well as in a single complex composition as a whole.
Born at Santa Clara Pueblo in 1918, Pablita Velarde was the first female student at the Santa Fe Indian School under Dorothy Dunn in 1932. Dorothy Dunn’s arrival marked the beginning of “Native Art” being recognized in the “Fine Art” genre. Dorothy Dunn, a recent graduate of the Chicago Art Institute was hired in 1932, by the federal government, to teach art at the Santa Fe Indian School. Out of Dorothy Dunn’s classes at the Santa Fe Indian School came such other well known artists as: Allan Houser, Karl Gorman, Fred Kabotie, Narcisco Abeyta “Ha So-Deh”, Ben Quintana, Harrison Begay, Joe H. Herrera, Quincy Tahoma, Andy Tsihnajinnie, Eva Mirabel, Tonita Lujan, Pop-Chalee, Oscar Howe, and Geronima Cruz Montoya. Many of Dorothy’s students became iconic Native artists, but it was Alan Houser and Pablita Velarde that made the most impact on the art world over their long careers. Pablita is recognized as “the first Native woman to paint as a full time career”. From an early age, the only job Pablita Velarde held was that of professional painter. Her cultural significance is twofold – she was the first, and she believed it her life mission to chronicle the images of her people in everyday life and ceremonial activities alike – she recorded Native life – for 75 years. As a 14 year old, Velarde painted a mural for the Chicago Worlds Fair in 1934. In 1938, she was the first winner of a blue ribbon, first place award at Santa Fe Indian Market - the first time awards were given. She was the W.P.A. artist in residence during the construction of Bandelier National Monument from 1938 to 1945. Winning almost every Native art award – many times over, she has had a place in almost every major Native museum show and collection in America. In 1953, she was the first woman to receive the Grand Purchase Award at the Philbrook Museum of Art’s Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Indian Painting. In 1954 the French government honored her with the Palmes Académiques for excellence in art. In 1959 she became the first Pueblo woman published, with her book “Old Father The Story Teller”. Widely recognized by collectors and museums alike as the most significant Native female painter, she painted up to her death in 2006. Along with famous potter Maria Martinez, the two of them have been credited with being the founding force of the American Indian Modernist Movement. In 1978 Pablita was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Letters from the University of New Mexico, and in 1988 was named a “Living Treasure”.
Helen Hardin
Pablita Velarde’s daughter – Helen Hardin is acknowledged as being the first Native female painter to move from traditional representational painting to modern/abstract works. During her lifetime, she won almost as many awards as her mother – Pablita Velarde. Clearly a crossover artist, during the development of the “contemporary Native art scene”, she was the lone female in the 1960’s vanguard of Native artists that included: Fritz Scholder, Michael Kabotie, RC Gorman and Charles Loloma. In her short life (she died in 1984 at age 41 of breast cancer) she achieved fame and success unknown to most artists. By the end of her life, her work was selling more in New York and California than her home of New Mexico. Known for incredible detail and technical accuracy, today her etchings are selling in the 10’s of thousands of dollars. Her significant “end period” paintings (when available) are six figure masterpieces. Like her mother, Helen Hardin has a place in Native collections – private and museum throughout America. In 2003, the “Helen Hardin Theatre” was established in her honor by the Smithsonian, at the I.A.I.A. Contemporary Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Margarete Bagshaw
Helen Hardin’s daughter and Pablita Velarde’s granddaughter – Margarete Bagshaw is a Modernist/Contemporary oil painter. Bagshaw has been featured in many publications including but not limited to: Southwest Art magazine, Native Peoples magazine, the New Mexico Magazine, the Albuquerque Journal. ABQ Arts, Native Arts, Santafean Magazine, and el Palasio magazine - with covers in many of these publications. She was one of the featured artists in the 2003 book - NDN Art, as well as the 1998 book - Pueblo Artists Portraits, by Toba Tucker, which featured all 3 generations in Margarete’s family. Margarete has taken part in over a dozen major museum exhibitions, including: the Eiteljorge Museum Of American and Western Art in Indianapolis, Indiana, the Wheelwright Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Hamden Museum in Virginia, and numerous invitational shows with the Museum of Albuquerque in New Mexico. In 1996, she gave a personal slide presentation at the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand. As the subject of a documentary film project, Bagshaw spoke at the dedication ceremony for the donation of "The White Collection" (featuring a number of Bagshaw's works), at the Lakeview Museum in Illinois in September 2008. In March of 2010, Bagshaw presented a "One Woman Show" at the SMOKI Museum in Prescott Arizona. Margarete was asked to judge “2 dimensional art” at Santa Fe Indian Market for 2010. In September of 2010, she was the keynote speaker at the National Folk Art Association annual meeting. In 2011, Bagshaw was part of a group show at the Smithsonian “National Museum of The American Indian”, and lectured at the Smithsonian in March of 2011 for “Women in History Month.” Her painting “Keeping Something Safe” was selected as the “Gathering Of Nations 2011” image for all promotions – the first time a female artist has been selected for this event in it’s 18 year history. Her 2012 solo Museum show at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture was a 20 year retrospective, and her 2013 solo museum show at the Ellen Noel Museum in Odessa Texas featyred 25 large paintings from the past 4 years.
Her paintings are colorful combinations of shape, texture, and light. The intricate and detailed multi-compositional aspect of her images reveals the many layers of thought that all of her work contains. From small works to larger canvases – all include complex compositions that hold their own individually throughout each painting and as well as in a single complex composition as a whole.