Tucson Gem Shows 2011 --- Day Fourteen

The leisure class are every where here in Tucson, from the homeless living on the streets, to the winter mansions up to the eastern hill, the rest of us in-between are just working for a living. Native artist are somewhere in-between, one foot in tradition, the other using the latest business technique in selling our art. We have laptops, cell phones, Ipods, digital cameras, and websites to promote our work. Some have I-phones that can surf the ‘web’, but I have my eye on the new I-phones, that you can swipe credit cards from your customers when buying your art. My native artist friends all over the U.S. and Canada are very similar with each other; we all share the same hardships that come with our profession. The successful artist actually sell them selves… not their art, it is their passion for art that spreads to the customer. The art piece is just a representation of an ‘idea’ that we hold special in our hearts. I don’t think twice about going to the ‘rez’ to hang out with friends. It’s true that conditions in most ‘reservations’ are similar to most third world countries, but it’s the people there that make the difference. They are friends, and they are family. Their traditions may be different from mine, they have different names for familiar things, but they are just like you and me.

My demonstration space

I love coming to Tucson for the gem shows, and meeting people from all over the world. I see familiar faces, same vendors, the same promoters, and have course… many buyers who over the years have become my friends. We all take care of each other; we may buy things that we don’t need because it would help our friends. Others buy sculptures from me, because they need a gift for someone… but we do things for each other at these shows because we want each other to succeed. I love staying at the Road Runner Hostel in Tucson, because so many people there come every year during the Tucson Shows. We eat together; show each other the purchases we made, talk of exciting events happening during the shows.  The food is great in Tucson; the El Dorado restaurant in the old Barrio is fun, 99-cent Margaritas are the main attraction, along with good Mexican food. El Minuto Café just has great Mexican food. The Grill located on Congress Street is open 24 hours and serves breakfast, hamburgers, and pasta at all hours. The Silver Saddle along I-10 is a steak house, featuring prime rib. I don’t eat much seafood here in Tucson, because we are in the middle of a desert. As a Tlingit whose traditional food is seafood, makes me very picky, I always note how far I am from the ocean. There are so many restaurants that I can’t list them all. The Barrio Brewery is fun because when ever a train goes by; there are drink specials available for the whole bar. One night a mile-long train inched by slowly, so the drink specials were on for some time.

The Tucsonans who live here does a great job of hosting the gem shows. We kind of take over their town, the accommodations are full, we add to the traffic, and make their coffee lines much longer. They always make us smile when they complain the temperature dipping below 68F (20C)… most of the visitors here are from colder climates. At home we don’t have little ‘house plants’ growing all over the place like it is in Tucson. The little cactus is quite cute, and I have to resist the urge to dig them up and take them home. The saguaro cacti are quite tall and they each look different. I used to have a collection of photos of my favorite cactus… looking like they are waving… or having both hands up. By next month, they will be bloom with little red flowers on top of a cacti fruit, and the Tohono O'odham, the local tribe, harvests them to eat, and to make teas.

2011 Tucson Gem & Mineral Show at TCC

Most Tucsonans are happy when it’s 90F (32C). A couple of years ago, I stayed for six months after gem show, and house-sat this little home for a friend. At the same time, I used James Fendenheim’s yard outside his art studio for carving stone. It was perfect studio for me; I set up a tall tent and carved stone sculptures underneath. The climate here is dry, and to me… very warm. By April 4^th of that year, the temperature reached 100F (37.8C)… it was so hot for me! I started working on sculptures at night because in the day the temperatures felt ‘life-threatening’ to me, I would run from shadow to shadow. One day the temperature reached 109F (42.8C)… and on that day, I became a ‘man of leisure’… I didn’t do anything, but sit there and contemplate ‘suicide.’ I asked my Tohono O'odham friends how they handled the heat; and they said they are miserable too. The American southwest in the summer becomes an ‘oven’ and there is no relief from the sun. Tucson becomes a ghost town when compared to the busy times of the gem shows. The large mansions up on the east hills of Tucson are empty, as the wealthy move north to cooler climates… like to Santa Fe. Native artists also move, we follow the money; we emphasize different types of designs on our art. In Alaska I make polar bears, sea lions, humpback whale sculptures… and sell every one of them. In the Tucson Shows, my polar bears are big sellers. Not many other sea mammals sell at the local galleries, but bears of any kind sell, as much as I can make them. In a few days I will have a show at Gathering Tribes in Albany, a suburb of San Francisco. My friend Pennie who owns the Gathering Tribes Gallery told me a native radio station wants to do a radio interview with me, so I’ll go early to San Francisco. At the moment, I am just enjoying Tucson; already looking forward to next years show… let the sales begin.