Anthony Lovato of Kewa/Santo Domingo Pueblo is the winner of the 2023 MIAC Living Treasure Award. Lovato is a master of tufa metal casting and is known for his design jewelry and water bottles.Courtesy / Lilia McEnany
SANTA FE — The Museum of Indian Art and Culture (MIAC) has announced the winners of the 2023 Living Treasure and Legacy Awards.
These awards are part of the annual MIAC Native Treasures Art Market, which honors Native American artists who have made outstanding artistic contributions to the field of Indigenous arts and culture.
Anthony Lovato (Kewa/Santo Domingo Pueblo) is the winner of the 2023 MIAC Living Treasure Award. Lovato is a master of tufa metal casting known for his corn-designed jewelry and water bottles.
Lovato grew up surrounded by jewelry, first working with metal in 1973 and becoming a full-time metalworker in 1984. He attended the American Indian Art Institute, where he concentrated on metalworking and museum studies, and later worked at the Northern Arizona Museum. He has also taken jewelry classes at Northern Arizona University and the University of Colorado.
Lovato has won dozens of awards from the Santa Fe Indian Market, Red Earth Nation Show, Eight Northern Indian Pueblo Show, Hard Guild Indian Market and has been featured in several national magazines. A fifth-generation jeweler, his main influences include Allan Houser, Charles his Loroma, and his grandfather Leo Colliz.
“Over the next few years, I plan to pass on this traditional tufa sand casting technique to the next generation, just as it has been passed down to me,” said Lovato.
As a tribute to his artistic practice, Lovato is dedicated to activism within his community, serving as an advocate for the power of art to promote language activation, education and healing.
Additionally, Linda Teller-Peete and Barbara Teller-Ornelas were honored with this year’s Native Treasures Legacy Award. They were both born in Tábąąhá (Water Edge Clan) and Tó’aheedlíinii (Two Waters Flow Together Clan). The Teller sisters have dedicated their lives to Navajo/Diné weaving as both artists and educators.
“Navajo/Diné weaving is the force that guides our lives. “The weavers who were born before us made great works of art during the most difficult times in the history of our people, Inspired us the most. We use our platform to advocate for the women and men of our family and the growing members of our community.
Teller Pete is a 2022-2023 Luce Indigenous Knowledge Fellow and Director of Equity and Inclusion on the Board of Directors of the US Textile Society. She has regular shows at her Indian Market in Santa Fe, Herd Museum Guild Her Indian Market, and does textile workshops around the world with her Navajo sister.
Teller Ornelas is a 2023 US Artist Fellow. She has received a Master Apprentice Award from the Southwest Folklife Alliance, an Innovation Award from the Heard Museum Guild Indian Art Fair and Market, and several Best of Show Awards in the Southwest Market. Her work is housed in the Arizona State Museum, the British Museum, the Denver Art Museum, the Hood Art Museum at her college in Dartmouth, and the US Embassy in Uzbekistan.
“The Museum of Indian Art and Culture is proud to congratulate this year’s Living Treasure and Legacy Award winners,” said MIAC Executive Director Polly Nordstrand. “Their artistic talent and deep dedication to their community is evident in everything they do.”
The 19th Annual Native Treasures Art Market will be held at the Santa Fe Convention Center on Memorial Day weekend, May 26-28. Selected by the staff of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, it presents the work of Lovato and many other talented Native American artists to the public.
Find out more about the Native Treasures Market here Link.
About the Museum of Indian Art and Culture
of Museum of Indian Arts and Culture is a division of Department of Culture, under the leadership of the board of directors of the New Mexico Museum. Programs and exhibits are generously supported by the New Mexico Museum Foundation and donors. The mission of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture/Institute of Anthropology is to serve as a center of stewardship, knowledge, and understanding of the artistic, cultural, and intellectual accomplishments of the diverse peoples of the Indigenous Southwest.
