Heard Museum Announces Best Of Show and Juried Competition Winners From 65th Annual Heard Guild Indian Fair & Market
By Claire Natale -
Wednesday Mar 08, 2023
With $110,000 in prize money and over 600 participating artists, The Heard Museum is pleased to announce the awards winners of the 2023 Juried Competition from the Heard Guild Indian Fair & Market, including Best of Show:
• 2023 Heard Guild Indian Fair & Market Best of Show Award – Raynard Scott (Navajo) for "Dinetah-Poly"
• 2023 Heard Guild Indian Fair & Market Conrad House Innovation Award – Mark Taho (Hopi/Dine) for "Blessings"
• 2023 Heard Guild Indian Fair & Market Idyllwild Arts Imagination Award – Eugene Tapahe (Navajo) for "Strength and Dignity"
• 2023 Heard Guild Indian Fair & Market Indian Arts & Crafts Association Commemorative Award – Adrian Pinnecoose (Navajo/Southern Ute) for "Celestial Beauty"
2023 Heard Guild Indian Fair & Market Best of Classification Awards:
• Best Jewelry and Lapidary – Denise Wallace (Aleut) for "My Brother, The Seal"
• Best Pottery – Jared Tso (Navajo) for Red and White Rippled Jar
• Best 2-Dimensional Art – Eugene Tapahe (Navajo) for "Strength and Dignity"
• Best Pueblo Carvings – Arthur Holmes, Jr. (Hopi) for "Coming Together As One--Mud Head & Tuhuve (paralyzed)"
• Best Sculpture – Leon Misak Kinneeveauk (Inupiaq) for "Wind of the Arctic"
• Best Weavings and Textiles – Phil Singer (Dine) for "Pure Chaos"
• Best Diverse Art Forms – Victoria Adams (Southern Cheyenne/Arapaho) for "Carries the Fire"
• Best Baskets – Don Johnston (Qagan Tayagungin) for "Hunting Seal"
• Best Open Standards – Raynard Scott (Navajo) for "Dinetah-Poly"
Best of Show winner, Raynard Scott (Navajo) is an accomplished silversmith. His Navajo cultural game board is hand-constructed with sterling silver, turquoise, Mediterranean coral, lapis, and other natural materials.
“Today’s artists are finding new ways to make important and moving statements about their land and the life of the land.” said Dr. Ann Marshall, Heard Museum Director of Research.
Born on September 3, 1965 in Los Angeles, California, Raynard is of the kin Yaa’aanii (Towering House People) Clan, and born for the Dzil tl’ahnii (Mountain Recess People) Clan, his crafts have included contemporary designs while adhering to the traditional cultural origins.
The Best of Show winners were announced at the awards ceremony during the Heard Guild Indian Fair & Market in Phoenix on March 3, 2023. The Best of Show award is made possible thanks to the generous support of Joy & Howard Berlin, the Head Family, Sharron Lewis, and Kristine & Leland W. Peterson. The full list of the 2023 juried competition winners can be found here.
The Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market is one of the largest Indigenous art markets in the world and draws nearly 15,000 visitors and more than 600 of North America’s most preeminent Indigenous artists. The Guild Indian Fair & Market provides the opportunity to meet and purchase art directly from multiple generations of artists working in all forms of the visual arts. All proceeds from ticket sales support the Heard Museum’s mission of advancing American Indian art.
ABOUT THE HEARD MUSEUM
Since its founding in 1929, the Heard Museum, a private nonprofit organization, has grown in size and stature to become recognized internationally for the quality of its collections, world-class exhibitions, educational programming and unmatched festivals. Dedicated to the advancement of American Indian art, the Heard successfully presents the stories of American Indian people from a first-person perspective as well as exhibitions that showcase the beauty and vitality of traditional and contemporary art. The Heard Museum is supported, in part, by the generosity of Heard Museum members and donors, the Arizona Commission on the Arts, and the City of Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture. In association with the Smithsonian, the Heard Museum is part of a select group of museums and cultural, educational, and arts organizations that share the Smithsonian’s resources with the nation. Visit http://www.heard.org.