New Gallery Promises Realism in Indian Art

A new Ventura art gallery boasts that it has one of the largest collections of American Indian art in California.

Jay Rapp, one of a group of Indian art collectors that owns the Sacred Visions Gallery in downtown Ventura, said a major goal of the gallery is to educate people on the beauty of Indian art.

“It’s our responsibility to educate people on native American art. It’s something we can all identify with--the down-to-earth realism in Indian culture and art,” Rapp said.

The gallery, in the Masonic Temple building at Santa Clara and California streets, is the largest art gallery in Ventura, according to the Ventura Arts Council. Its red clay tile floor, Navajo white walls and wide-open spaces give an airy feeling.

Along one of the gallery’s walls, vivid reds and blues contrast with black and white in intricate patterns on Navajo weavings and rugs. Pictorial scenes are gathered with patterned works by contemporary weavers from such places as Two Gray Hills in New Mexico and Chinle and Teec Nos Pos in Arizona. Different styles show the particular area and pueblo the weaver is from.

The wool rugs, which are made using vegetal dyes, can take almost 400 hours to complete and range in price between $200 and $20,000, Rapp said. Many of them include “spirit lines,” a woven line separate from the pattern that leads off the rug.

“When Indians weave, they put their own spirit into their work. A spirit line is an exit for the spirit to leave so it isn’t trapped in the rug,” Rapp said.

The gallery showcases historic pottery (pre-1940) of the Southwest, featuring Zuni, Hopi, Acoma and Navajo works side-by-side with those by modern artists such as Pahponee, Blue Corn, Margaret Tafoya and Elizabeth Naranjo. Also included are fetishes, miniature animals such as bears and deer that are carved from various minerals.

Sacred Visions boasts a large collection of tribal baskets, hand-carved Kachinas, beaded items and sand paintings. Hanging throughout the gallery are watercolor, acrylic and oil paintings by artists including Clifford Beck, Janet Radford, Ozz Franca, George Molnar, and Neil David Sr. Rapp said the gallery, which also does its own framing, plans to carry collector-grade Zuni, Navajo and Santo Domingo silver jewelry.

Among the most unique art forms are the hand-pressed cast paper reliefs by artist Allen Eckman. The collection includes a series of Indian heads such as a Blackfoot brave, an Apache warrior, a Sioux war chief and Sitting Bull.

A wall-sized relief, titled “Sitting Bull’s Vision,” shows the face of Sitting Bull shadowed by a large eagle and set against pictographs carved into background rocks, with a buffalo skull that is set on the floor. The work, priced at $40,000, depicts the dance of glory done by the Indian chief for 36 hours before the Battle of Little Big Horn.

Rapp said most people are familiar with the now-trendy Southwestern style of art, which often focuses on pastel colors and howling coyotes, but he said Sacred Visions’ collection is nothing like it.

The difference, Rapp said, is that all the works in Sacred Visions are done only by Indians of the Americas, or by California artists who are of Indian descent.

“This isn’t trendy stuff,” he said.