Sharing my items is a great way to learn about the Native story. My goal is to meet and connect with you in a way that promotes our mutual interest in beautiful objects created by those who came well before us.
The New Gallery Spanish Colonial Wall This wall is a new set up in my gallery and it shows an assortment of early, New Mexican Spanish Colonial items. A pair of doors, a large spindled window, a couple of early chests, a “Bishops” chair, a Christo on the cross, several bultos, several restablos, several Rio […]
A Beautiful Hopi White Manta with Accents Ahkima Honyumptewa (Hopi) from Paagvavi in Third Mesa is the winner for SWAIA’s Santa Fe Indian Market for Best of Class in Textiles. Ahkima is both a painter and a weaver. I am very proud to sponsor this prize and it’s a personal one as mantas are one […]
For the first time the James Compton Gallery is sponsoring the winner for the 100 anniversary of the 2022 SWAIA (Southwestern Association For Indian Arts) in Classification IV – Textiles Best of Class. I am proud to contribute to the mastering of weaving and textile art. While my Gallery emphasis has been on historic textiles, […]
A Sperm Whale Interpretation? This streamline carving a whale, perhaps a sperm whale, has the most beautiful form and surface patina. The elegant lines suggest a sperm whale with the high, angular head. This item was most likely excavated (the collection history is lost) in the Arctic zone and can be attributed to the broad […]
This Spanish Colonial New Mexican table came from a client born in New Mexico who’s grandfather knew Max Luna, having worked along side him. He purchased this table directly from him around the time that it was made. It’s a really lovely example of the early end of the resurgence of the making of Spanish […]
Clues Defining this Weaving as a Rio Grande Blanket A rare and unusual blanket came into my gallery. The blanket was brought to me as a pueblo weaving. I discovered with close inspection that it was a New Mexican Rio Grande blanket woven by Spanish Colonialists. The weaving is ancient in look and feel. The […]
A group of early Zuni tourist fetishes were purchased from the Tres Compadres Ranch of the McMahon family of Houston, TX. Patricia Bennett McMahon (1929-2017) and her sister had one of the early art galleries in Santa Fe, NM and I imagine that these were purchased during that time. A few of these fetishes appear […]
A Collection of Bultos and Retablos by Alden Frick McGrew I recently acquired a group of bultos and retablos from one previous owner. The deceased owner is Alden Frick McGrew (1910-1987), former chairman of the Art Department University of Colorado, by descent within his family. He had a house in New Mexico in the 1950’s […]
I recently had an article about my gallery in the Antiques and the Arts Weekly publication in a section they did for the summer called “The Old West”. I am copying this article here with a few changes. Below is a view of Gran Quivira taken on a visit 2 weeks ago… a reminder of […]
Kent Williamson has joined my gallery for the better part of the summer. From June 26 through about Aug. 17 Kent will be displaying and selling some of his wonderful items in my gallery. He specializes in Plains Indian material as well as Western and American Frontier. We compliment each other in that my main […]
