Hendren named IACA Artist of the Year
At its annual spring show and sale the Indian Arts & Craft Association selected Albuquerque, N.M.-based artist Shane Hendren as their 2007-2008 Artist of the Year. It is the first time in the history of this organization this prestigious award has been given on a masterpiece that has Japanese influence. Hendren charts this Native American craft movement for a contemporary piece of jewelry that incorporates various advanced metalsmithing techniques, including, but not limited to the Japanese laminating technique known as mokume gane.
The necklace titled "Sacred Circles" is a reversible masterpiece, with each circle tufa cast. Married metals accentuate the outside of seven circles, accented with 27 layers of copper and silver mokume-gane shadowboxed on one side, and inlaid with Wright's Mountain on the reverse side.
Hendren, of Navajo, Choctaw, Comanche and Irish heritage, attended the Institute of the American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, N.M. where he received a degree in museum management and studied metalsmithing. Since the 1990s, Hendren, has developed what he calls "Native Minimalism."
Jewelry professor Lane Coulter introduced the marriage of metals and mokume-gane techniques in 1990 to Hendren. Coulter also brought in masters such as Harvey Begay, Sesuum Duram, Dwayne Maktima, Michael Good and others to teach and inspire his students. Hendren produced his first mokume-gane at IAIA in 1991. Metalsmithing was a natural process for Hendren and pushing the envelope of jewelry was an exciting challenge.
Upon graduation from IAIA Hendren pursued a museum career. He installed the first exhibit for the Museum of the American Indian in New York City and the inaugural exhibit for the IAIA Museum at its current location. Hendren continued his jewelry studies with Professor Constance DeJong at the University of New Mexico were he received his BFA in all disciplines in 1997. He was determined to produce work that epitomizes his core values of balance and harmony while reinforcing his traditional understanding of the universe. His research of mokume-gane and the Samurai tradition from which the technique comes exposed parallels between it and his own Navajo traditions.
Using the Japanese technique of laminating metals in his jewelry was not only symbolic of the way Hendren walks in two worlds but also a physical representation of that. These techniques are virtually unused by other Indigenous jewelers and few non-Native jewelers due to the high level of skill required to perform them.
Hendren's designs and work have received awards from Santa Fe Indian Market, the Heard Museum, Eiteljorg Museum and other shows across the country. These accolades bolster the validity and integrity of his jewelry and honor his years of dedicated effort and hard work.
This year's Artist of the Year selection and award was held at the Embassy Suites Hotel, March 30, with an Artist of the Year Banquet. The artist can be contacted directly via email at shanerhendren@hotmail.com or by calling 505-833-0301. More information and examples of his other work can be found at the website, www.shanehendren.com.
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