Jody Naranjo, Nocona J. Burgess, Quanah Burgess and Penny Singer. These names might not be familiar to those outside the realm of contemporary Native American arts.
But for art collectors and admirers of their work, the four internationally renowned artists from New Mexico were worth traveling great distances to meet last week at The Gallery at 17 Peck in Providence.
The May 17 social event and block party was expected to draw about 400 people, many from across the country, some from as far away as Germany and Japan. The draw for collectors: a chance to buy never-before-seen original works by the artists created specifically for the gallery.
The event is an example of art tourism at its best, and it is one that gallery owner Daniel Kelley and gallery director Ken Lingad hope to see spread throughout the rest of the city, Lingad said.
But that effort will take some time to cultivate.
When people think of an art destination, they tend to think of a thriving gallery scene for the visual arts, said Lynne McCormack, director of the Providence Department of Art, Culture and Tourism.
“We’re already an arts destination for the performing arts,” she said.
And the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art and events such as WaterFire, along with a significant base of local artists, add to the city’s attraction. But the gallery scene in Providence has experienced its share of stops and starts, McCormack said.
“I think the time has come to start asking, ‘Is this something we want to cultivate in the city?’ ” she said. “[Kelley and Lingad] are bringing in artists that are drawing crowds. They’re really upping the ante here. … We need to be reaching out to collectors and talking about ways we can get a buzz going about the scene.”
Lingad, an Isleta Pueblo Native American from a reservation just outside Santa Fe, said he would like to see Providence develop a booming arts market like the one in Santa Fe.
“Many people here don’t realize that Santa Fe is the second-largest art market [after] New York City,” he said.
That was part of what drew Kelley to visit the Southwestern city about two and a half years ago. He wanted to bring artwork to the gallery that wasn’t represented in Rhode Island.
Kelley said he was immediately drawn to the contemporary Native American artwork because of its beauty, craftsmanship and history. He hired Lingad as a business partner to help cultivate relationships with the “best of the best” Native American artists from the region.
During the past two years the pair has been working to make The Gallery at 17 Peck the East Coast’s premier venue for contemporary Native American art.
“We partner with our artists,” Lingad said. “We are their exclusive representatives on the East Coast.”
The gallery sells the work of 12 museum-caliber artists, meaning artists whose works are in permanent collections of museums such as the Smithsonian, along with six other well established artists.
Lingad travels to New Mexico sometimes three times per month to continue developing the relationships with artists.
“There’s a huge trust factor when you ship large quantities of work over great distances,” he said, adding that the relationships they’ve fostered with the artists are on more of a family level than a business level. The relationship is also important because each piece of artwork is worth $8,000 to $50,000, sometimes more.
Kelley said the gallery has hosted two major social events with its artists in the past year. The purpose is twofold: to sell the art and to raise local recognition of the gallery because so many collectors on the East Coast don’t realize that 17 Peck exists.
Kelley started the buzz about the gallery’s most recent event at the Santa Fe Indian Market in August last year. As a result, some celebrity collectors attended the event. Some of the more famous include actor Val Kilmer and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
And Kelley plans to host one small event with an individual artist each month, except August, for the rest of the year.
The benefit of drawing collectors to gallery events is they might see something else from another artist that they want to buy and/or they might tell their friends about the gallery.
But if Providence wants to create a truly vibrant arts market, it is going to take community involvement, Lingad said. That includes cooperation between small to large businesses downtown, and it includes infrastructure.
There needs to be a cohesive marketing effort to promote downtown as an arts destination, McCormack said. And there needs to be a way to guide people through the city so they can find the galleries.
“Ken and Dan epitomize the new energy that’s here,” she said. “And they’re willing to put in the work to make it happen.”
