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By SANDRA BALTAZAR MARTINEZ | The New Mexican 08/10/2002
A $60,000 bid has been offered for a 1974 Triumph TR6 painted with
Native American symbols and images by the Hopi/Tewa artist Dan Namingha.
The auction will be held on Aug. 17.
Ethel and Sam Ballen, owners of La Fonda in downtown Santa Fe, donated
the car to two nonprofit American Indian organizations: the Southwestern
Association for Indian Arts and the Institute of American Indian Arts.
Money from the auction will be used for scholarships and fellowships.
"We won (the car) in a raffle, about a year ago, when we bought a ticket
from the Children's Museum." Ethel Ballen said.
The Ballens are founding members of the IAIA. Sam Ballen served as
president for the SWAIA several years ago.
The organizations declined to name the person who bid $60,000 but said he
was from New York.
Namingha designed the art on the car, but 11 other Native American
artists also contributed details to it. The painted images on the car
carry significant meanings. On the front sides, as well as the hood, are
eagles. For American Indians, as well as for the United States, Namingha
explained, the eagle is a powerful symbol. Indians use it in healing and
religious ceremonies.
The black-and-white checks painted on the doors and on trunk represent
people in motion or cloud formations and rain.
"The checkerboard pattern is found in Hopi pottery, like the ones my mom
uses," Namingha said. "Ironically, it's also used in automobile races."
On top of the trunk, Namingha decided to paint the four Hopi cardinal
directions with Hopi colors: yellow for north, white for east, red for
south and blue for west. In the middle of the cardinal points is a
spiral, a sipapu, which in Hopi means place of emergence.
"It's a Hopi migration symbol. We continue to migrate as people on this
planet - in bus, train, Internet and now even through space," he said.
The artists who donated their time and art included Marcus Emerman; Upton
Ethelbuh Jr.; Janette Ferrera; Laura Cota Fragua; Connie, David and Wayne
Gaussoin; Teri Greeves; Orland Joe; and Jamie Okuma.
The auction will be at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 17 at Sweeney Center, 201 W. Marcy
St.
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