Returning to the Santa Fe Community Convention Center for its second edition is the Native Elements Art Festival + Market, which celebrates Native land, plants, people and art. The event is held over Memorial Day weekend, thoughtfully dated between the Heard Museum Indian Fair & Market and Santa Fe Indian Market,to provide Native artists with opportunities during this traditionally slower time in Santa Fe.
Pottery artist Lonnie Vigil showcases work at the 2025 Native Elements Art Festival + Market.
“The market will feature up to 200 artists presenting works in paint, beadwork, jewelry, pottery, carving and fashion,” says representatives from the Santa Fe Botanical Garden. “This event offers a chance for people to experience authentic Native American art and purchase directly from the artists. That direct connection and opportunity for storytelling are what make the event meaningful for both artists and patrons.”
Jared DeCelles (Gros Ventre/Assiniboine), Passion in Motion, Italian Ice alabaster.
This year’s featured artists are Donald Sockyma (Hopi), Marla Allison (Laguna Pueblo), Autumn Borts-Medlock (Santa Clara Pueblo) and Veronica Poblano (Zuni). There will also be exciting work by father-and-son sculptors Jared and Jon DeCelles (Gros Ventre/Assiniboine).
Borts-Medlock will be bringing her impressive pottery examples, often including nature themes and depicting subjects like insects, flowers, animals, landscapes, sky and clouds. The artist is also known for her parrot effigies. One highlight offered at the market is Borts-Medlock’s Foxes and Flowers vase, hand-coiled and finished with a fluted rim emulating moving clouds. It also features a fox as the main subject, inspired by an encounter the artist had with foxes while she was walking on a forested canyon trail in Taos, New Mexico.
Marla Allison (Laguna Pueblo), Petrichor, gold Leaf and acrylic on canvas, 48 x 48 in.
“After drawing my design on the surface, I carved out multiple layers of clay to create a dramatic depth of field,” she explains of her process. “I paint some of the designs with different mineral clay slips and burnish with a smooth stone for a shiny surface. Other areas are painted matte to create contrasts in the design. I [also] dig my clay from the hills that surround the village of Santa Clara Pueblo, the village where I grew up. [I’ve also included a] butterfly for pollination and flowers for their beauty. They are the wild roses that grow down by the Rio Grande.”
Autumn Borts-Medlock (Santa Clara Pueblo), Foxes and Flower, clay. Courtesy King Galleries.
Marla Allison will present abstract paintings, a new direction from her landscape and figurative work. Allison’s painting Petrichor, for example, is a love song for home and the smell of rain. The artist made a big transition by moving to Northern California from her long-time home in New Mexico. “It is a representation of the smell of dry earth and wet clay that the rain brings,” Allison explains of the piece. “Many would call it a natural gift from the sky. The name, ‘petrichor,’ is the name given to the smell of the fresh rain when it interacts with water in the air and earth smell. It is more a desert scent to me, but also a memory and time in life that I cherish when I return to New Mexico. The monsoon season is especially special when seeing the clouds building up through the day and hearing the distant thunder, the breeze lifting. When the first rain drops hit the sand, the scent envelopes you with desert life and gratitude.”
Jon DeCelles (Gros Ventre/Assiniboine), Sunrise Dancer, bronze
Attendees of Native Elements can expect to find these beautiful works, and many others during the four-day event, including special programming. Kicking off the event on May 21 is the opening celebration, which will include a live and silent auction, as well as an award ceremony. This event will take place at the Santa Fe Botanical Garden.
Beginning May 22, the Native Elements moves to the Santa Fe Community Convention Center, starting with the Night Market reception, where guests can meet the artists. The full market will take place on May 23 and 24. On May 23, there will be a panel with the featured artists moderated by Native American Art executive editor Michael Clawson.
Attendees at the 2025 market shop for incredible pieces by Native American artists.
Additional programming will take place during the market at the convention center, as well as in the nearby Santa Fe Plaza, where dancers will perform on the stage. Visit the show website for details and a full schedule. —
Native Elements Art Festival + Market
May 21-24, 2026
Santa Fe Community Convention Center
201 W. Marcy Street Santa Fe, NM 87501
www.visitsfbg.org/native-elements
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