Martha Hopkins Struever
Encyclopedia
Martha Hopkins Struever is an American Indian
art dealer
and author, and is regarded as a leading scholar on historic and contemporary Pueblo Indian pottery and Pueblo
and Navajo
Indian jewelry.
, the only daughter of Lester Harper Hopkins, M.D. and Eva Montalie (Neill) Hopkins. She grew up in rural southeastern Indiana
in Versailles
. After obtaining her bachelor's of science degree from Purdue University
in Lafayette, Indiana
in 1953, Struever attended the Tobé-Coburn School For Fashion Careers
(now the Wood Tobé Coburn School
) in New York City. She began collecting and dealing in American Indian
art in 1971, when she visited San Ildefonso Pueblo and purchased a "gun metal sheen" pottery plate by Maria Montoya Martinez and her son Popovi Da.
jewelry, pottery, Kachina dolls, weavings, and paintings. In order to bring the best Southwestern Indian artists to her Chicago gallery, she visited the Pueblo
and Navajo
reservations (often alone) to begin what were to become lifelong relationships with such prominent artists such as Charles Loloma
, the foremost American Indian
jeweler, and Dextra Quotskuyva
, the pre-eminent contemporary Hopi
potter. Struever helped many Indian artists gain exposure outside of Southwestern markets by sponsoring shows for them in Chicago. Struever hosted Maria Martinez
at her Chicago gallery in 1977 - and arranged a special reception at the Chicago Art Institute for the then 96 year old potter. In addition to prominent artists, a primary focus of Struever's career has been the identification and encouragement of talented new Indian potters and jewelers. Struever sponsored the first exhibitions of now-notable jewelers Gail Bird and Yazzie Johnson
, Richard Chavez, Norbert Peshlaki, and Perry Shorty, as well as potters Dextra Quotskuyva
, Steve Lucas
and Les Namingha.
On November 12, 1988, she married noted archaeologist Stuart M. Struever and soon relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico
. Martha Hopkins Struever, considered the "grande dame" of American Indian art dealers, in 2006 received the first Lifetime Achievement Award from the Antique Tribal Art Dealers Association
"for contributions to the understanding and preservation of tribal art".
Over the past thirty years, Struever has conducted over sixty traveling art and archaeology seminars throughout Navajo and Pueblo
lands. Her seminars are enriched by her relationships with the many Indian artists whose careers she has encouraged.
Her philanthropic work has included overseeing nine Indian Art Shows in Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Denver, bringing 25 artists to each event, for the benefit of the non-profit Crow Canyon Archaeological Center
. Crow Canyon
was founded by her husband, Stuart Struever
.
Struever is currently working on new manuscripts. She has two sons, Richard B. Lanman, M.D. and Todd H. Lanman, M.D., as well as seven grandchildren.
Art: A Century of Continuity and Change" (San Francisco Museum of Craft and Folk Art, 1987), and "Legends of Pueblo Pottery" (Wheelwright Museum, 1997). She has guest curated museum exhibitions in several cities. As Struever's scholarly reputation has grown, she has become recognized as one of the foremost experts on the pottery of Nampeyo, the jewelry of Loloma
and the works of other significant Southwestern Indian artists.
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
art dealer
Art dealer
An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art. Art dealers' professional associations serve to set high standards for accreditation or membership and to support art exhibitions and shows.-Role:...
and author, and is regarded as a leading scholar on historic and contemporary Pueblo Indian pottery and Pueblo
Pueblo
Pueblo is a term used to describe modern communities of Native Americans in the Southwestern United States of America. The first Spanish explorers of the Southwest used this term to describe the communities housed in apartment-like structures built of stone, adobe mud, and other local material...
and Navajo
Navajo people
The Navajo of the Southwestern United States are the largest single federally recognized tribe of the United States of America. The Navajo Nation has 300,048 enrolled tribal members. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the...
Indian jewelry.
Early life and education
Martha Lee Hopkins Struever was born in 1931 in Milan, IndianaMilan, Indiana
Milan is a town in Franklin and Washington townships, Ripley County, Indiana, United States. The population was 1,899 at the 2010 census.The town's name is pronounced differently from the English name for the Italian city of the same name....
, the only daughter of Lester Harper Hopkins, M.D. and Eva Montalie (Neill) Hopkins. She grew up in rural southeastern Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
in Versailles
Versailles, Indiana
Versailles is a town in Johnson Township, Ripley County, Indiana, United States. The population was 2,113 at the 2010 census. The town is the county seat of Ripley County.-Geography:Versailles is located at...
. After obtaining her bachelor's of science degree from Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
in Lafayette, Indiana
Lafayette, Indiana
Lafayette is a city in and the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, northwest of Indianapolis. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 67,140. West Lafayette, on the other side of the Wabash River, is home to Purdue University, which has a large impact on...
in 1953, Struever attended the Tobé-Coburn School For Fashion Careers
Wood Tobe Coburn School
Wood Tobé-Coburn School is a small, for-profit private career college located in a building just south of Grand Central Station in New York, NY...
(now the Wood Tobé Coburn School
Wood Tobe Coburn School
Wood Tobé-Coburn School is a small, for-profit private career college located in a building just south of Grand Central Station in New York, NY...
) in New York City. She began collecting and dealing in American Indian
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
art in 1971, when she visited San Ildefonso Pueblo and purchased a "gun metal sheen" pottery plate by Maria Montoya Martinez and her son Popovi Da.
Career
In 1976, Martha Struever established the Indian Tree Gallery in Chicago, Illinois featuring historic and contemporary American IndianNative Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
jewelry, pottery, Kachina dolls, weavings, and paintings. In order to bring the best Southwestern Indian artists to her Chicago gallery, she visited the Pueblo
Pueblo
Pueblo is a term used to describe modern communities of Native Americans in the Southwestern United States of America. The first Spanish explorers of the Southwest used this term to describe the communities housed in apartment-like structures built of stone, adobe mud, and other local material...
and Navajo
Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation is a semi-autonomous Native American-governed territory covering , occupying all of northeastern Arizona, the southeastern portion of Utah, and northwestern New Mexico...
reservations (often alone) to begin what were to become lifelong relationships with such prominent artists such as Charles Loloma
Charles Loloma
Charles Loloma was an American artist of Hopi ancestry. He was born in Hopi Third Mesa to Rex and Rachael Loloma. He served in the military in 1941 to 1945, where he was stationed in the Aleutian Islands. Thanks to the GI Bill, Loloma was able to go the Alfred University in New York. In 1954 he...
, the foremost American Indian
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
jeweler, and Dextra Quotskuyva
Dextra Quotskuyva
Dextra Quotskuyva is a Native American potter and artist. She is the great-granddaughter of the Tewa potter Nampeyo of Hano who revived Sikyátki style pottery on Hopi First Mesa...
, the pre-eminent contemporary Hopi
Hopi
The Hopi are a federally recognized tribe of indigenous Native American people, who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona. The Hopi area according to the 2000 census has a population of 6,946 people. Their Hopi language is one of the 30 of the Uto-Aztecan language...
potter. Struever helped many Indian artists gain exposure outside of Southwestern markets by sponsoring shows for them in Chicago. Struever hosted Maria Martinez
Maria Martinez
Maria Montoya Martinez was a Native American artist who created internationally known pottery...
at her Chicago gallery in 1977 - and arranged a special reception at the Chicago Art Institute for the then 96 year old potter. In addition to prominent artists, a primary focus of Struever's career has been the identification and encouragement of talented new Indian potters and jewelers. Struever sponsored the first exhibitions of now-notable jewelers Gail Bird and Yazzie Johnson
Gail Bird and Yazzie Johnson
Gail Bird and Yazzie Johnson are Southwestern American Indian artists known for their innovative jewelry which uses varied stones and blends both contemporary and prehistoric design motifs...
, Richard Chavez, Norbert Peshlaki, and Perry Shorty, as well as potters Dextra Quotskuyva
Dextra Quotskuyva
Dextra Quotskuyva is a Native American potter and artist. She is the great-granddaughter of the Tewa potter Nampeyo of Hano who revived Sikyátki style pottery on Hopi First Mesa...
, Steve Lucas
Steve Lucas
Lieutenant-General James Steve Lucas, CMM, CD was the commander of the Canadian Forces Air Command and Canadian Chief of the Air Staff until 2007.In 2001, he was made a Commander of the Order of Military Merit....
and Les Namingha.
On November 12, 1988, she married noted archaeologist Stuart M. Struever and soon relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
. Martha Hopkins Struever, considered the "grande dame" of American Indian art dealers, in 2006 received the first Lifetime Achievement Award from the Antique Tribal Art Dealers Association
Antique Tribal Art Dealers Association
The Antique Tribal Art Dealers Association , was founded in 1988, by a group of independent antique tribal art dealers to form a professional association of dealers that would provide education for the public and set standards for the trade...
"for contributions to the understanding and preservation of tribal art".
Over the past thirty years, Struever has conducted over sixty traveling art and archaeology seminars throughout Navajo and Pueblo
Pueblo
Pueblo is a term used to describe modern communities of Native Americans in the Southwestern United States of America. The first Spanish explorers of the Southwest used this term to describe the communities housed in apartment-like structures built of stone, adobe mud, and other local material...
lands. Her seminars are enriched by her relationships with the many Indian artists whose careers she has encouraged.
Her philanthropic work has included overseeing nine Indian Art Shows in Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Denver, bringing 25 artists to each event, for the benefit of the non-profit Crow Canyon Archaeological Center
Crow Canyon Archaeological Center
Crow Canyon Archaeological Center is an archeological center of training programs for students and teachers, located in Southwestern Colorado, USA...
. Crow Canyon
Crow Canyon Archaeological Center
Crow Canyon Archaeological Center is an archeological center of training programs for students and teachers, located in Southwestern Colorado, USA...
was founded by her husband, Stuart Struever
Stuart Struever
Stuart McKee Struever is an American archaeologist and anthropologist best known for his contributions to the archaeology of the Woodland Period in the US midwest and for his leadership of archaeology research & education foundations...
.
Struever is currently working on new manuscripts. She has two sons, Richard B. Lanman, M.D. and Todd H. Lanman, M.D., as well as seven grandchildren.
Publications and Scholarly Work
Martha Hopkins Struever has published important reference works, authoring the two books "Loloma: Beauty Is His Name" (Wheelwright Museum, 2006) and "Painted Perfection: The Pottery of Dextra Quotskuyva" (Wheelwright Museum, 2002), as well as museum catalogues entitled "Nampeyo: A Gift Remembered" (Kendall College, Mitchell Museum, 1984), "HopiHopi
The Hopi are a federally recognized tribe of indigenous Native American people, who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona. The Hopi area according to the 2000 census has a population of 6,946 people. Their Hopi language is one of the 30 of the Uto-Aztecan language...
Art: A Century of Continuity and Change" (San Francisco Museum of Craft and Folk Art, 1987), and "Legends of Pueblo Pottery" (Wheelwright Museum, 1997). She has guest curated museum exhibitions in several cities. As Struever's scholarly reputation has grown, she has become recognized as one of the foremost experts on the pottery of Nampeyo, the jewelry of Loloma
Charles Loloma
Charles Loloma was an American artist of Hopi ancestry. He was born in Hopi Third Mesa to Rex and Rachael Loloma. He served in the military in 1941 to 1945, where he was stationed in the Aleutian Islands. Thanks to the GI Bill, Loloma was able to go the Alfred University in New York. In 1954 he...
and the works of other significant Southwestern Indian artists.