LA TIENDA INDIANS

We just returned from five days of playing in wonderful Santa Fe, NM.  Santa Fe is one of our favorite places to be.  We love the art, the music, the history, the people and especially the great food.

While there we have the good fortune of staying at a friend's home in a rural development outside of town.  For years I have been fascinated by a huge installation of painted Native American Indians on plywood near an area shopping center.  No one I've asked had any background about the artwork so after some research I've finally uncovered the story behind these figures.

Seattle artist, Thom Ross, created these intricate paintings with 3 dimensional detail (fringe on the horses, flowing ribbons, attached bead work, etc) because of an old photo he once came across: a 1902 Buffalo Bill Cody and the Wild West Show from Ocean Beach in San Francisco depicting 108 cowboys and Indians. He recreated every figure and installed them on that same beach in 2008. La Tienda (the shopping center) has about 70 of those figures (all Indians and no cowboys) on display for an indeterminate amount of time.

Here is a video which features the artwork.