| Martha Hopkins Struever | |
|---|---|
At home in Santa Fe |
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| Born | November 14, 1931 Milan, Indiana |
| Occupation | American Indian art dealer, scholar and author |
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.
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Martha Lee Hopkins Struever was born in 1931 in Milan, Indiana, the only daughter of Lester Harper Hopkins, M.D. and Eva Montalie (Neill) Hopkins.[1] 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.
In 1976, Martha Struever established the Indian Tree Gallery in Chicago, Illinois featuring historic and contemporary American Indian jewelry, pottery, Kachina dolls, weavings, and paintings.[2] 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.[3][4] 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.[5] 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.[6]
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".[7]
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.[8][9]
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.
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), "Hopi 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.[10] 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.[11]