Home And Away Gallery

Home & Away Gallery represents living American Indian artists from Maine to Arizona, and from Ontario to Alaska. We value the rich exchange of style and media that contemporary Indian artists are engaging in. Some examples:

While First Americans were using quills and shelll beads as adornment for centuries, Europeans introduced glass beads that further broadened creative possibilities; Sandra Okuma's meticulous beadwork honors the centuries-old traditions and designs of native people from across North America.

Southwest natives were carving cottonwood katsina dolls for centuries; modern tools and paints have further enhanced the form, but a number of contemporary Hopi artists such as Ramson Lomatewama have returned to traditional forms, styles and techniques. Lomatewama also blows glass; natives do not have a long tradition of creating glass, but the forms they created in clay for thousands of years translate beautifully into glass.

For centuries, Plains Indians painted on buffalo hide using natural pigments. Today's Indians, such as George Longfish and Todd Lonedog Bordeaux, create acrylic painting on canvas or "paint" with beads.

Molly Murphy studies traditional Native American art forms as well as modern European-style art and brings new aesthetic sensibilities to her work. Molly creates traditional forms with modern materials, and she also creates pieces using traditional materials with contemporary designs that are not obviously native.

There are numerous other examples of traditional and cross-cultural artwork which fill volumes of academic studies and museum catalogues. Browse our web pages to see the exemplary artists whose work we have found and brought to our gallery in Kennebunkport, Maine and to the world-wide web.