Transcultural and Modern Art of the USA South West

Abstract

In the USA Southwest, a special inclination of women artists to innovate and renovate aesthetics and styles and a new sense of  experimentation have emerged. Pueblo women artists have cleverly absorbed imported elements into their aesthetical inventory so that their art production has eventually asserted itself as a substantial example of artistic transculturalism. The new aesthetical-stylistic trends have been conveyed through artworks that place themselves between traditional models and individual experimentation. The first cases that showed a large appreciation of Pueblo pottery in the international art markets are the Maria Martinez one, who influenced the social structure of her whole village, S.Ildefonso. and the one of Helen Cordero - from the Cochiti village -  with her iconic theme of the storyteller first introduced in the‘60s. In more recent times other women artists have established themselves in the international art markets: Roxanne Swentzell and Tammy García, for instance. Swentzell - from the Santa Clara village creates full-length female clay figures characterized by her particular sense of humor and in a contemporary and uniquely personal style. Tammy García, also from Santa Clara, shapes clay beyond what we thought possible with flawless technique, through new modes of creative expression eventually redefining the essence of Pueblo pottery.Though in different ways and to different extents all these artists have contributed to transfer their art from a native terrain into a transcultural sphere through performances of a smart modern remix.