SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — November is Native American Heritage Month, and San Diego County has the largest number of tribal governments and reservations in the U.S.
10News is committed to celebrating that rich history and culture. Anchor Lindsey Peña interviewed a woman paving an artistic path in the Gaslamp Quarter.
The Exclusive Collections Gallery is the Gaslamp's first individually-owned Native American business.
"I'm really excited to represent our people. It's also a little sad that it's taken us this long, but you know — here we are," says Ruth Ann Thorn, the gallery's founder.
Thorn is a proud member of the Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians. A fixture in the San Diego art scene for some time now, she's passionate about being an ambassador for creatives.
"Art is for everyone is really our tagline — that means we want to expose people to a lot of different styles," she says.
Featured prominently in the gallery is the work of Native American artists from all over the country, like Jeremy Salazar.
"He grew up on the Navajo Reservation, his father is an artist and he utilized his art really to feed his family. I had never seen anything so detailed, and it's realistic but it's also contemporary," Thorn says.
George Rivera's pieces are another staple of the gallery.
"It's one of the few stainless steel castings I've ever seen. It refers to the Lakota Tribe, or the Dakota Tribe, who were overtaken by the colonies by killing off millions of buffalo," Thorn explained.
Thorn says the gallery enables her to share what Native American art really is, as opposed to what people think it is.
"We are a modern day people, so we have artists that are coming in still holding on to their culture, but bringing in contemporary views of that art," Thorn says.
Later in November, the gallery will host its annual Native American Art Show for the first time at the new location.
"We have a huge group of native people, like the top of the different genres of art, painting, sculpture. We even have an artist that takes tin cans and makes baskets — California native baskets — out of them," Thorn says.
Thorn's hope is to give those creators a platform and the opportunity to have meaningful interactions with the community.
"A lot of these artists take their proceeds back to their tribes, and they feed their tribes and bring water and those types of things, and also for the people to be able to participate and learn about the first people," she says. "There can be an understanding, and there can be a bridge and that's what the arts have always done historically."
The Native American Art Show at the Exclusive Collections Gallery in the Gaslamp District is scheduled from Nov. 10 through Nov. 12.
The show goes from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, while the Sunday show takes place from 1 to 4 p.m.
Everyone is welcome and admission is free.
