Opening on May 17, 2009, the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian presents Through Their Eyes: Paintings from the Santa Fe Indian School.

This exhibition focuses on paintings from the Charlotte G. Mittler collection created by students who attended the Santa Fe Indian School between 1919 and 1945. Featured artists include Fred Kabotie, Velino Shjie Herrera, Allan Houser, Andrew Tsinjinnie, Pablita Velarde, and Sybil Yazzie.

The Santa Fe Indian School has long been considered the birthplace of contemporary Native American easel painting. What has been written about the Santa Fe Indian School Studio and its place within the development of contemporary Native American painting concentrates largely on the patronage and the uniqueness of Santa Fe's non-Native artistic and intellectual communities.

The purpose of this exhibition is to give voice to a Native American perspective and to reveal how these paintings reflect Native American thought and life as seen through the eyes of the youth during the years between the two world wars.

This exhibit will run through April 18, 2010.

(Images: Narciso Abeyta (Ha So De), Untitled , 1935-1936, 21" x 29 1/4"; Fred Kabotie (Nayayoma), Niman Kachinas, 1944, 12" x 16"; Pablita Velarde (Te Tsan), Basket Dance  1940s,  13 ¾" x 21 ¼"; Courtesy Wheelwright Museum, from the Charlotte G. Mittler collection)