Andy Eisenberg Award for Contemporary Jewelry

In 2015, the Heard Museum Guild decided to create a separate Andy Eisenberg Award in the Indian Fair and Market’s Juried Competition to honor Andy Eisenberg, a long-time Heard Museum Guild member who put an indelible mark on the Market. The new award replaced Division H of the Jewelry classification, which had been renamed Andy Eisenberg Contemporary Jewelry in 2011 in Andy’s memory.

Andy Eisenberg

Andy served as Chair of the Artist Exhibitors Committee in 2003 and 2004, when she came to know all the artists at the Market and they came to know and trust her. She moved on to chair the Juried Competition Committee for several years until her death in 2009. She helped many talented artists enter the competition, and singlehandedly solved problems from the most sensitive and difficult, such as a crack in a pot, to simply making a troubled artist more comfortable, all with the greatest tact and sensitivity. The 2009 Market was dedicated to her memory.

Andy’s creative energy was not limited to the Indian Fair and Market. She became a Las Guias after moving to Phoenix from California, graduating in 2001, and soon became involved in and eventually chaired the Guild’s annual Student Art Show and Sale. An Andy Eisenberg Memorial Award, given each year to a student artist who excels in contemporary expression, commemorates her interest in nurturing and encouraging young American Indian artists to stretch themselves and their art. As Guild President in 2004-2005 and as Shop Chair in 2008, she never hesitated to share her knowledge and love for American Indian art and jewelry. She is remembered not only by all the Indian artists who have attended the Market but by those Guild members lucky enough to have worked with her.

Andy’s passion was jewelry; in later years the most edgy and avant garde jewelry, and that passion is embodied in the Fair’s Andy Eisenberg Award. Winners of Division H, Andy Eisenberg Contemporary Jewelry, from 2011 to 2014 and the winner of the 2015 Andy Eisenberg Award are:

2011
First Place, Keri Ataumbi (Kiowa), Insect Bracelet, Brooch, and Ring
Second Place, Robin Waynee (Saginaw Chippewa/Ojibwe), Ring, “Rolling Pearl Ring”
Honorable Mention, Jesse Monongye (Navajo/Hopi), Necklace, “Naja”
Honorable Mention, Pat Pruitt (Laguna Pueblo), Necklace, “CSST V. 2.0”

2012
First Place, Robin Waynee (Saginaw Chippewa/Ojibwe), Blue Pearl Necklace
Second Place, Liz Wallace (Navajo/Washoe/Maidu), “Lady Slipper”
Honorable Mention, Pat Pruitt (Laguna Pueblo), “Tactical Cowboy Spurs”

2013
First Place, Pat Pruitt (Laguna Pueblo), “Midnight Rendezvous”
Second Place, Robin Waynee (Saginaw Chippewa/Ojibwe), Necklace With Detachable Brooch
Honorable Mention, Cody Sanderson (Navajo), Bracelet, “Opium Green”

2014
First Place, Michael Roanhorse (Navajo), Silver Sculptural Bracelet, “Corn Pollen Dawn”
Second Place, Robin Waynee (Saginaw Chippewa/Ojibwe), Necklace, “My Moon and Start”

2015
First Place, Nelda Schrupp (Pheasant Rump Nakota First Nation), Necklace, “We Still Here”
Second Place, Keri Ataumbi (Kiowa), Necklace, “Badeheya”

2016
First Place, Liz Wallace (Navajo/Washoe/Maidu), Jewelry, “5 Elements”
Second Place, Victoria Adams (Southern Cheyenne/Arapaho of Oklahoma), “Dragonfly in our Circle”

2017
Michael Roanhorse (Navajo), Jewelry, “Gathering at Daybreak”

 

Sources:
Personal recollections of Barbara Johnson
Eulogy by Phyllis Noone and Barbara Johnson delivered at Andy Eisenberg’s funeral
Juried Competition Winners Lists, 2011-2015, in the Heard Museum Digital Library