August 16, 2007

US & Canada | US | Santa Fe

Market Madness

By Nicole Cotroneo

You know this isn't your Sunday-school craft fair when customers cart off their loot in private jets.

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Diehard fans wait all night to be the first ones in — but it’s not an American Idol audition. It’s the 86th annual Santa Fe Indian Market, and the goods sell fast. From postmodern pottery to touristy turquoise bling, the downtown plaza will teem this weekend with the handiwork of 1,200 artists from 100 tribes. Serious collectors pounce before the market officially opens at 7a.m., coolly dropping $35,000 for a beadwork doll. But beyond this frenzied fair, the art scene is alive and well in Santa Fe — crowned America’s first UNESCO Creative City and now celebrating its 400th anniversary.

Top international artists exhibit work at SITE, a gallery in the heart of the revitalized Railyard district (once a locomotive switching ground). When completed, art studios, restaurants and boutiques will surround a central square, turning The Railyard into a rival hub less than half a mile from the historic plaza. Conveniently situated near both centers, Casa de Estrellas is a new boutique hotel with Mediterranean-style villas. With gourmet kitchens and hot tubs, the villas were styled by designer-to-the-stars Jay Payne. Just don’t come sniffing for Indian art; Payne has stuffed the interiors with authentic Asian antiquities.