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World Gallery Set To Open In December
Native artist John Hawks and his wife Gail putting finishing touches in place in McMinnville.
DECEMBER 1, 2004
By Peta Tinda
Whether you are seeking fine
Native art or the perfect shade of
buckskin for your moccasins,
Hawks World Gallery is the place
to look.
Local artist John Hawks' new
gallery has all that plus work on
display his own and many other
artists.
Hawks World Gallery, as it's
called, is located on 206 N.E. Evans
Street in McMinnville and has been
open for about a month.
Hawks and his wife Gail are still
putting the finishing touches on
the 3000 square foot space which
they plan to use as a classroom to
teach Native arts and crafts.
"We want it to be a gallery, trad
ing post and cultural center," said
Hawks.
The front part of the building is
the gallery space with classrooms
and bead shop located in the back
rooms.
Hawks is a well-known local art
ist and sculptor whose booth can
frequently be seen at the Grand
Ronde and other pow-wows.
He is a Chiricaua Apache and
first learned to silversmith from his
grandfather. He also works with
wood carvings, stone, bone, and
dentalia, as well as custom silver
jewelry.
He has had pieces commissioned
fby Hollywood stars such as John
Wayne, Peter Fonda, Gary Cooper
and Steve McQueen.
His work was featured in the
movie "Dances with Wolves," and
is part of the Smithsonian
Museum's permanent collection.
The pair supplies 33 galleries in
the United States and Europe.
In addition to his and Gail's work,
Hawks also carries art from 11
other artists, including Vee Ola
Corso, who does oil on canvas paint
ings, Roger McGee, a bronze sculp
tor and Vietnam Veteran who has
done pieces for many local Veteran's
organizations, Alix Mosieur, a first
place winning artist who is best
known for her likeness of Natives,
as well as pieces from Grand Ronde
Photos by Peta Tinda
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Grand Opening Chiricahua Apache artist and sculptor John Hawks and his wife Gail stand in first of some of the pieces
in their newest endeavor, "Hawks World Gallery" in McMinnville. Hawks, whose World Gallery will have its grand opening on
Friday, December lO.has art by many fellow Native artists, including works by Grand Ronde Tribal members. GrandRonde
Tribal member Jan Michael "Looking Wolf " Reibach will perform at Hawk's opening and sign CDs afterwards.
Tribal members like Linda Bean
Olson, who sells her handcrafted
leather drums at the gallery.
"We got together with some folks
in Grand Ronde and decided we
needed a gallery. A lot of the jew
elry, cradleboards and drums are
from Grand Ronde artists," he said.
'There are some great local artists
who do incredible work, but just
haven't had an outlet."
Grand Ronde Tribal members, he
added, get a ten percent discount.
Along with art and artifacts at the
gallery, the pair also carries sup
plies for Native artists, including
hard-to-find items such as extra
large breastplate bones and entire
elk and deer hides. They also have
jingles for dresses and dentalia for
necklaces.
For those working on pow-wow
regalia, Hawks World is the place
to go.
For people who like to do
beadwork, the gallery has beads
from France, Japan and the Czech
Republic, together with miniature
size 15 beads and super-fine bead
ing needles.
"We specialize in the rare and
hard to find," said Gail. "If we don't
have something, then we can prob
ably get it."
The pair also fills special orders
on request.
The Hawks have set aside space
at the gallery for teaching classes
in the evenings.
Class schedules will be posted out
side the gallery. Many of the art
ists plan visits to the gallery, either
to teach classes or offer advice.
"We left it open to all if you
want to come and teach a class, you
can. Even if it's just storytelling,
you can you use the space if it's
available," said Hawks.
In 54 years, Hawks said, he
worked with many different major
artists and now hopes to give those
54 years of experience to his stu
dents. "We're here for people who want
to acquire art, for people who want
to learn about art and also people
who want to learn culture," said
Hawks.
A grand opening is scheduled for
Friday, December 10 at 10 a.m.
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One Stop Shopping In addition to fine art
like these oil paintings by Vee Ola Corso (right) you'll
also find supplies for Native art and regalia making
like sinew and waxed thread. Hawks World seeks to
cater to those seeking hard to find Native art items.
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