Native Artisan Market at Colorado History Museum this Sunday

A weekend market at the Colorado History Museum is putting Native American artists front and center.

Makers from across the region will gather Sunday for the Native Artisan Market, which celebrates talents and culture passed down through generations, as well as the artists who keep them alive.

The market is part of the Museum of Memory initiative. It will feature Native artists whose people have called this land home, from Colorado and beyond.

"So it is artists from Wyoming, from New Mexico,"  said Yadira Solis, Director of the Museum of Memory at History Colorado. "Whether it was through bead work, whether it was through quill work, leather work, all these things that make up who they are through traditions across time."

One of the artists is Maxx Wapasha Lake, who grew up in Broomfield.

"I'm a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe as well as a descendant of the Navajo Nation," said Lake.

She is a mixed media artist who prefers pen and ink for traditional work but also dabbles in digital art.

"A lot of my themes in my artwork are just community engagement and things that I believe bring us together," Lake said.

For Lake, the market is about more than selling Native art, it's about preserving the heritage and individuality of each Native person.

"So it's really important to me that we are elevating their stories, talking about their backgrounds, who they are as people," Lake said.

The market also brings the community together.

"So we're really close knit, and it's just so awesome to me that they can come up here and we can be together again," Lake said.

Everyone is invited to shop Native this Sunday and help keep stories and culture alive.

The Native Artisan Market takes place Sunday November 15 at the Colorado History Museum from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.