Unique art background included

Ask Mike Velez about one of the pieces in Velez Gallery, and he'll have a story.

Point to some brightly colored baskets. "Those are made by the Huichol Indians," he said, referring to the Western Mexican culture. "The beads are held on with beeswax. There are probably 800 beads, maybe more," he said, pointing to a basket - perhaps 2 inches across - adorned with an image of a peyote cactus.

Velez can unravel the narrative in a tiny horsehair bowl, from the stylized house in the center to the image on the rim of a woman picking fruit from a Saguaro cactus.

Geographically, the objects in Velez Gallery range from the Arctic circle to Chile, but they have several things in common. They're all from the Western hemisphere, they're all handmade, and the materials are indigenous and sustainably produced. There's no plastic or even oil paint.

"We have art made from horsehair, from potato dough, from corn husks, from gourds, from wood, from shells, from stone," he said. "Even when there's gold and silver, it's not a lot. Our jewelers make 50 pieces a year and don't take more metal than they need."

The uniqueness of Velez's offerings have made the gallery a downtown institution in its 20-year history - with a 20th birthday bash scheduled for Sept. 5, featuring food, an opening, and a sale. It's been in its current location - its third - for 12 years. In addition to fine crafts and folk art, Velez carries fine art from works by his brother, Andrew, to pieces by figures such as Comanche artist Doc Tate Nevaquaya, Tohono O'Odham artist Michael Chiago and renowned Navajo painter Harrison Begay.

Alas, the names mean nothing to the casual visitor.

"My biggest job is educating people," Velez said. "Even gallery owners are almost totally ignorant about Native American art that isn't from North America."

One result is that a lot of the store's business comes from tourists - especially tourists from abroad.

"If I go to Africa, I want something from Africa," Velez said. "I don't want something that was made in China."

Velez travels the hemisphere to find artists. He pays them fairly, but even so, he said, "sometimes people are worried that the art is so cheap." He said the prices are low because his artists don't need a lot of money to live. "They don't eat out, they don't go to movies, they don't own two cars," he said. "They live simply."

Another way he keeps prices down is by searching out vintage pieces.

"This was probably made in the 1950s," he said, pointing to a small polished copper-and-silver bowl. "It's $69. If somebody made it today, it would be a couple hundred."

But he recently raised prices on some riotously colorful potato-dough dioramas by Peruvian artist Claudio Jimenez because the artist's career has taken off.

"I used to sell his pieces for $300," he said. "Now they're $850 because I know I'll never get more pieces like these."

Velez thinks he's about broken even by being located downtown instead of in a gallery enclave in Old Colorado City or Manitou Springs.

"When you have visitors who want to go to galleries, you take them to the west side," he said. "But here, there's no competition." Velez is happy with the gallery's mix of art and crafts, but he'd like to expand in different ways: "I would love to have a Mexican food and a nursery together with the gallery," he said.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is Mark Arnest's final story as The Gazette's staff arts writer and critic. (We're hoping we can get him to freelance at some point.) We congratulate him on his new position as communications director for the Colorado Springs Philharmonic. His departure leaves some big shoes to fill here, and we're not going to try. Rather, we're soliciting arts writers and critics from the community. If you're interested, please contact arts and diversions editor Warren Epstein at warren.epstein@gazette.com.

DETAILS
VELEZ GALLERY

Where: 220 N. Tejon St.
Hours: Anniversary celebration 5-9 p.m. Sept. 5; regular 10:30 a.m-6 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays, noon-4 p.m. Sundays
Contact: 630-3710, www.velezgalleries.com