BOARD MEMBERS

  • As a dealer, I’m very proud to offer interesting, carefully vetted, objects at a fair price with a 30-day money-back guarantee. After more than 40 years in the world of Tribal Art – mainly as a collector – I have assembled what may be one of the most important and largest collections of Polynesian Art in private hands. During this time, I have logged countless miles around the planet, gaining expertise through visits with collectors, dealers, academics, museums, and auction houses worldwide.

    I have been very fortunate to build a strong knowledge base through being mentored by many experts who all became personal friends. Among them, Terence Barrow, Adrienne Kaeppler, David Simmons, Thor Heyerdahl, Edmund Carpenter, Bengt Danielsson, Alan Wardwell, Maui Pomare, Roger Neich, and Bill Holm stand out, among many others. It’s been my great pleasure to know numerous legendary dealers and private collectors, like Ralph Nash, Alan Mann, Mert Simpson, John Hewett, George Ortiz, Freida and Milton Rosenthal, Saul Stannhoff, and Samuel Josefowitz. As an appraiser, I have been contracted by several prominent museums and art institutions, including the Bishop Museum, Honolulu Art Museum, Mission House Museum, Metropolitan Museum, and LACMA. I have also consulted with and built important collections for, serious collectors and museums worldwide.

    The tribal art scene is rife with misleading information and can be difficult to navigate. In my 40 years of collecting and selling objects, I have found the tribal art market can be as difficult as the rug trade where I also spent 40 years. The market is notorious for "tin eyes", an abundance of fakes, and a glut of unreliable information. By calling this out, it is not my intention to turn people away from the joy of collecting. Rather, I hope to offer a word of caution to those interested in learning about the fascinating cultures that have produced so many wonderful works of art. 

  • A native New Mexican, I was born in Chimayo in 1946.  I attended grade school and high school in Albuquerque and graduated in 1969 from the University of New Mexico with a degree in business finance and economics.  I work for the First National Bank in Albuquerque for four years before I went into business for myself. It has been 51 years of selling Native American and New Mexican arts and crafts. This path has directed me to many related opportunities in which I have had the honor to be involved.  

I began my Board career with the inception of the Authentic Tribal Art Dealers Association in 1988.  My involvement has been as President a few times, the head of the legal committee and the only treasurer ATADA has ever had except for one year.  In 1990, I traveled to Washington DC, and was involved with the NAGPRA process.  We were able to offer crucial alternative language which the Senate and Ways and Means Committee mostly accepted.  More recently, I have appeared before Congress offering substitute language on the STOP legislation.

I have sat on the boards of the Maxwell Museum and recently the Spanish Colonial Art Museum.  Presently, I sit on the Global Heritage Alliance, ATADA, and the ATADA Foundation boards.  

I have organized and sponsored many events such as Collecting and the Law, Kachinas-Fakes and Reproduction, Historic Cochiti Figures, Archaeology Laws as Used by the FBI, Art Theft Symposium, Legal and Ethical Implications of Collecting, and others.  I have judged at both SWAIA and Spanish Market several times.
I helped write and published two books, one on my pottery collection and one on my earring collection.  I have given many lectures on many subjects, my favorite being on fakes and reproductions.

All in all, it has been a very rewarding journey!

Bob

  • Owner and President of Kemo Sabe.  

    20 years of experience in the Retail Industry.  Responsible for Sales, Buying, Product Design, Customer Retention, Budgeting, and Growth Planning. Oversees Marketing, Social Media, Roadhouse, Operations, Inventory Management, Sales Management, and New Store Build Outs.

    Since the acquisition of the company in February 2020, the growth of Kemo Sabe has increased by 145%. We have acquired an American-made Boot Company, opened locations in Jackson Hole, WY, and Park City, UT, and launched Roadhouse.  Other store locations include Aspen, Vail, and Las Vegas.  

    Have experience in philanthropy.  Worked at the Cleveland Zoological Society, responsible for Annual Fund and many fundraising events.

  • Will Hughes is the former CEO and General Counsel of a Los Angeles-based food industry group. He remains an active member of the California Bar, limiting his practice to pro bono work with arts organizations.

    He received his undergraduate education at Stanford University and his legal education at Hastings College of the Law and the London School of Economics and Political Science.

    Will has been actively involved in the arts throughout his career. He is a past Chairperson of the Ethnic Arts Council of Los Angeles and the Asian Art Society of Hawaii as well as a former member of the Board of Trustees of the Southwest Museum. He is currently the President of the Authentic Tribal Art Dealers Association and a member of the Board of Directors of the Committee for Cultural Policy.

  • For over four and a half decades, Kim Martindale has produced some of the country's most prestigious and successful art shows. He was immersed in the art world from an early age and has brought his professionalism and enthusiasm to all areas of his work: appraising, advising, buying, selling, and gallery management, along with art show development, promotion, and management.

    When Martindale was only 16 years old, he helped coordinate and implement the original and influential Santa Fe Antique American Indian Art Show (Whitehawk). After graduating from high school in 1979, his specific areas of interest led to intensive studies at various University of California campuses as well as universities in Iowa, Japan, and Taiwan. At the same time, he continued his education by getting hands-on experience working for Sotheby’s Los Angeles and Hong Kong.

    His passions led to a succession of groundbreaking shows in Santa Fe, New Mexico that he co-produced: Ethnographic Art Show, Winter Antiquities Show, the Summer Antiquities Show, and the Old West Show. Martindale’s credits also include the Tribal Art Show, held in association with the Denver Art Museum, the Scottsdale Antiques and Fine Art Show, and ARTscottsdale, both in association with the Phoenix Art Museum and Art and Antiques Magazine. In California, he produced the Santa Monica Indian Art Show, as well as the San Francisco show, Ethnic Visions.

    His professional memberships include the Authentic Tribal Arts Dealers Association, of which he is a founding and current Board member, and the Professional Show Managers Association (PSMA), where he was a Board member.