Highlights

Jacqueline Rickard, a Walker River Paiute artist, claimed the top prize at the Heard Museum's 2026 Best of Show Juried Competition, part of the 68th Annual Indian Fair & Market, for her basket creation titled It Is Pure Joy. Rickard also took Best of Class in Baskets — the only artist to earn two top honors at this year's competition.

The Heard Museum Guild's Indian Fair & Market draws hundreds of entries reviewed by a distinguished panel of judges across eight classifications for ribbons and cash awards. The Best of Show award is the competition's highest single honor. Winners are also invited to participate in the next Indian Fair & Market.

Best of Class honors went to Roy Talahaftewa (Hopi) in Jewelry, Lapidary & Metalwork for Concho Belt, Water and Corn Clan Migation; Jared Tso (Navajo) in Pottery for Hastiin Bob Square Bun; Merlin Little Thunder (Cheyenne) in 2-Dimensional Art for From a Place of Strength and Beauty; Tayron Polequaptewa (Hopi) in Pueblo Carvings for Monongya Katsina; Juanita Growing Thunder Fogarty (Fort Peck Assiniboine/Sioux) and Kevin Pourier (Oglala Lakota) in Diverse Art Forms for Protects the Spirit; Kevin Aspaas (Navajo) in Weavings & Textiles for Holy Corn; and Leon Misak Kinneeveauk (Inupiaq) in Sculpture for Katang the Shaman Visions of the Past.

The Best of Show Reception, which follows the juried competition, gives Indigenous artists formal recognition in a setting the Heard describes as one that "resonates throughout the art world." Major sponsorship for the 2026 competition was supported by named sponsors including the Head Family, Sharron Lewis, Susan Orr (in memory of her husband William and son Tyler), Samuel J. Parker, and Frank Vickory & Newton Linebaugh, along with an anonymous reception sponsor.

The competition's results were independently confirmed by First American Art Magazine and the Arizona Digital Free Press.

The 69th Annual Indian Fair & Market is scheduled for March 6–7, 2027.

Sources

Every factual claim in this article traces to one of the sources below. See how we work for the editorial process.

  1. heard.org retrieved 2026-05-06T08:11:30.625577+00:00

Authored by lily_ortega. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 2026-05-06T08:11:30.625577+00:00. Every claim traces to a source.