Treasure Trove

Bonnie Gangelhoff; Photos by Michael Garland

An array of Native American art finds a home in Southern California.

THE EAGLE’S FAMILY ROOM FEATURES A TONY ABEYTA PAINTING IN A BUILT-IN DISPLAY CASE AND A POT BY PAHPONEE ON THE TABLE

Mike Eagle still remembers when he and his wife, Juanita, purchased their first piece of Native American art. It was 1980 and they were driving through the Black Hills of South Dakota on their way home to Michigan after a summer vacation in California. They stopped for a break and wandered into a shop where a beautifully carved Hopi doll caught their eye. The Eagles bought the piece for $300, never dreaming that one day their home would be graced with an extensive and stellar collection of Native American art. “We didn’t think about collecting art then,” says Eagle. “We didn’t buy another piece for five years.”

At first, the Hopi dancing figure landed in their daughter Melodie’s doll collection. Today the piece sits on a shelf in the “kachina room” of the couple’s sprawling home in Rancho Santa Fe, just north of San Diego. It is one of the many pieces in a dazzling array of Native American pottery, paintings, kachinas, and sculptures the couple has amassed over the past 28 years since that first serendipitous purchase.

In some ways, a curator would consider the Eagles’ collection “deep” because it is dominated by a handful of artists, such as Pahponee, a Kickapoo potter; Tony Abeyta, a Navajo painter; and Tammy Garcia, a potter and sculptor from Santa Clara Pueblo. But in addition to this talented trio of award-winning artists, the Eagles also have works by about 100 more contemporary Native artists.

“A lot of people collect older pieces, but what we like are pieces by living artists,” Eagle says. “We have watched these artists evolve, get better and better, and try new things. More than once we have teased them that we wished they would stop doing new things.” But the truth is, what appeals to these particular California collectors is artists who are adventuresome, innovative, and open to trying something different.

The Eagles are fond of saying they have been on a journey over the years, educating themselves about Native American art, meeting artists, visiting studios, and attending major shows across the country. But it wasn’t until five years after they purchased their first piece that they were bitten by the collecting bug. Melodie, then in fourth grade, came home from a class trip to Navajo and Hopi reservations bearing a small Santa Clara black pot, which she had purchased for $18. The young girl was thrilled with her find and showed an immediate interest in Native American culture, an interest her parents encouraged.

A BRONZE SCULPTURE BY TAMMY GARCIA AND A PAINTING BY FRANK HOWELL GREET VISITORS IN THE FOYER

To further nurture her passion, the family vacationed in the Southwest the following year, visiting Hopi and Navajo reservations in Arizona and a Zuni reservation in New Mexico. Almost every year since then, the Eagles made a point of traveling to this part of the country as their interests in Native American cultures grew and flourished. In August 1989, they attended the annual Santa Fe Indian Market, which quickly became a family tradition. The Eagles go back every year, though these days friends join in and the group expands to as many as 15 people.

 “The first time you go to Indian Market, it’s almost overwhelming. There are 600 booths and twice that number of artists. All the galleries have openings. It’s mind-boggling,” Eagle says. “But there is also an incredible enthusiasm and energy that makes us to go back.”

In the beginning, the Eagles didn’t know which galleries to visit to find Native works. They gradually discovered Gallery 10 in Santa Fe, which is now closed. In more recent years, they have found many pieces at Blue Rain Gallery, also in Santa Fe. Their daughter, now grown, and her husband also collect Native American art and enthusiastically join in the trips to Santa Fe.

Over the course of his career, Eagle, a semi-retired executive in the auto, medical, and pharmaceutical industries, moved the family to Detroit, Atlanta, San Jose, and Indianapolis. In Indianapolis, he sat on the board of the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, where he served for 12 years. When he joined the board, he and his wife had been collecting Native American art for a decade. But, he says, they still had much to learn. In addition to gaining an understanding about how shows are curated and how art is preserved, they also learned the meaning of “museum-quality work.” “The museum gets a lot of opportunities to collect works, but not all of the art is worthy of being displayed in a museum,” Eagle says.

Working with the Eiteljorg, says Eagle, showed them the best of the best, and it gave the couple an understanding and appreciation of what represents periods in an artist’s career and how pieces can tell a story about the artist over the years. “It gave us a deeper understanding of what the art meant. And it helped us gain an appreciation for the finer works of art,” he explains.

In 2001, when the couple started to plan for retirement, they decided to return to their roots in Southern California and build a home in San Diego County. From the start, they agreed that the most important element of their new house would be displaying their art collection. Fortunately, Eagle points out, their interest in collecting Native American art had coincided with his success in the business world, enabling them to acquire quite a number of pieces. 

In 2004, the couple broke ground on the new residence, which sits 300 feet above sea level and faces west with views of the Pacific Ocean. The Eagles turned to San Diego-based architect William Currier and designer Regina Kurtz to create custom niches and shelving that would show kachinas and paintings to their best advantage.

High ceilings, ranging from 10 to 24 feet, were designed for viewing their many large-scale paintings. Likewise, there is a hallway—more like a gallery, really—that is 10 feet wide, giving viewers plenty of room to stand back to see one of Eagle’s favorite pieces, a large-scale Abeyta painting titled MOTHER EARTH, FATHER SKY AND MOON. “It’s classic Abeyta with lots of sand and thick coats of paint to create depth,” Eagle says.

It comes as no surprise that the furniture, floors, and walls in the house are neutral, earth-tone shades that set off the colorful artwork. Beige carpets and floors of vanilla-colored marble show off the beautiful patterns and colors of Native American rugs. “It’s thrilling when it finally all comes together and looks like a home,” Eagle says.

But the couple was reminded how quickly their dreams and a lifetime of collecting could vanish when wildfires swept through Southern California just three weeks after they moved into their new home. The fire came within three miles of their house; they had to evacuate. “We didn’t know if we were packing for 48 hours or the rest of our lives,” Eagle says. Juanita recalls asking her husband, “What are we going to do about the art?” But they couldn’t take it with them. “It was very scary to think that it could all be gone when we got back,” Juanita adds.             

They grabbed family photo albums and some clothes and drove to their daughter’s home in Temecula. Fortunately, the fire stopped short of consuming their priceless collection.

Today, the Eagles continue on their collecting journey. This past March they purchased a glass bowl—a collaborative piece created by Tammy Garcia and Northwest Coast artist Preston Singletary. At press time the Eagles were headed to Indianapolis to attend the Eiteljorg’s annual Indian Market and Festival. And when asked if they plan on attending the Santa Fe Indian Market this August, Mike Eagle replies, “Of course. It will be news when we don’t go.”   

Bonnie Gangelhoff is the senior editor at Southwest Art.