Southern Exposure Celebrates 20th Anniversary on June 21st and 22nd with Four Native American Artists
My friends, Lu and les Lupovich are celebrating their Southern Exposure stores, they have been in business now for 20 years. I always love hearing about how businesses and morphed and changed and hung on for decades, it is a daunting task to do that.
Twenty years ago last Fall, Lu and Les were on vacation in Moab, Utah; the pristine setting for Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. They had shared a common interest in Native American culture and Native American art for quite some time and their annual vacation generally meant a trip to somewhere in the Southwest. This interest, and the desire to bring some of the culture and art to New England spawned the idea of their first Southern Exposure store which opened in Olde Mistick Village in 1994. In the summer of 2005, they opened a second location on the shoreline now in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.
Their two Southern Exposure stores feature Native American Jewelry, Pottery, Rugs, Unique Home Décor, Fun Fashion Clothing, Cowboy Boots and Leather Goods.
Lu and Les love exchanging the culture and knowledge that comes when they host native artists in their stores several times a year for demonstrations of their craft. When artists come to Southern Exposure, they stay with them in their home.
As part of their 20th Anniversary Celebration on June 21st and 22nd in their Mystic location, Southern Exposure will host four Northeastern Native American artists showcasing their individual art forms. Narrangansett artist Allen Hazard and Pequot artist Joshua Carter will feature their Wampum Jewelry; Mohegan artist R.J. Russell will have his Gourd Art; and Abenaki noted author and artist Dale Carson will join us with her Leather Crafts and Jewelry.
Lu and Les have invited Native artists from the Northeast for this celebration – to be particularly grateful for the people of New England who have embraced what they do in their stores and focus on exceptional Native work done here in the Northeast. The artists will be present and exhibiting their work on the porch at Southern Exposure’s Mystic, CT shop – not so different than Native Artists on the plaza in Santa Fe, New Mexico who set up tables and blankets regularly to offer their handmade work for sale.
There will also be a “trunk show” inside the Mystic Southern Exposure location for the 20th Anniversary celebration weekend. Trading posts in the West that Lu and Les buy from are sending them boxes of special goods for the weekend including Native American Jewelry (new and old, Zuni Fetishes and other Native artwork.
The 20th Anniversary Celebrations at Southern Exposure is free and open to the public. The celebration will be at their Olde Mistick Village location on Saturday and Sunday June 21st and 22nd from 10 am to 6 pm with artists present from 11 am to 5 pm.
For more information contact Southern Exposure at (860) 572 1007, (860) 399 4445 or via email at info@shopsouthernexposure.com.