Buyer beware when shopping Native crafts

Boozhoo ("hello" in Ojibwe) and miigwech ("thank you") for reading the First Nations Wisconsin newsletter.

A recent indictment of a Florida man allegedly pretending to be Native American and selling his hand-crafted jewelry as such at a festival in northern Wisconsin should remind customers to ask questions if they have doubts about an item's authenticity.

Selling jewelry and other crafts is an important livelihood for many Native artists, who may depend on the income from their booths at festivals and other events.

“There is harm in falsely presenting something as authentic Native American-made art when it is not,” said Karen Ann Hoffman, a renowned Oneida beadwork artist from Wisconsin. “In addition to being a violation of federal law (the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990), it's fraud and theft perpetrated on both the buyer and the authentic Native American artist who should have had the sale.”

She said one way to verify the piece is authentic is to ask questions of the artist, shop owner or venue organizers.

“I have never met an authentic artist who was offended by a customer, patron or gallery who said, ‘I want to support authentic Native American art and artists. Can you provide verification that you’re in compliance with the Indian Arts and Crafts Act?'” Hoffman said. “Or, even something as simple as, ‘I want to be sure I’m buying from an authentic source. Do you have your tribal ID available?’”

Jose Farinango Muenala of Florida was caught after selling his misrepresented jewelry at the Loon Day Festival in Mercer, but investigators said he had been selling the jewelry around the country since 2015.

He faces five years in prison for allegedly selling the misrepresented jewelry and another 20 years for mail and wire fraud connected with the alleged scheme.

Hoffman said that, although the federal law applies to falsely presenting artwork as Indian-made, she's advocating that the law expands to the written word, theatre arts, academic positions, scholarship applications and other arts produced by Indigenous people and benefits that are meant for them.

“As for the artist, bread is literally taken out of their mouths and out of the mouths of their families,” she said.

Customers might also feel safer buying authentic Native crafts at one of the dozens of tribally sanctioned events, festivals and powwows every year in Wisconsin.

Brick-and-mortar shops owned by tribal members are also a good choice for authentic crafts, such as Turtle Island in Oneida, War Bonnet in Shawano and Chief Oshkosh in Door County.

But these events and shops may also sell commercial products with tribal designs, but are mass-produced in China, so it’s always important to ask questions.

The Department of Interior website has more information about the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, as well as tips for customers.

If you like this newsletter, please invite a friend to subscribe to it . And if you have tips or suggestions for this newsletter, please email me at fvaisvilas@gannett.com .

About me

I'm Frank Vaisvilas, the Indigenous affairs reporter for USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel . I cover Native American issues in Wisconsin. You can reach me at 815-260-2262 or fvaisvilas@gannett.com , or on Twitter at @vaisvilas_frank .

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Buyer beware when shopping Native crafts