Naperville resident Janet Smith-Peterson is celebrating 40 years of selling Native American art as the owner of The Sundance Gallery.
“My official mission statement is preserve the culture, promote the artists. So ‘preserve and promote’ is really the foundation of what I do. I sell only authentic Native American art,” said Smith-Peterson.
Smith-Peterson falls in love with Native American culture
Smith-Peterson’s interest in Native American culture was first sparked by her uncle, who shared stories of Indian lore, and by her mother’s turquoise jewelry. During a visit to her older brother in college in Tuscon, Arizona, she was exposed to the culture and quickly fell in love.
“The colors, the sounds, the clothing, just everything about the Southwest and the West. I just knew on that trip that somehow, someway, someday, I was going to work with Native American people,” said Smith-Peterson.
In 1984 she fulfilled this dream by becoming owner of a Native American art and jewelry store in Saint Charles.
“My first official buying trip to the Southwest was in that following February of 1985. That moved the needle forward pretty dramatically because I was out on the reservation, driving the back roads, meeting artists, and just found such grace in the way I was treated,” said Smith-Peterson.
Meeting Native American artists
One of the first and most memorable artists that she met was Allison Lee, a Navajo jeweler.
“He taught me so much about Navajo jewelry and just really took me under his wing and I found that to be true across the board in my travels with artists that I met,” said Smith-Peterson.
Over the years, her bond with Lee grew, even extending to his children. One of Lee’s sons, Wyatt Lee-Anderson, eventually became an artist himself and continues to have a friendship with Smith-Peterson.
“I can see why a lot of artists consider her a really trustworthy person. All the art they know that comes from her comes from artists that love what they’re doing and have families, and she supports that. We really like that about her,” said Lee-Anderson.
Moving her storefront to Naperville, rebranding as The Sundance Gallery
Throughout the years, Smith-Peterson’s business continued to grow, and in 1996, she moved her storefront to Naperville, where she stayed until 2009.
In 2010, she rebranded as The Sundance Gallery and moved to a few other cities before closing her final shop in Geneva in 2022. Today, The Sundance Gallery operates out of her home.
“People come by appointment all the time and then maybe once a month, I’ll have just a small little gathering opening when I get new collections and then once a year I do something big,” said Smith-Peterson.
Her collection is also available on The Sundance Gallery website.
Being able to continue to promote her passion, Smith-Peterson says, is a true gift.
“My life has been given a lot of meaning just from the exposure that I’ve had. Sitting at 40 years and looking back, it feels like it was yesterday,” said Smith-Peterson.
Photo courtesy: Janet Smith-Peterson
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