After being widowed, Struever began collecting and dealing in American Indian art. In 1970 she visited San Ildefonso Pueblo and purchased her first piece, a "gun metal sheen" pottery plate by Maria Montoya Martinez and her son Popovi Da. In 1976, she established the Indian Tree Gallery in Chicago, Illinois featuring historic and contemporary American Indian jewelry, pottery, Kachina dolls, weavings, and paintings. In order to bring the best Southwestern Indian artists to her Chicago gallery, she visited the Pueblo and Navajo reservations to begin what were to become lifelong relationships with such prominent artists such as Charles Loloma, the foremost American Indian jeweler, and Dextra Quotskuyva, the pre-eminent contemporary Hopi potter. Martha helped many Indian artists gain exposure outside of Southwestern markets by sponsoring shows for them in Chicago. Martha hosted Maria Martinez at her Chicago gallery in 1977 - and arranged a special reception at the Chicago Art Institute for the then 90-year-old potter. In addition to prominent artists, a primary focus of Martha's career has been the identification and encouragement of talented new Indian potters and jewelers. Martha sponsored the first exhibitions of now-notable jewelers Gail Bird and Yazzie Johnson, Richard Chavez, Norbert Peshlaki, and Perry Shorty, as well as potters Dextra Quotskuyva, Steve Lucas and Les Namingha. On November 12, 1988, Struever married noted archaeologist Stuart M. Struever and relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico. By 2006, she was recognized as the "grande dame" of American Indian art dealers, and received the first Lifetime Achievement Award from the Antique Tribal Art Dealers Association "for contributions to the understanding and preservation of tribal art". Over the past thirty years, Struever conducted over sixty traveling art and archaeology seminars throughout Navajo and Pueblo lands. Her seminars were enriched by her relationships with the many Indian artists whose careers she has encouraged. Struever's philanthropic work included overseeing nine Indian Art Shows in Chicago, Washington, DC, and Denver, bringing 25 artists to each event, for the benefit of the nonprofit Crow Canyon Archaeological Center. Crow Canyon was founded by her husband, Stuart Struever. She had two sons. She died on September 24, 2017. The Martha Struever Indian Art Collection is now hosted by the Turquoise and Tufa Gallery in Sante Fe, New Mexico.
Publications and scholarly work
Struever published reference works, authoring the two books "Loloma: Beauty Is His Name" and "Painted Perfection: The Pottery of Dextra Quotskuyva", as well as museum catalogues entitled "Nampeyo: A Gift Remembered", "Hopi Art: A Century of Continuity and Change", and "Legends of Pueblo Pottery". She has guest curated museum exhibitions in several cities. As Struever's scholarly reputation has grown, she has become recognized as one of the foremost experts on the pottery of Nampeyo, the jewelry of Loloma and the works of other significant Southwestern Indian artists.
