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Showing posts with label Navajo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Navajo. Show all posts

Sad News - Navajo Code Talker Passes


We received news that Navajo Code Talker Jerry C. Begay Sr. died Memorial Day, May 26, 2008. Begay was 83.

As a Code Talker, Begay was among the approximately 400 men who served with the US Marine Corps in the Pacific during World War II. Begay served in the 2nd Marine Division, 297th Platoon.

He received both a Purple Heart and a Congressional Silver Medal of Honor.
Navajo Code Talkers on Parade as
carved by Navajo Folk Artist, Renzo Reed
Code Talkers were employed by the US combat forces to communicate with one another via the radio in the heat of battle. By speaking their native Navajo language, they befuddled the Japanese who were listening into radio transmissions with the intention of breaking the American's code.

Post war comments from captured Japanese radiooperators indicated that the ploy was successful.

We salute the service of Jerry C. Begay Sr and all other patriotic American Navajo Code Talkers who were instrumental in our winning in the Pacific Theater.

Thank you, Jerry. Thank you all.

Native Treasures Indian Arts Festival - THIS WEEKEND

Just the other day we blogged about the Zuni Arts & Culture Festival at the Museum of Northern Arizona this weekend.

Now we want anyone who is closer to Santa Fe than to Flagstaff to know about the Native Treasures Indian Arts Festival at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture on Museum Hill.

This show is a treasure in itself, displaying work by some of Native America's most popular and respected Indian artisans. The list of those scheduled to appear boggles the expectations.

A short list of those we know and represent includes:

Caroline Carpio, Isleta potter and bronzecaster
Randall Chitto, Choctaw potter and bronzecaster
Preston & Deborah Duwyenie, Hopi and Santa Clara potters
Michael Kanteena, Laguna potter
Pam Lujan-Hauer, Taos potter
Samuel Manymules, Navajo Dine potter)
Pahponee, Kickapoo/Potawatami potter
Wayne Snowbird, Santa Clara potter
Tommy Jackson, Navajo Dine jewelrymaker
Marvin Slim, Navajo Dine jewelrymaker
Jayne Quam, Navajo Dine carver
Kateri Sanchez Quandelacy, Zuni carver
Talia Quandelacy, Laguna/Zuni carver
Ira Lujan, Taos glassblower

There are many others. Links indicated with the individual names will take you to examples of the artists' works on our web sites.

This show will benefit Santa Fe's Museum of Indian Arts & Culture. Hours are Friday night at 6 pm with a special pre-sale gala. Saturday from 9 am for those with Early Bird tickets, from 10 am to 4 pm for general admission. Sunday from 10 am to 3 pm with free admission.

For more information, visit the Native Treasures web site by clicking here.

Virginia Dooley, 1943-2008: Taos figure was aide to tribal artist, R. C. Gorman

Dooley, R.C. Gorman worked together for three decades

4/29/2008 - 4/30/08

Taos artist R.C. Gorman had two strong women in his artistic life: Virginia Dooley and Rose Roybal.

Dooley died Friday in Taos, New Mexico, a town that Gorman worked in (and from) for most of his career.

The three were a formidable art force in Taos, and in all of Native American Indian art, while operating Gorman's Navajo Gallery. Roybal died in 2002. She was Gorman's official housekeeper and cook, while Dooley was his protector, publicist, and promoter. It was said that no one could get close to Gorman without first being cleared by Dooley.

Gorman died in December 2005.

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As long-time admirer's of the work of R. C. Gorman, we mourn the tribal art world's loss of a significant art and creative force with the passing of Virginia Dooley.

William & Susanne Waites, Aboriginals: Art of the First Person

Cheyenne Jim Storyteller on its way

Most artists have a certain style that, while occasionally varied, tends to identify their work beyond doubt. Among Native American potters, the stylistic differentiators show up in the choice of material, subject matter and design. For no artist is this more true than for Diane Lynn, a Navajo who works under the name, "Cheyenne Jim".

We have long been fans of Cheyenne Jim's work, which often is large and dominates any art setting. Until recently we had four in our collection. This month, this one began its journey to a new home.

Cheyenne Jim Navajo storyteller finds a new owner

For a little background, Cheyenne Jim is a Navajo, despite her name, who was raised on the Navajo Nation reservation following her birth in 1957. With a rich Navajo cultural tradition, reportedly going back to her childhood, when she is said to have been deeply impressed by a Yei Be Chei ceremony she attended with her Grandmother, a Navajo medicine woman.



Some say Cheyenne Jim's work is so distinctive that it does not reflect Native American influences. We disagree. We find her choice of clay (often mica), her choice of subject matter (variations on the storyteller tradition) and her style of representation to be quintessentially Native American.

Her years as an art student at Bacone College in Muskogee, OK, appear to have influenced her artistic perspectives without seriously changing her original Navajo artistic sensibilities.

As these other Cheyenne Jim creations in our collection demonstrate, she has a style that is both very easy to empathize with and very distinctly hers.

For more information about Cheyenne Jim, we refer you to the following links.

http://www.material-insight.com/IndianArt/PeoplePhotos/JimCheyenne.htm

http://www.collectorsguide.com

We also invite you to view the many other storytellers available at Native-PotteryLink.com.
Navigate tot he Storyteller pages.

In Search of Sammy Smith, Navajo carver

It started before we traveled to Santa Fe this year.

A customer told us that she had seen a carving by Sammy Smith that she was interested in buying but it had already been sold by the store where she was shopping.

We were slightly acquainted with Sammy’s work but it was the result of the rare carving of his that we picked up through trusted third-party wholesalers.

Based on her request, we set out to find Sammy Smith, introduce ourselves personally and purchase a carving similar to the one the customer was looking for.
We finally found Sammy (pictured here) in Gallup, New Mexico, at small workshop on Route 66. (The legendary Route 66, where millions have gotten "their kicks", runs through the heart of Gallup.)

We walked into a veritable feast of carvings, each one more fascinating than the last. Once we started, we put aside dozens of carvings. We were particularly struck by his horses.

We have several collectors who are horse lovers. A few of them asked us to look for horse carvings that they could add to their collections. Sammy Smith gave us a big head start.

Here are a few examples of Sammy Smith’s wonderful carvings:

We start with Sammy Smith's statuesque Picasso marble horse.

Not a horse, but how clever is this pipestone donkey by Sammy Smith?

Rainbow calsilica forms a Sammy Smith owl with incredible "camouflage".

Sammy Smith is a stand-up guy when it comes to this Picasso marble turtle.

Sammy Smith had a little lamb. Its fleece was white as marble.
These and other carvings by Sammy Smith can be found in more variation and with complete details about size and price at

http://www.zunilink.com/Sammy-Smith-Navajo-Fetish-Carvings.htm

When you visit, be sure to click through to Sammy's second and third pages as well.

Speaking of Native tongues – Wisconsin Oneidas create a language Web site.

According to the US Census of 2000, just 553 individuals speak the Oneida language, with 429 of them living in Wisconsin.

In an effort to perpetuate what would otherwise be a dying language, the University of Wisconsin at Green bay has created a web site, in collaboration with a tribal elder from Oneida, to promote and sustain the language of the Oneida. Professor Clifford Abbot and 96-year-old Maria Hinton are using the Web site to transform a printed dictionary of this oral language into an online database, including sound samples.

The Oneida language is part of the Iroquoian family of languages and related more distantly to Cherokee.

According to Abbot and Hinton, approximately 4,000 words, with about 900 sounds, have been placed on the Web site.

Oneida reservations are located in New York and Ontario, Canada, in addition to Wisconsin.

This news brief about Native American culture is brought to you by Aboriginals Gallery, a suite of online Web sites that offer authentic, guaranteed Native American and other tribal art from the Navajo, Zuni, Hopi and Arctic peoples.