We found Earl Plummer listed in our reference books but did not find a listing for Wayton Plummer.  Perhaps Wayton is a relative of Earls and lives in the vicinity of Thoreau, New Mexico.  From the workmanship on this bracelet, I would not assume that Wayton is a beginning silversmith as it is well beyond what a beginner could accomplish.

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Abel Sanchez (1899-1971) Oqwa Pi - Kachina Stick was known as Oqwa Pi in the Tewa language.  He was the grandfather of San Ildefonso potter Russell Sanchez. Except for what little instruction he received at the Santa Fe Indian School, he had no formal training.  He was accepted as an exceptional artist and was able to raise and support a large family with his art alone. 

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Santana Roybal, sister of Alfonso Roybal (Awa Tsireh), was 9 years old when she attended the San Ildefonso Day School in the year 1900.  She studied under Esther Hoyt during Hoyt's first year of teaching at the pueblo.  Santana was one of just six students in the class that first year.  She and Tonita Peña were the only two girls.  Hoyt provided her students with watercolor paints and paper and let them paint pictures of pueblo items and functions.  This was against the government's policy of assimilating the pueblo people and divorcing them from their native ways and religion.  Hoyt apparently ignored that policy.  She continued as the teacher until 1907.

Santana eventually married Adam Martinez, oldest son of Marie and Julian Martinez. In doing so, she was destined to become a potter, which she did.  Early in her life and occasionally later in life, Santana made paintings as a relief from the tedious process of pottery making.

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Tonita Peña was born at San Ildefonso Pueblo.  At twelve years old, following the death of her mother, she was sent by her father to live with an aunt at Cochiti Pueblo. She spent the remainder of her life there.  Despite living at Cochiti Pueblo, she was and is still considered an artist from San Ildefonso Pueblo.  She was the only female in the group of talented early pueblo artists referred to as The San Ildefonso Self-Taught Group, which included such noted artists as Julian Martinez, Alfonso Roybal, Abel Sanchez, Crecencio Martinez, and Encarnación Peña. The men accepted her as an equal.

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There are 53 figures in this painting, a monumental effort for a young artist of about 20 years old.  It attests to the extraordinary talent of Alfonso Roybal (1898-1955) Awa Tsireh and his mastery of the watercolor medium.  It is a typically two-dimensional painting but imparts a three-dimensional display.  There is no ground plane, plants or elements in the sky, typical of all early pueblo paintings.

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Priscilla Namingha Nampeyo (1924-2008) was one of the finest of the Nampeyo family members of pottery fame.  She made some magnificent very large jars and she created new designs or modified traditional designs to her tastes.  She was a third-generation descendant of Nampeyo of Hano. Her mother was Rachel Namingha Nampeyo and her grandmother was Annie Healing Nampeyo. She continued using the Sikyatki revival designs taught to her by Nampeyo of Hano. She was an outstanding potter and her designs were always beautifully executed.

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Coral was introduced to the Southwest by the Spaniards but was not used extensively until the late 1930s, when traders imported it to Zuni Pueblo. Most coral used in the Southwest came from the Mediterranean. Both Pueblo and Navajo artisans have worked with coral. This necklace is most likely of Navajo origin because of its style.

Coral reefs are under stress around the world. Coral mining, agricultural and urban runoff, pollution, overfishing, blast fishing, disease, and digging of canals and access into islands and bays are localized threats to coral ecosystems. Broader threats are sea temperature rise, sea level rise and pH changes from ocean acidification, all associated with greenhouse gas emissions. In 1998, 16% of the world's reefs died as a result of increased water temperature. General estimates show approximately 10% of the world's coral reefs are dead and about 60% of the world's reefs are at risk due to human-related activities. The threat to reef health is particularly strong in Southeast Asia, where 80% of reefs are endangered. Over 50% of the world's coral reefs may be destroyed by 2030; as a result, most nations protect them through environmental laws.  Many governments now prohibit removal of coral from reefs.

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Turquoise has been described as the Sky Stone and it is obvious why when viewing the beautiful blue of the turquoise in this ring.  It is New Mexico sky blue.  The construction of the ring's foundation was executed with precision.  The shaft is solid at the base and splits into four branches at the top where it supports the floral arrangement of the turquoise.

This Sterling Silver and Turquoise Floral Design Ring was made by a master Navajo craftsman who took time to make the best possible.

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Tonita Peña was the only woman in the group of talented early pueblo artists referred to as The San Ildefonso Self-Taught Group, which included such noted artists as Julian Martinez, Alfonso Roybal, Abel Sanchez, Crecencio Martinez, and Encarnación Peña.  The men accepted her as an equal.

Like her peers, she did not use a ground plane or perspective but managed to give the illusion of depth by avoiding, whenever possible, straight lines of figures.  In her dance groups, her individual figures give the appearance of being alive and moving, rather than being fixed in time or motionless as other artists of her time painted.

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Julián Martinez (1885-1943) Pocano - Coming of the Spirits is most often associated with his wife, Maria Martinez, as the painter of her ceramics from the early 1900s until his death in 1943. He did, however, execute paintings on paper as well. He was one of the very early San Ildefonso self-taught easel artists. His watercolor paintings were a minor activity as compared to his brilliant achievements as the decorator of Maria's pottery. He was painting watercolors before 1920 and continued as time permitted until his death.

This is one of Julian's early paintings, probably from 1930.  It once hung in room 1210 of Santa Fe's La Fonda Hotel.  It is still in the frame in which it was at that time.  Sometime, in the 1960s, the La Fonda underwent renovations and all the original Native paintings from the rooms were sold. 

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Alfonso Roybal (1898-1955) Awa Tsireh, the oldest of the early group of pueblo painters, was painting before 1917 while he was still a teenager. His formal education had not extended beyond primary grades. He was versatile in his styles of painting in that he was equally comfortable with representational or semi-realistic.  Most of his work is in the Santa Fe Indian School two-dimensional style, particularly his early work. 

This San Ildefonso Pueblo Mixed Animal Dance painting of eight animal dancers is typical of the early works of Awa Tsireh, particularly those that were made in the 1920s.  It is signed in lower right Awa Tsireh.  It is watercolor on paper, and is framed with archival materials.

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Many of Julian Martinez's paintings feature pueblo dancers, dance scenes, or animals, but this one documents a teaching experience.  A father is teaching his son the ways of war or the way to be a warrior.  Both father and son are on horseback, riding bareback, with proper warrior head bonnets, spears, and clothing.  The younger one is on the left with his spear raised.  The young man's face expresses fear or anger and the father's face expresses calm. 

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The Eagle Dance is performed in early spring and repeated from time to time during the summer. The eagle is believed to have direct intercourse with sky powers and is venerated by the Pueblo Indians. The Pueblo Eagle Dance is a dramatization of the relationship between the eagle, man, and supernatural forces. During the dance, two young men who are costumed as eagles imitate the movements of actual eagles. They replicate eagles soaring over the fields, perching on high places, and resting on the ground.

Abel Sanchez (1899-1971) Oqwa Pi - Kachina Stick has provided us with a good interpretation of two young men performing the Eagle Dance, accompanied by two drummers.  In the background we see a kiva with houses nearby.

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Most pueblo artist's paintings, especially the early students of The Studio of the Santa Fe Indian School, dwell on ceremonial items or individual dancers.  That is what Esther Hoyt, the San Ildefonso Day School teacher from 1900 to 1907 encouraged them to do.  It is also what Dorothy Dunn, the teacher at The Studio, encouraged of her students in the 1930s.

Awa Tsireh has provided a refreshing image of a daily ritual-a young man herding his goats along.  In typical fashion of The Studio style of presentation, there is no ground plane, no plants, and nothing in the sky.  All we see are goats and the herder.

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On Friday, March 3, 2017, Adobe Gallery's "A Century of San Ildefonso Painters: 1900-1999" opens with a reception at 221 Canyon Road from 5-7 pm.  The show, which will continue through the end of April, will feature over 50 paintings from a wide variety of artists from San Ildefonso Pueblo.

A large portion of these paintings come from the Charlotte Greenleaf Mittler Collection, which was displayed in a successful and well-regarded 2009 exhibit at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian.  The exhibit at Adobe Gallery will be a must-see for anyone who is interested in Pueblo Indian art, as it will provide a comprehensive look at the works of the first Pueblo painters and the evolution of the style they created.

Joseph Lonewolf started a career as a mechanic and then became a trained machinist, making precision parts with fine engraving.  It was this skill that he used to transfer his talent from mechanical objects to precision-carved pottery.  In 1971, Lonewolf returned to Santa Clara Pueblo and put his skills to making pottery as had been taught to him by his mother, Agapita Silva Tafoya.  His father, Camilio Tafoya, had taken him as a child into the mountains where he witnessed petroglyphs carved into caves and on walls of cliffs.  Lonewolf took the lessons of his mother and field trips with his father and combined the two to arrive at intricately-carved designs on pottery. 

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The Fred Harvey Company built hotels along the rail line from the mid-West to the California coast from the late 1800s when trains were traveling daily from Kansas to California and return.  In many of these hotels, particularly at the Alvarado Hotel in Albuquerque, the Company had gift shops featuring arts and crafts of Native American tribes.  Jewelry made by native craftsmen were particularly popular with train travelers.  Jewelry with silver and turquoise was not known outside the Southwest so it made a particularly unique souvenir to take back home. 

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This magnificent blue turquoise cab has a fracture across the center at the point where there is a dark spot.  The stone, however, is securely anchored in the silver bezel. The turquoise sits atop layers of silver.  The lowest layer is the widest and is scored around its edges with lines.  The next upper layer is a smooth silver pedestal.  The upper layer is the turquoise cab in its bezel. Each layer is smaller than the preceding one, making a pyramidal shape.  The silver band is divided into three branches at the base of the Pyramidal Stacked Silver and Turquoise Navajo Ring.

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This Sterling Silver and Coral Band Style Ring has seven beautiful blood red coral cabs mounted in serrated silver bezels attached to a ¼" wide silver band.  A sea shell design overlays the silver band at the ends of the row of coral cabs.  The band is stamped 925, a notation that the silver is sterling. 

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