German silver, which is an alloy that contains no silver, was a favored metal of the Plains Indian tribes. The rings, bracelets and hair plates, which in turn became belt conchas, worn by the Kiowa, Comanche, Dakota, Cheyenne, Ute, Pawnee, Osage, etc., were of this thin metal. These silver discs were strung and worn by the Plains tribes as hair pieces, that is, they were tied to the hair and draped down the back of the head. Sometimes the sizes of the discs were graduated and other times they were the same. They also wore them draped down their side from the waist.

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This painting was completed in 1981, the year before Tony sustained severe head injuries in a motorcycle accident that left him with a twenty-five-year memory loss, a partial disability, and a mental age of about seventeen, at a time when he was biologically forty-one years of age.  It could possibly be one of the last painting he made before the accident.

Tony Da is known for his amazing pottery creations but he first started his career as a painting artist.  He once said that paintings were his first love and pottery was a short part of his career.  After partially recovering from his motorcycle accident, Tony completed a few more paintings but never made any more pottery.

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The United States Congress, at the urging of the Indian Service, created the Indian Arts and Crafts Board on August 27, 1935. In general, its function was "to promote the economic welfare of the Indian tribes through the development of their handiwork or manufactures." The IACB, in turn, created the Navajo Arts and Crafts Guild (NACG) in September 1941. The guilds were established to provide the artisans a place to sell their wares. Each guild aimed its products at "quality stores in the East, Mid-west, and Southwest," and avoided the tourist market. A minimum-wage scale was established for graduates of the guild.

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The Wakas'katsina is the Cow Katsina. He seems to have first appeared in the Hopi pantheon of Katsinas around 1900 and has appeared regularly since then. He represents an animal spirit messenger to the Rain gods. The songs and dance movements are prayers for rain, and are symbolic of animals' self-sacrifice in supplying food to sustain life. - Secakuku

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Delores Juanico is a daughter of Marie S. Juanico (1937 - ) who was her mentor.  Marie had learned pottery principals from her mother, Delores Sanchez, who lived to the age of 103. Young Delores carries on the tradition from her grandmother and mother of making the finest Acoma pottery.

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Zuni jewelers are trained lapidary artisans who excel in cutting and setting small stones, sometimes in a mosaic pattern and other times in channel inlay form.  This sterling silver ring has turquoise stones set in channel inlay in stone-to-stone fashion.  The edges of the silver ring are stamped with feather-like designs.  The ring dates to circa 1980s and the turquoise has darkened to a rich patina from age.

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When a youngster grows up on the Navajo Reservation, as did Beatien Yazz, everything he sees and learns reinforces his beliefs in the natural world.  The Navajo believe one is in harmony with nature when one is well, and is no longer in harmony with nature when sick.  There is a strong belief in how important nature is in its effect on the individual. It is no wonder, then, that so many Native painters focus their art on nature, landscapes, horses, clouds and rain, and the abundance of animals and birds.

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Most of the Beatien Yazz paintings we have had in the past have been of acrylic or casein paints but he is acknowledged as having painted in oil paints.  This painting appears to be oil on canvas board, the first one I recall seeing.  He is also known to have painted murals at the Navajo Tribal Court Room in the Navajo Police Headquarters, Fort Defiance, AZ.  He is credited with pottery designs, tile designs, prints, fabric designs and designs for greeting cards.  We tend to think of him just producing paintings but he was much more involved in art than that.  He was a very talented man who had a long career from just a young boy to an octogenarian.

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Third Mesa wicker plaques, or yungyapy, as they are called at Hopi are the most common form of basketry at Third Mesa. Although a large number are made for sale, even a larger number never leave the reservation. They are used in payment for the Hopi bride's wedding robes, used as gifts to repay favors or for work performed, or as prizes in footraces. They are also used as part of the dance paraphernalia in women's dances and as gifts to newborn babies.

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Typology designations of pueblo pottery have been assigned by noted authorities based on observed changes over decades. At Zia Pueblo, one of the earlier designations is Puname Polychrome (1700-1760) which was followed by the designation San Pablo Polychrome (1760-1820), then Trios Polychrome (1820-1860) and, finally, today's designation of Zia Polychrome (1860-present).

Although designations have been assigned to periods of production as shown above, it must be remembered that potters actively working at the time did not necessarily make changes simultaneously. A potter making pottery in 1855, during what has been designated as the Trios Polychrome period, might have continued her style until her death maybe in 1895. Technically, according to the authorities, she was in the Zia Polychrome period, although she, herself, was still making what she had learned to make in the Trios Polychrome designated period. The designation was not observed by potters, only by authorities studying pottery.

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Pueblo pottery was very popular in Santa Fe, New Mexico homes as decorative objects in the 1930s and later and many local residents purchased sugar and creamer sets, candlesticks, bookends and lamp bases.  Some potters made tall jars suitable for lamps and some actually made them with drill holes in the bottom through which the electric cord was threaded.

This jar is the shape suitable for a boudoir lamp and it does have a drill hole in the base.  The hole has been filled in and is not visible from the underside but is visible from the inside of the jar.  Since the drill hole went through the "&" element, it is obvious that it was drilled after purchase and not drilled by Maria Martinez at the time it was made.

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Maria Martinez is known to have had help from her sisters when making pottery.  It is generally agreed that her youngest sister, Clara, polished many, if not most, of Maria's pottery for her.  Desideria also helped Maria in various ways, and the male members helped gather and work the clay and prepare the outdoor firing kiln.

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The earliest signed pottery by Maria Martinez was signed simply Marie.  It was pottery made by Maria and painted by Julian.  It did not have Julian's name on the jar because, in the 1920s, pottery making was considered woman's work.  It was several years before it was rationalized that painting pottery, as was being done by the men, was not the same as making pottery, so by 1925, Maria started adding Julian's name with hers on their joint ventures.  Pottery with the name Marie, was made mostly between 1920 and 1924.

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It has been well published that the matriarch Nampeyo of Hano began having eyesight problems around 1920 and her sight continued to deteriorate until she passed away in 1942.  Nampeyo, of Hopi Pueblo, was so experienced by the 1920s at making pottery, she was able to continue forming and finishing pottery vessels even with diminished sight.  What she could no longer accomplish was painting designs on her pottery.

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One wonders why there was so little study of the early 20^th century pottery of the pueblos when there was so much available.  Most likely the answer is two-fold.  Anthropologists were most interested in what could be excavated from buried sites and not what was available in the pueblo kitchen of the time.  Secondly, the Museum of New Mexico director, Edgar L. Hewett, was more interested in exploring the past rather than the current in the 1920s.

Some of the most amazing pottery was that seen in pueblo households in the late 1800s to early 1900s.  Representatives of the Smithsonian and other museums did collect from the pueblo home but they were seeing everything as ethnographic material and not as we view it today as art.  There was no attempt by these early collectors to describe and classify as art what they gathered, but only classified it as ethnographic material.

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Zuni artisans learned jewelry making from the Navajos in the late 19^th century. They made jewelry for their own use up until about the 1930s when they began making it for the tourist trade. Zuni work is characterized by the creation of design by cutting and shaping of stones.

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This is an amazing historic small jar from Zia Pueblo.  It is the traditional shape of a Zia storage jar, but in smaller scale.  The leaf designs are red with black outlining.  There are four panels of design, each divided by dual vertical lines.  There is a pair of framing lines at the rim and another pair at the base of the design.  The jar has a slight indented base, red underbody, red inside the rim and a black rim.

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This Jemez Pueblo Black-on-white jar has two handles near the rim of the jar.  The decoration extends down to the midpoint of the vessel and up to the beginning of the neck.  It is likely that the jar dates to late 17^th century.  It is possible that it was used as a field canteen.

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Western Apache basket makers did not succumb to making non-functional basket shapes such as flat plaques, wastebaskets, straight-sided and footed vases and gadgets such as match holders, purses, and figures of animals, plants and humans as some of the other tribes did.

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