This Navajo-made spider pin captures the essence of a real spider.  This Southwest Indian Jewelry pin has eight legs, eyes, and a body which is made of a single bezel that encases a stunning piece of blue-green turquoise with a beautiful copper matrix.

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There were several artisans at Zuni Pueblo in the mid-1900s who became famous for their carvings of small bird and animal fetishes from a variety of stones and shells.  The miniature fetishes were strung with hieshe and grouped in strings to form beautiful necklaces.  A later addition to the fetish necklace genre is fetish earrings.

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The first Zuni silversmith, Lanyad, learned his trade from the Navajo smith Adsity Chon in 1872. After that time the Zuni combined their lapidary skills with delicate silver work to develop a distinctive jewelry style. Zuni petit point jewelry was first made in the 1930s. This process is time consuming and painstaking. Multiple small stones are cut and shaped to fit into tiny bezels to create the design.

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Clara Lee Tanner, in her book Southwest Indian Painting: a changing art, compares Robert Chee to Harrison Begay in his strong ability to handle a great many colors and his tendency to stress the "intensity of tone in small areas." Chee, especially later in his very short life, could also be compared stylistically to Beatien Yazz.  Chee passed away at the age of 34.  Had he not passed away so soon, would we have seen many more spectacular paintings by him?

The curious fawn is the focus of this painting but the beehive certainly adds the excitement.

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Navajo painter Robert Chee (1937-1971) Hashke-Yil-e-Cale was a student of Allan Houser and was at the height of his career during the late 1950s. Beatien Yazz had begun painting much earlier than Chee. That said, Chee adopted the usage of ground lines, hills and plant life further along in his career, as did Yazz. One can notice how both artists' styles seem to mirror each other when one focuses and compares the terrain, flora and whimsical theme in their paintings. Could it be that Yazz had an influence on Chee's work? One could definitely speculate!

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The Shalako Ceremony is conducted at Zuni in late November or early December every year.  Although a Zuni ceremony, it is attended by members of other pueblos, Navajo, Anglo tourists and others who enjoy seeing the reenactment.  It is not unusual for artists of Navajo or non-Zuni pueblo to paint scenes from the ceremony as it is attractive, exciting, and inspiring.  Pablita Velarde (1918-2006) Tse Tsan - Golden Dawn took the occasion to paint an encounter between a Mudhead Katsina and a Shalako God.

The painting was executed in Pablita's style using mineral earth paintings which she painstakingly made by grinding materials on a metate using a mano.  This was a labor of love as Pablita could have purchased commercial paints and finished the job in much less time, but it was her dedication to the art that made her spend countless hours making her own paints.

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Damacia Cordero was a legend from Cochiti Pueblo. Her storyteller figurines and animal creations were unlike any other potter's work. This storyteller figurine, possibly a male, has the elongated torso, short legs, big ears, protruding nose and flat face of her traditional style.

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This Southwest Indian Pottery figurine set includes two horses, wagon, male and female adults, child, bench and dog.  It is one of the items I commissioned decades ago from Maria I. Naranjo (1924-2006) Margarita of Santa Clara Pueblo.  As I have mentioned on other occasions, I first commissioned her to make for me a three-piece black train set similar to one in a photograph I showed her from the Museum of New Mexico collection.  She made the set for me.  I then commissioned her to make a Noah's Ark, which she did, then in 1985, I asked her to make this horse and wagon set.  I got it from her on December 5, 1985 and kept it in my collection until I sold it to an individual associated with Worcester Polytech Institute, Worcester, Massachusetts, on November 30, 1989.  Now, 26 years later, here it is again back in New Mexico!

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Probably one of the most difficult pueblos from which to find an older piece of pottery is Picuris Pueblo. It is difficult to determine if an older piece of micaceous pottery was made at Picuris or Taos.

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This Southwest Indian Pottery ladle appears to have been designed to permit the contents of the bowl to be dispensed through the handle and out the end of the handle.  The handle is hollow and connects to the bowl where there is an opening.  Perhaps that was a way to pour the liquid in a more controlled manner.  The bowl is shaped in a way that it would be hard to pour from the edge so pouring through the handle seems quite logical.  It is likely that the idea for this vessel shape would have been inspired by a gourd.

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   Virginia Ebelacker, daughter of Alcario and Margaret Tafoya, and granddaughter of Geronimo and Sara Fina Tafoya, was not a prolific potter because she had a full-time job at Los Alamos National Labs.  She worked in metallography and plastics and shaped and refined metal and plastics as a profession and was honored for her scientific contributions on both mediums.

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This narrow silver band with delicate turquoise stones was very popular in the 1920s-1940s. Usually it was worn with a half dozen or more other thin bracelets. This one has developed an excellent patina during its lifetime. The turquoise has turned green as it does after years of handling.

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It appears that this was a pendant or necklace in previous times but has been converted to a pin by the addition of a clasp on the back. I think it works beautifully as a pin, probably more visual than as a necklace.

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Three beautiful blue-green turquoise cabs are mounted on the two triangular shaped silver bars that are connected at the ends and separate as the bracelet expands upward.  Each turquoise cab is secured in a silver bezel that is surrounded by twisted silver wire.  The Southwest Indian Jewelry bracelet is Navajo-made but not signed by the artist.

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Maria and Julian's son, Adam Martinez (1903-2000), was the longest-living male of the family and perhaps the longest-living of anyone in the family.  He was not generally known as a potter but primarily helped Maria and Santana with gathering and mixing clay for their pottery and for firing the completed pieces.

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Barbara Gonzales (1947- ) Than Moo Whe is an excellent potter and an extension of her famous great-grandmother, Maria Martinez, and her grandparents, Adam and Santana Martinez. Her mother, Anita Martinez, was also a potter. Drawing on the traditions of her family, she expanded this tradition by personalizing her Southwest Indian Pottery with inlaid coral and turquoise on etched black and sienna wares-often inlaid on spider designs which she created in 1973.

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This jar is signed Maria Poveka and does not have a date added to the signature so we must assume it dates to the late 1950s.  This is a superb example of San Ildefonso blackware created by Maria. These undecorated black polished vessels are some of the most beautiful Southwest Indian Pottery made by her. Their beauty is in the shape and burnish, and decoration is unnecessary. Without some of the visual excess of the painted works, these late blackware pieces can be truly appreciated from a more minimal, formalist stance. In this late work, proportion, scale, and excellence of polish are key factors.

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This painting by Johnny Secatero was painted before 1976.   It is about Koshare Clowns, Mudheads and an Owl Katsina playing around chasing each other.  One Mudhead holds a tree branch he is brandishing around to keep the others from attacking him.

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This exquisite small bowl is attributed to Nampeyo of Hano based on construction techniques, layout of design, and execution of design.  One of the first items of consideration is the extra coil of clay Nampeyo placed at the rim of bowls which is quite obvious on this small bowl.  The bottom is rounded, not flattened, and shows evidence of long polishing strokes as was typical of Nampeyo.  The layout of the design divided into one-third/two-third separation is very typical of her layout.  The design is reminiscent of one on page 241D of the book Canvas of Clay (see reference below) which is acknowledged as a design used by Nampeyo. 

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The previous owner of this fetish necklace owned a shop selling Native American items a number of years ago.  She selected the best fetishes from particular carvers whose work she admired and set them aside until she had accumulated enough to have one of the artisans string them into this necklace.  There are 65 fetishes from a variety of stones and shells and 32 fetishes from turquoise.  All of the turquoise fetishes were strung on a single strand and the other fetishes divided among two strands.  The hieshe is shell.  The three strands are grouped together with the traditional pueblo wrap.

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