Silas and Bertha Claw broke with Navajo pottery tradition and the customs of their fellow tradesmen. Their forms remained true to tradition but they used an appliqué technique for design elements and colorful oil or acrylic paints for highlights. They were of the Shonto/Cow Springs region of the Navajo Reservation. Silas passed away in 2002 but we have found no record of Bertha passing away.

Around 1968, Silas began working in clay even though pottery making, like basket making, was considered women's work. Bertha assisted him from the very beginning. The Claws made a variety of pottery shapes: traditional-style cooking jars, wedding vases, triple-spouted jars, and ceramic beads.

It is not known which one did which part of the production but it is believed Bertha would form the vessels and Silas would decorate them with a variety of appliquéd and incised plant and animal motifs-usually in high relief and occasionally in full round. These motifs depicted a wide range of subjects that included cactus plants and blooming yuccas, oak leaves with acorns, ears of corn, a menagerie of domestic animals, and horned toads. Silas often applied oil paint in a range of colors to portions of the appliqué to make them even more realistic. He then would coat the vessel with varnish.

This wedding vessel shows a procession of Navajo Yei dancers executed in appliqué on the body of the vessel. On the other side of the vessel is a Navajo hogan with smoke from the chimney. The wedding vessel is an older one by this couple and is signed S.B. Claw on the underside.

Condition: original condition
Provenance: from the John Barry collection of California
Recommended Reading:
- Navajo Folk Art: The People Speak by Chuck and Jan Rosenak.
- "The Navajo Pottery of Silas and Bertha Claw" by Ed Dobbins and Scott C. Russell, American Indian Art Magazine, Spring 2007. Vol. 32, No. 2.

Title: Diné (Navajo) Wedding Vase with Yei and Hogan Designs
Artists / Potters: Silas and Bertha Claw
Category: Contemporary
Origin: Diné - Navajo Nation
Medium: clay, paint
Size: 9-1/8" tall x 5" diameter
Item # C3321E

Ada Suina has always been recognized as one of the premier storyteller figurine potters. Her male figurines, such as this one, have a strong, chiseled face, and the children have happy carefree expressions. She still uses all natural materials and fires the figurines outdoors in the traditional manner.

Ada resumed making pottery figurines a few years ago after several years of not doing so following the death of her husband. She relied so much on his help in digging the clay and working it to a point where she could form the figurines. Now, at age 83, she has to do everything by herself, therefore it is taking significantly more time to complete a piece. She is not very actively making pottery at this time.

This figurine is an older one of hers, probably more than 10 years old, but is in original condition. It is an excellent example of her work. The male has his mouth open telling stories to the children on his lap. He is dressed in his finest traditional clothing and has a red headband over his hair. All three children are boys.

Condition: original condition
Provenance: from a gentleman from Colorado
Recommended Reading:  The Pueblo Storyteller: Development of a Figurative Ceramic Tradition by Barbara Babcock, et al.

Title: Cochiti Pueblo Male Storyteller with 3 Children
Artist / Potter: Ada Suina (1930-present)
Category: Figurines
Origin: Cochiti Pueblo
Medium: clay, pigment
Size: 6" tall x 5" wide x 6-3/4" deep
Item # C3354A

The significance of Navajo and Pueblo textiles transcends simple artistic expression. Through the spiritual activity of weaving, male and female weavers beautify their world and integrate their art into the web of life. Both the Navajo and Pueblo believe that the culture hero Spider Woman has taught them to create with patience, understanding, and sensitivity. Yet over the centuries, Navajo and Pueblo textiles have developed along distinct paths that reflect the unique historical and individual experiences within each culture. The textiles collection of the Southwest Museum illustrates the rich interplay between these two peoples and their art.

Southwest Textiles tells the fascinating story of the history and evolution of Navajo and Pueblo fabric arts. Over 250 outstanding examples from the Southwest Museum's collection are reproduced in full color, along with 57 details of these works and 49 historical photographs. Also included are absorbing accounts of the early collectors of these superb textiles and some of the colorful individuals who were instrumental in founding the Southwest Museum and shaping its collections.

An accompanying CD-ROM includes comprehensive charts of the fiber and construction analysis performed on each of the textiles illustrated in the book. The charts are prefaced by an overview of the analysis. Also on the CD is a complete inventory of the museum's southwestern textiles collection.
-Excerpt from the inside cover

Title: Southwest Textiles: Weavings of the Navajo and Pueblo
Author: Kathleen Whitaker
Subject: Native American Textiles
Item # 0-295-98226-8
Date Published: 2002/08/01
Size: 432 pages

The plan for a painting studio at the Santa Fe Indian School had been four years in the making before it finally opened in the fall of 1932. Dorothy Dunn was in charge of the art department. It was in the second year of The Studio that Dorothy Dunn first mentioned Emeliano Yepa and she described him as painting pageantry. He was one of three students selected to paint murals in true fresco for The Studio and one of the residence halls. One of the mural paintings by Yepa was "A Summer Dance" (Corn Dance).

In the fourth year (1935-36), a Museum of New Mexico exhibit was organized to present to the public works by the students. Frederic H. Douglas's review of the show included the following statement "Much fine art will come from this area, with its strong tradition in painting. No.125 by E. Yepa, displays the work of a painter who clings, at least in his pictures, to a style seen in the first days of the movement. His conservatism is to be commended, for while progress is desirable, a brake is often useful."

An analysis of the works of all the students in the fifth year (1936-37) stated of Yepa "Emeliano Yepa had a somewhat stilted style which enhanced the formal patterns of ceremonial and small Jemez scenes he chose to paint. His brilliant palette brought animation and a note of daring to his balanced, conservative compositions."

The last mention of Yepa by Dorothy Dunn, in her book published in 1968, stated that "Emiliano Yepa, another fine artist of Jemez, is no longer living." There was no date given for his death. Jeanne Snodgrass, in her Biographical Directory published in 1968 lists the artist as Emilina rather than Emeliano but has no information regarding birth, death, or age. She states that the artist attended the Indian School from 1932 to 1937 and was included in a National Gallery of Art exhibit in Washington, DC in 1953.

This painting is of a Jemez Pueblo Buffalo Dance, a dance often seen during the fall and winter seasons. The costuming presented by Yepa is a very good representation of what one sees today at a Buffalo Dance. The men wear buffalo head covers and canvas skirts with a serpent encircling the mid-section and tin cones dangling from the hem section. The female wears a traditional pueblo dress and carries feathers in her hand. The painting is signed E. Yepa in lower right and on verso is rubber stamped The Studio U. S. Indian School, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Condition: very good condition with only a few minor flakes of missing paint
Provenance: sent to us by a gentleman from Colorado
Reference and Recommended Reading: American Indian Painting of the Southwest and Plains Areas by Dorothy Dunn

Subject: Original Painting of a Jemez Pueblo Buffalo Dance
Artist: Emeliano Yepa (c.1920s- c.1950s)
Category: Paintings
Origin: Jemez Pueblo
Medium: watercolor
Size: 11-3/8" x 15-1/2" image; 16-3/4" x 20-3/4" framed
Item # C3355

This collection of miniature baskets was assembled in the 1960s by a client from the Midwest. The collection represents weavers from Tohono O'odham, Akimel O'odham and Pomo tribes. The collection is being offered as a group for the stated price, which, it has been determined, is well below market value.

Condition: original condition
Provenance: from the collection of a Midwest collector
Recommended Reading: Southwest Indian Baskets: Their History and Their Makers by Andrew Hunter Whiteford

Title: Collection of 21 Miniature Southwest Indian Baskets
Unidentified Artists
Category: Miniature
Origin: Native American Basketry
Medium: grasses
Size: ¼" to 2" diameters
Item # C3353

As an adult, at the time of joining the Navy during World War II, John Liggett Meigs (1916 - 2003) discovered that as a one-year old he had been "kidnapped" by his biological father and his father's mistress, moved from Chicago, and had his name changed to MacMillan. He never saw his biological mother again. Over the next several years, he and his family moved many times, finally settling in San Antonio, Texas, where Meigs first developed his interest in art, a career that lasted the remainder of his life, but not before many interruptions for various adventures.

Following the death of his father, he changed his name back to his original name of Meigs and moved to California with his foster mother and attended the University of Redlands. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Los Angeles, then a reporter in Hawaii, then architectural work in designing houses, then textile design which led him to become one of the first designers of aloha shirts. He then served in the Navy and following his discharge, lived in Florida for a couple years and established a lounge still in existence as the Trade Winds Tropical Lounge.

Meigs left Florida and went back to Hawaii, and that is when he met artist Peter Hurd from San Patricio, New Mexico. Meigs continued moving around, doing different jobs, but eventually settled down in San Patricio and became a lifelong companion and friend of Peter Hurd. When Meigs settled in San Patricio, he bought a small, old adobe house, which, over the next forty years, he expanded until it grew to twenty-three rooms; Peter Hurd dubbed it "Fort Meigs." His association with Hurd and his wife Henriette flourished, as did Meig's artistic accomplishments and his social connections.

In his artistic pursuits, Meigs worked in a variety of mediums, to include oil, watercolor, ink and photography. He had over fifty, one-man exhibitions, to include in Santa Fe, New Mexico; New York City; Lubbock, Texas; Roswell, New Mexico; and Honolulu, Hawaii. His subject material was primarily either landscape or architectural. In early 1960, he was commissioned by the Society of California Pioneers to paint a series of watercolors of Victorian homes in San Francisco, those paintings being exhibited at the Society's headquarters in San Francisco in June 1960. In 1997, the Honolulu Academy of Arts hosted an exhibit of aloha shirts with his designs from the late 1930s and 1940s. His art, to include his aloha shirts, is in private, corporate and academic collections.

This watercolor painting is typical of his work during his association with Peter Hurd. One familiar with Hurd's paintings can clearly see a similar style in this work. It is signed and dated 1969 in lower right. Research into auction records of Meig's sales indicated that only two of his paintings have been auctioned in the past. That is an indication that fans of his art, who have collected over the past 40 years, are keeping his paintings in the family and not interested in selling them. One cannot say anything more complimentary about an artist than that.

Condition: appears to be in original condition but has not been examined out of the frame. The mat material does appear to be acid-free so there should be no damage to the painting from acid-burn.
Provenance: brought to us by a client from Albuquerque
Reference Material: biographical information provided above was excerpted from the website of AskART.

Title: Original Watercolor "Hondo Valley Landscape"
Artist: John Liggett Meigs (1916 - 2003)
Category: Paintings
Origin: European-American Artists
Medium: watercolor
Size: 16-1/4" x 21-1/2" image; 26-1/2" x 31-7/8" framed
Item # C3351

This marvelous floor rug was made entirely from native hand-spun wool fleeces of un-dyed and aniline-dyed yarns. The variegated background field is a blend of grays and browns achieved by carding white, black, and brown wools in small lots. By doing this, each lot will then vary slightly in color. This is the essence of a fine early 20th century Navajo rug. The stacked-diamond design elements are strong and bold, yet uncluttered, allowing one to enjoy the field of the rug as well as the designs. A double border of brown and red provides the frame for this wonderful piece.

Condition: it is in extraordinary condition for a rug of approximately 90 years of age. It is very useable as a floor rug.
Provenance: Adobe Gallery sold this textile to a couple in Texas in 1989 and now they are making it available for another collector to enjoy.
Recommended Reading: Navajo Weaving: Three Centuries of Change by Kate Peck Kent (This book is out of print and we have only 3 copies available for sale)

Title: Navajo (Diné) Wool Rug from the Ganado Area
Weaver Unknown
Category: Navajo Textiles & Blankets
Origin: Diné - Navajo Nation
Medium: wool, red dye
Size: 5'8" x 4'2"
Item # C3352B

Occasionally, a painting of outstanding quality arrives at the gallery and we are unable to locate any biographical information on the artist. That is the case with this painting. The quality of the work is that of a trained exceptional artist, but he or she is not recorded in the literature.

The texture of the applied oil paints and the shading achieved by the artist identify that this is not the work of an amateur, but that of a true artist. The artist captured the relaxed attitude of the subject as he leans on a wall waiting his turn to rope an animal, perhaps at a rodeo.

The painting is signed in lower right. There is no date. It is framed in a vintage frame which might be original to the painting.

The following is an excerpt sent to us regarding E. W. Sork. We are greatly indebted to this gentleman for his diligence in searching out who this artist was and then sharing the information with us:

I own an original painting by the same artist E. W. Sork; it depicts rowboats on a lake or river. This was in my mother's family since least the 1940's; for the last year or so I've been trying to research information on this "unknown" artist. I could never find information showing their complete name so I recently thought to instead try several genealogy sites using their initials and last name. My mother's family lived in Philadelphia so it was a natural guess that the artist might have some association with Philly.

Using the Mormon site www.familysearch.org I found a birth and death record for an Elsie W. Sork; her middle name was derived from her father Morris W. Wolpert. She was born in 1895, lived in Philadelphia, and died in the year 2000. Having found the artist's complete name I then found a record for the PA Museum and School of Industrial Art (in Philadelphia). Their website shows a commencement exercise that took place in June 1928 -- and lists the degrees and awards that were issued. Elise W. Sork's name is shown as a student in their Department of Art.

I believe then that the artist's signature of E.W. Sork must have been by this woman Elsie W. Sork. The clues were her name, the fact that she was a resident of Philadelphia where my mother's family lived, the fact that she graduated from the PA Museum School of Art, and the date of her graduation. I have not been able to find information about her descendants but will possibly attempt to locate a family member who can 100% confirm this attribution.

Subject: Original Oil Painting of a Cowboy by Elsie W. Sork
Artist: Elsie W. Sork (1895-2000)
Category: Paintings
Origin: European-American Artists
Medium: Oil on Canvas Board
Size: 15-1/2" x 10-1/2" image; 19-1/2" x 14-1/2" framed
Item # 22155

Talking God is one of the Navajo Yeibichai, a main deity. He is unusual in that he is the one Navajo deity who is compassionate and an advocate for mankind. It is he who chastises others attempting to harm man. He appears among his people as a bluebird, a symbol of peace and happiness. Corn Girl is mentioned as his daughter. When leaving, he told the people that they would never see him again but that they would know he was nearby when they heard the chatter of birds.

Talking God wears a robe and mask of white buckskin. On his face a cornstalk symbol grows from his mouth upward between his eyes. This is symbolic of his transformation from white corn. He controls the growth of corn. In this carving, he wears an evergreen ruff around his neck and long red hair drapes from his head. A fan of eagle feathers spreads behind his head and a group of feathers covers the back of the mask. His high-top moccasins are tied at the tops with woven ties. He has silver buttons sewed down his shirt sleeves and is bedecked with turquoise jewelry. He holds a lamb in his right hand.

This carving is of the quality of many of the finest works of Hopi Katsina doll carvers of the period. If it were not a Yeibichai impersonation, one would assume it to be a Hopi carving of the finest quality. It was completed around the year 2000, a time when the artist started carving images of Yeis, skinwalkers and other objects of Navajo mythology not routinely presented by other Diné. The quality is well beyond that of other Navajo folk art carvings.

Condition: overall in original condition except for the loss of one feather on the head and loss of a portion of the moccasin ties on the left leg.
Provenance: from the collection of Jan and Chuck Rosenak
Recommended Reading: Navajo Folk Art by Chuck and Jan Rosenak

Title: Navajo (Diné) Wood Folk Art Carving "Talking God"
Artist / Carver: Lawrence Jacquez (1965- )
Category: Other Items
Origin: Diné - Navajo Nation
Medium: wood, pigment
Size: 12-3/4" tall; 16-3/4" with pedestal
Item # C3347C

Everyone should know that Helen Cordero made the very first storyteller figurine in 1964. She created this first pottery figurine of an adult male with numerous children clinging to every part of him. This was the beginning of the "storyteller" figurine and was inspired by memories of her grandfather years earlier-a tribute to him-who was a storyteller at the pueblo.

Since the figurine was in tribute to her grandfather, all of her storyteller figurines are male. She never made a female storyteller. Her female figurines are called other names, such as Singing Mother. Cordero used to say that the other potters who made female storyteller figurines didn't understand her intent. However, Alexander Girard, the great folk art collector, did understand this significance of her efforts and encouraged her to create more by purchasing all she made in the early days.

Helen Cordero, Cochiti Pueblo, who passed away on July 24, 1994, was truly an original artist. Unable to fashion pottery vessels in a manner with which she could be satisfied, she changed her course to figurative pottery, rather than give up altogether. Little did she know that she was starting a new tradition and changed the course in Pueblo pottery production. Now, all the Pueblos make storyteller figurines-not just Cochiti Pueblo. A storyteller made by her is to be a treasured item in any collection.

What is known today as a Storyteller figurine had its beginning in 1964 from the hands of Cochiti Pueblo potter Helen Cordero. Alexander Girard, the noted architect and folk art collector, saw a figurine by Cordero at a Santo Domingo feast day arts and crafts booth and requested that she make more and larger ones and bring them to him. He continued to encourage her to make larger ones with more children. When Cordero began thinking about his requests, she made a male storyteller with several children based on her remembering that her grandfather was a storyteller at the pueblo. Her creation, based on her grandfather, was the beginning of the storyteller figurine tradition at Cochiti Pueblo. In the almost five decades since her creation, the storyteller figurine tradition has blossomed.

Today, many potters at almost all the pueblos make figurines, some male and some female, but Cordero continued only making male storytellers because of the connection to her grandfather. She never made a female storyteller. Her female figurines are called other names, such as Singing Mother, Hopi Maiden or other names. Cordero used to say that the potters who made female figurines and called them storytellers didn't understand her intent.

This figurine is a testament to Cordero's talent. It is beautifully sculpted and painted. The single child sitting in the adult's lap has his hands crossed over his chest as he stares down at his dog who is sitting on the leg of the adult. The adult's shirt is beautifully designed and decorated. His hair hangs down in braids over his shoulders. He wears the old traditional white cotton pants and cow hide moccasins.

Condition: original condition
Provenance: Adobe Gallery sold this figurine to the current owners in 1999 and they have now brought it back to us to sell for them.
Recommended Reading: The Pueblo Storyteller: Development of a Figurative Ceramic Tradition by Barbara Babcock.

Title: Cochiti Pueblo Male Storyteller with a Child and Dog
Artist / Potter: Helen Cordero (1915 - 1994)
Category: Figurines
Origin: Cochiti Pueblo
Medium: clay, pigment
Size: 7-1/2" tall x 4-1/2" wide x 6-3/4" deep
Item # C3352A

When this painting was completed in 1948, Quincy Tahoma was very active. His friends who had joined the military for World War II had returned home and Tahoma was in love with a young lady in Santa Fe. The overall activity in Santa Fe was bustling and sales were good for him. He was displaying his art at the studio of T. Harmon Parkhurst and residents were actively purchasing it.

The Museum of New Mexico Gallery had featured Tahoma's work in the summer of 1946 and also forwarded two of his paintings to Oklahoma for the first annual Philbrook Indian Art competition at which Tahoma won first prize in the Southwestern painting division of the competition. He had achieved the status as one of the best Indian painters in the land.

One of the subjects Tahoma loved painting was that of a buffalo hunt. He seemed to thrive on the active style of running buffalo. In this painting, there are four buffalo, or bison, in the foreground running away from the two Indians on horseback with drawn arrows in the background. The Indians and horses may appear small but their detail is extraordinary. The cartouche signature block shows a couple of the bison stumbling after being hit with arrows although there is no blood or kill in the actual painting.

For anyone interested in the life and art of Tahoma, I strongly recommend the recently-released book Quincy Tahoma: The Life and Legacy of a Navajo Artist by Havens and Badertscher

Condition: there is some discoloration of the paper at the very top of the painting. It is currently visible but could easily be concealed if re-matted. There is plenty of room to cover the discoloration with proper matting.
Provenance: from the collection of a resident from Santa Fe
Recommended Reading: Quincy Tahoma: The Life and Legacy of a Navajo Artist by Havens and Badertscher

Title: Original Painting "Buffalo Hunt" by Quincy Tahoma
Artist: Quincy Tahoma 1917-1956 Water Edge
Category: Paintings
Origin: Diné - Navajo Nation
Medium: Gouache
Size: 14" x 11" image; 21-1/2" x 17-1/2" framed
Item # C3178

Tony (Anthony Edward) Da descended from a most talented family of potters at San Ildefonso Pueblo. His father, Popovi Da, was one of the first pueblo potters to break with tradition and create something other than black-on-black pottery. Likewise, his grandparents, Maria and Julian Martinez, were even more ahead of their time when, in the early 1900s, they broke with tradition when they created the now-famous black-on-black pottery, breaking away at that time from the polychrome wares that were traditional. With such a talented family, Tony was destined to be talented and famous, and certainly he was.

Maria and Julian were the first to transform everyday utilitarian pottery into non-functional works-of-art pottery when they fully developed the black-on-black wares around 1925. Following his father's death in 1943, Popovi Da began assisting Maria, and by the 1950s he began infusing his own ideas into pottery making. Popovi began painting magnificent polychrome pieces reminiscent of his father's early works. Then he began to experiment with inlaying turquoise into pottery. It was this technique that Tony picked up on and eventually perfected.

Tony was born in 1940 and in his early student years experimented in jewelry making and painting. Following a stint in the U.S. Navy, he returned to San Ildefonso in 1964, was fascinated with what Maria and Popovi were doing, and apprenticed himself to his grandmother.

Tony drew easily but selectively on his experience with both painting and jewelry. Early on, he worked in the two-tone black-and-sienna style, which Popovi Da introduced. He moved rapidly into the setting of turquoise into some of his wares, such as lidded vessels, bear fetishes, and sculptures of turtles. Indeed, Tony was the first pueblo potter to make extensive use of turquoise inlay in pottery. He next produced magical combinations of clay and wrought silver, as well as pottery inlaid with shell beads (hieshe). Tony's work is immediately recognizable, and viewers have compared his more complex pieces to such objects as Middle Eastern jewelry boxes and Byzantine reliquaries.

"Tony soon excelled as one of the pace-setting pioneers in incising designs into pottery surfaces, combining delicately etched images with inlay and red, sienna, or two-tone finishes to create works with wholly novel effects. A favorite incised motif was the avanyu, the plumed water serpent associated in pueblo lore with summer rains. In other pieces he used a buffalo with heartline, or motifs inspired by the prehistoric Mimbres culture, including the feather motif popularized by his grandfather. As a measure of his rapid progress, in 1967, just three years after beginning his apprenticeship with Maria, Tony's works appeared with his grandmother's and father's in the definitive "Three-Generation Show," an exhibition honoring the pottery art of the Martinez-Da families at the U.S. Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C.

Ever since, Tony Da's inspired, innovative body of work has exerted an enormous impact on the look of pueblo ceramics. An artist of conspicuous ability and clear vision, he came upon an art scene very much in flux-thanks, in large part, to the efforts of his own family. Tony built something new upon the foundation provided by his predecessors. Tony was one of those rare figures who rise up from the artistic continuum, a gifted innovator whose work signaled significant changes in the mainstream of pueblo ceramics. When such contributions find favor, as his did right away, they work their way into the accepted vocabulary of the art form and within a generation come to be thought of as ‘traditional.'"

The Martinez-Da family was fraught with tragedy, especially on the male side. Julian Martinez died prematurely in 1943, at the age of 46 years. He was at the peak of his career. Popovi Da, likewise, died early, in 1971, at the youthful age of 48 years. Tony's career ended abruptly around 1980 (exact date undocumented), at the age of about 40 years, as the result of an off-road motorcycle accident that precluded his return to pottery making. With the wonderful artistic creation left to us by these remarkable men, one must wonder what they would have gone on to do had they been able to create for another ten or twenty years.

Reference: "Tony Da" by Ron McCoy, in Art of Clay, Timeless Pottery of the Southwest, edited by Lee M. Cohen. Clear Light Publishers, Santa Fe. 1993. Permission granted by Phil Cohen.

Famed San Ildefonso Pueblo potter and artist ANTHONY "TONY" EDWARD DA passed away peacefully on the 12th of February, 2008 at 67 years of age.

Mary Gutierrez is a member of the Talachy family of Pojoaque Pueblo but I have been unable to find any significant information regarding her. One would assume that she was related to Minnie Vigil and Lois Gutierrez because their style of pottery is similar in shape, design, and finish, but I can find no connection between them. This seed jar was most likely made in the 1960s as that is when most of the pottery in this collection was purchased.

Condition: original condition with the exception of a small adhesive mark where a piece of tape was removed near the base of the jar.

Provenance: from the collection of Katherine H. Rust

Subject: Pojoaque Pueblo Matte-finish Polychrome Seed Jar
Artist: Mary Talachy Gutierrez
Category: Contemporary
Origin: Pojoaque Pueblo
Medium: clay, pigments
Size: 3-5/8" tall x 5-1/8" diameter
Item # C3251E

Minnie Vigil is one of a family of talented potters. She and her sisters, Lois Gutierrez de la Cruz, Thelma Talache, and Gloria (Goldenrod) Garcia, are potters of distinction. Minnie has won awards at Santa Fe Indian Market for years in recognition of her fine workmanship. She specializes in Polychrome wares. Some of her pottery is slipped in red clay and stone polished and some is slipped in matte tan clay and not polished. This seed jar is of the latter style.

Minnie Vigil has produced exceptional pottery for a long time. She is recognized as one of the finest potters at Santa Clara Pueblo who is producing Polychrome wares. This jar is typical of her quality of work. It is well balanced and the painted decoration is beautifully executed. It is signed Minnie Santa Clara.

Condition: excellent condition
Provenance: from the collection of Katherine H. Rust
Recommended Reading: Pueblo Indian Pottery: 750 Artist Biographies by Gregory Schaaf

Subject: Santa Clara Pueblo Polychrome Seed Jar by Minnie Vigil
Artist: Minnie Vigil (1931-present)
Category: Contemporary
Origin: Santa Clara Pueblo
Medium: clay, pigments
Size: 4-5/8" tall x 6-1/4" diameter
Item # C3235L

The combination of multiple colors and matte finish achieved by Lois and Derek de la Cruz results in a soft palette and pleasing visual sensation. They collect different colors of clay and minerals from nature which provides them with a wide-ranging palette for their painted designs. Precision in application of the painted design is a hallmark of this couple.

Lois is a daughter of Petra Gutierrez and sister to Gloria (Goldenrod) Garcia, Thelma Talachy, Lupita Gutierrez, and Minnie Vigil, all of whom are outstanding potters as well. Lois and Derek started working together in 1970. The jar is co-signed Lois-Derek.

The overall design concept on this jar is "rain." There are rain clouds dropping rain at the mid-body of the jar and clouds and lightning on the shoulder. Rainbows arch over the body designs.

Condition: the jar is in very good condition.
Provenance: from the collection of Katherine H. Rust
Recommended Reading: Pueblo Indian Pottery: 750 Artist Biographies by Gregory Schaaf

Subject: Matte Painted Polychrome Jar
Artist: Lois and Derek de la Cruz
Category: Contemporary
Origin: Santa Clara / Pojoaque Pueblos
Medium: clay, pigments
Size: 5-3/4" tall x 6-1/4" diameter
Item # C3235J

This sculpture is of a Female Skinwalker, which, in Navajo legend, would be much rarer than male Skinwalkers. There are several varieties of Navajo witches, one of which is using his (rarely her) powers to travel in animal form. In some versions, men or women who have attained the highest level of priesthood are called "pure evil."

They are human beings who have gained supernatural power by breaking a cultural taboo. Specifically, a person is said to gain the power to become one upon initiation into the Witchery Way. Both men and women can become skinwalkers, but men are far more numerous. It is generally thought that only childless women can become witches.

Larry Jacquez (pronounced Hackus) is a Navajo folk art carver who specializes in the unusual. He is known to have carved and painted extraordinary objects accurately depicting the Yeis, Navajo mythology, and the dances and escapades of skinwalkers. The Rosenaks stated that they were surprised by the appearance of skinwalkers in his work, and doubtful of their very existence, but Jacquez told them that "evil witches do exist."

Some Navajo also believe that skinwalkers have the ability to steal the "skin" or body of a person. The Navajo believe that if you lock eyes with a skinwalker, they can absorb themselves into your body. It is also said that skinwalkers avoid the light and that their eyes glow like an animal's when in human form, and when in animal form their eyes do not glow as an animal's would.
Some Navajos believe that if you make eye contact with a skinwalker, your body will freeze up due to the fear of them and they then use that fear as energy against the person.
A skinwalker is usually described as naked, except for an animal skin. Some Navajos describe them as a mutated version of the animal in question. The skin may just be a mask, like those which are the only garment worn in the witches' song.

This carving of a female skinwalker is basically naked as skinwalkers are thought to be. She does wear a concha belt from which is draped a loin cloth on front and back. She is elaborately decorated with turquoise jewelry and her right hand covers her exposed right breast but the left one is visible. In her left hand, she carries the skin of a fox.

This carving is not signed by the artist but is authenticated by the Rosenaks as having been made by him. When the features are compared with signed pieces by this artist, there is no doubt he made this one.

Condition: original condition
Provenance: from the collection of Jan and Chuck Rosenak
Recommended Reading: Navajo Folk Art by Chuck and Jan Rosenak
Referenced Material: the information on female skinwalkers was excerpted from Wikipedia.

Subject: Navajo (Diné) Folk Art Wood Carving "Female Skinwalker"
Artist: Lawrence Jacquez (1965- )
Category: Other Items
Origin: Diné - Navajo Nation
Medium: wood, pigments
Size: 12" tall x 4-1/4" diameter of base
Item # C3347D

Carl Von Hassler, who moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico in the early 1920s, was known as the "Dean of the Albuquerque Art Colony." Born in Bremen, Germany, Von Hassler attended the Dusseldorf Art Academy. When he came to the United States, he lived for a while in Greenwich Village in New York and was a member of the famed painters who called themselves the "Greenwich Ash Can Group."

In his early years in Albuquerque, Von Hassler's studio was in the original Casa de Armijo (now La Placita Restaurant) in Old Town.

He was best known for his traditional realistic landscapes of New Mexico and his Indian portraits. He spent almost half of his 47 years here developing a new painting technique that caused a stir in art circles. "I invented it myself," the artist said. "It is known to no one else."

His paintings had an almost ceramic quality with colors that do not fade. He baked the paintings at up to 600 degrees. He also developed what he described as an "atomic substance" to paint on to withstand the heat. It made his paintings fire and heat resistant.

His art works are now collector's items and many prominent Albuquerqueans own his paintings. One of his first Albuquerque paintings was the Indian motif mural in the Franciscan Hotel in 1924 (now demolished). He did the Kimo Theater paintings in 1927 (now restored). He also painted the viga designs at the old airport building in 1937 (still standing). One of his murals is on a wall at the Mineshaft Tavern in Madrid, NM. Some of his murals decorate homes in the Country Club area of Albuquerque.

He taught privately, and among his better known former pupils are Sam Smith, Ben Turner, Walter Bambrook, Novella King, and Betty Sabo.

Von Hassler was born March 18, 1887 of a Dutch father and a French mother on a train in Germany. He passed away in Albuquerque at the age of 83 on November 30, 1969.

-Alexander E. Anthony, Jr.

Von Hassler had a light hand sometimes and a heavier hand at other times when applying oil paints to canvas. Many of his works show delicacy and others show the master applying paints with a heavy but sure hand. The latter describes this painting well. The paints are wonderfully thick and applied with a loose and careful touch. The dark purple of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the background appears to have been applied with a palette knife. The golden leaves of the aspens so beautifully reflect the afternoon sunlight.

Von Hassler very capably added three-dimensional depth to his work. The grasses in the foreground have a very definite line at their ridge which places them forward, behind which are the aspen trees which set a finite depth before the farthest scene of mountains outlines the background.

The painting is one of Von Hassler's masterpieces. It is signed in lower left but the signature, although recognizable, is rather faintly applied and practicality disappears in the colorful grasses in that corner. The frame appears to be an original handmade frame by Von Hassler.

Condition: The painting has just been professionally cleaned and is in excellent condition.
Provenance: ex. coll. Albuquerque family

Subject: Original Oil Painting of New Mexico Landscape
Artist: Carl Von Hassler (1887-1969)
Origin: European-American Artist
Medium: Oil on board
Image Size: 19-1/2" x 25-1/2" image
Framed Size: 26-1/4" x 32-1/4"

The history of Hopi cylindrical jars is somewhat cloudy. They obviously had no functional use for the Hopi, so they must have been made solely to sell to visitors to the Hopi mesas. Whether it was Thomas Pavatea, who ran a trading post at First Mesa, or Thomas Keams, who ran a trading post at Keams' Canyon, is unimportant, but it surely was one of them who suggested to the potters to make these "Anglo-recognizable" shapes as curio items for the tourists. Today, this shape is almost singly associated with Hopi potters.

Recent studies of excavated prehistoric sites at Chaco Canyon have revealed specimens of cylindrical jars. Anthropologist Patricia Crown, from the University of New Mexico, and a colleague from the Hershey Center for Health and Nutrition, analyzed potsherds and found traces of a compound of cacao. From their research, they have concluded that the cylindrical jars were used to hold chocolate in beverage form. Only a couple hundred complete jars have been found and most of them came from Pueblo Bonito, but many shards that would fit a cylindrical jar shape have been unearthed.

Based on their research, there is a history for pueblo cylindrical jars, but it is still likely that the re-introduction of them at Hopi was not for drinking chocolate beverages but for selling to collectors and tourists.

This pair of cylindrical jars is closely matched in size and design as one could expect to be done. They are both in excellent condition.
Provenance: From a private California collection.

Title: Pair Hopi-Tewa Polychrome Cylindrical Jars
Artist: Potter Unknown
Category: Contemporary
Origin: Hopi Pueblo
Medium: Native Materials
Size: 10-3/4" tall x 5-1/2" diameter
Item # 25206