Indian Art

The New Generation

A new generation of Indian artists painters, potters, weavers, sculptors, jewelers, basket makers is emerging among the Hopi, Navajo, Tohono O'Odham, and other tribes in Arizona.

Among them is 25-year-old Cheryl Joe. With both Navajo parents artists, she has been exposed to art in numerous forms for most of her life. In 1983 she began to sculpt and now finds it her favorite medium of expression. Joe feels her art is a means of communication. Her goal is to capture Indian lifeways in a realistic manner, which, she hopes, will lead others to a better understanding of her people.

Another is Hisi (Camille) Nampeyo, 28, (a descendant of Hopi potter Nampeyo), who left the reservation to study computer technology and accounting. However, after completing her education, she decided she would rather live at Hopi and make pottery, a craft she learned from her mother.

Then there is Peter Ray James, 27, a painter who also creates unique ceramic masks resembling those of sacred Navajo yei figures. Under the auspices of the New Mexico Arts Project, he now spends much of his time traveling to reservation high schools encouraging aspiring young artists to continue their studies.

The youngest of this group of Indian artists that we found is six-year-old Finnia Lynn (Pumkin) Begay, who has been weaving since age two. Although she sometimes sheds tears of frustration because a design is difficult, Pumkin Begay doesn't quit. She'll be creating her art for a long time to come.

These young people, to whom art is an integral part of their lives, are not content to be mere craftsmen. They strive to excel, more interested in quality than in quantity. And they enthusiastically embrace the teachings of their elders.

What drives them? Pride in their culture and the fervent desire to preserve and perpetuate their heritage through their art.

These are just a few of the artists you will meet on the pages that follow. They are all under 30, and it may be well into the 21st century before all of them reach their full potential. Although we have space to introduce only a handful, there are a host of other excellent young Indian artists quietly learning and produc-ing beauty.

ARTISTS

Influenced by her artist parents, 25-year-old Cheryl Joe, a Navajo, began to sculpt in 1983 after attending a workshop conducted by sculp-tor Oreland Joe. "At this workshop, I discovered I could sculpt, and it has been my favorite medi-um ever since."

Her artistic goal, Joe says, is to capture the American Indian in a contemporary realistic way, but, most of all, she wants to give the viewer an understanding of her people.

Although Harold Davidson, 29, began learning to sculpt in 1985, only three years ago he became serious about his work and started to sculpt full time. Davidson, a Navajo, draws on Nature and meditation for inspiration. "When I see the stone, I try to imagine what is in it... the stone works itself into what it wants to be."

Peter Ray James, 27, is noted for his colorful paintings of village scenes and Navajo ceremonial figures as well as contemporary ceramic renderings of Navajo yei bichai masks. A graduate of the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe, he has been painting for about 10 years.

James began making ceramic masks about four years ago after attending the Iroquois midwinter ceremonies. "The masks are contemporary work, but the older people encourage me to continue interpreting the yei bichai masks in this way. This art form spans the age gap."

Kennett Kagenveama grew up at Second Mesa on the Hopi Indian Reservation. He has been making jewelry for 10 years, and, at the age of 27, he hasmastered the art of silver and gold overlay embellished with animals, kachinas, and other Hopi symbolism.

A 28-year-old Hopi artist, Manuel Denet Chavarria has long been fascinated with old "traditional" kachina dolls. Chavarria's carvings closely resemble kachina dolls of the 1800s and early 1900s. He often uses natural mineral pigments for paint. Chavarria is one of the few Hopi carvers who have revived this very old classic carving style.

He says he is pleased when the elders tell him, "These are the kind of dolls we used to get. This is the way they should look."

As with many American Indian artists, the art influence on Aaron James Fredericks (not shown) came at an early age through family and friends. Although Fredericks carved some traditional-style kachinas while in high school, it was after he returned from four years in the Army that he began creating contemporary one-piece carvings. Now enrolled in a program at the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe, this 28-year-old Hopi also is studying other art forms, including painting and jewelry making.

When she was seven, Elene Atokuku learned basket weaving from her mother. Today, 28-year-old Atokuku incorporates Hopi clan signs, kachinas, and designs from kachina costumes into her work. Many of her baskets are used in Hopi kachina ceremonies, such as the Bean Dance and Home Dance.

Navajo sculptor Roy Walters, Jr., 28, attended the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe and majored in art at the University of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff. He makes no preliminary sketches and refers to his method as the direct approach. “The stone has its own image, life quality, and spirit. It is part of the Earth just as we are, but it knows no sin. My work is very spiritual to me.” Twenty-seven-year-old Leslie Pablo, a Navajo, began sculpting about six years ago. Encouraged by a cousin to learn the art in order to make “a little extra money,” he now sculpts full time. He prefers working with alabaster because of the wide range of colors in the stones. His mood and the particular stone he's working on its color, shape, and the patterns of the veins running through it often influence a sculpture. Pablo's commitment to his art often finds him sculpting from late at night until early morning and through the weekend. He is married and has a three-year-old son.

Cindy Penn, a 26-year-old Navajo, became interested in art as a career while in high school. “One of the main things I learned was to discipline myself and always do my best on each piece of art.” Although Penn also does pencil drawings and makes beaded jewelry, she prefers sculpting. “I like working three-dimensionally and producing different textures. And the beauty of the natural color makes stone very exciting to work with.”

Son of noted Navajo artist Narcisco Abeyta, 26-year-old art in France and Italy as well as Santa Fe's Institute of American Indian Art, the Chicago Art Institute, and the Maryland Institute's Gallery of Art. Most of the painter's work is representative of American Indian ceremonial figures.

"Because of the religious restrictions of portraying these images out of their ceremonial context, I choose to create my own interpretation of them. But I try to make those interpretations support the ideas and beliefs instilled within the sacred images."

Bill Navasie (not shown) carries on the pottery tradition of his grandparents and parents. A potter for the last four years, 23-year-old Navasie signs his work with a Frog Woman family hallmark, a frog symbol. However, to represent his Hopi name, Tu tuk ya, "The Frog That Sings After The Rains," Navasie's frog is surrounded by musical notes.

Although her mother, Dextra Quotskuyva, taught her to make pottery when she was small, 28-year-old Hisi (Camille) Nampeyo did not become serious about it until 1987. She is the fifth generation of potters in her family and the great-great-granddaughter of the Hopi/Tewa potter Nampeyo. So Hisi Nampeyo seemed destined to work with clay.

"When I did," she says, "I thought it would be easy. It wasn't, but my mom always encouraged me."

Hisi Nampeyo studies her great-great-grandmother's pottery designs and incorporates many of them into her work.

Don Supplee, 26, began making jewelry three years ago. Gifted with natural talent, the Hopi artist learned from his brother, Charles Supplee, a contemporary jeweler. “I like both contemporary and traditional, but I tend to ‘think’ more contemporary,” Don Supplee says. “Sometimes I get a brainstorm in the night and get up to draw for an hour or two.” Although 25-year-old Ray Scott was born in an urban area, he was raised with traditional Navajo beliefs and spent summers at his grandmother's reservation sheep ranch. He was only six years old when he began helping his silversmith father with cutting and stamping the silver, and he soon became an accomplished jeweler. Influenced by Charles Loloma, Charles Supplee, and, especially, silversmith White Buffalo, Scott began using gold and more exotic stones in his own designs. His exceptional jewelry is signed with his original Navajo surname, Taa'itsohii, “Morning Gold.”

Twenty-eight-year-old Navajo silversmith Perry Shorty, who has been making jewelry for about five years, uses traditional techniques to create finely crafted pieces in a style reminiscent of the 1940s. His work could be defined as a revival of the elegant classic jewelry of that period. Shorty makes most of the stamps that he uses to imprint designs into the silver.

“I try to keep things simple,” he says. “The old smiths didn't have a lot of tools and materials to work with, and I like doing it their way.” Twisted-wire designs and delicate scrolls, all made from silver wire, are hand-fashioned meticulously, as is all of his work.

Twenty-five-year-old Hopi Timothy Talawepi has been carving for about six years. Although both his father and father-inlaw are traditional carvers, Talawepi decided to learn to sculpt cottonwood roots into contemporary lifelike figures. He is self-taught but gives a lot of credit to Hopi carver Brian Honyouti, who helped him perfect his art.

Noted for his stylized kachina sculptures, 25year-old Bryson Nequatewa learned to carve from his grandfather and uncles when he was 10. Influenced enormously by his great-uncle, Hopi jeweler Charles Loloma, Nequatewa has always been interested in contemporary art, and that interest has carried over into his carving style.

Burt Poley, 29, carved his first kachina doll when he was 13. Taught by his father, Orin Poley, he began making small flat dolls and bows and arrows for use in kachina ceremonies.

"It wasn't until about three years ago that I became a serious artist," the Hopi carver says. "I started doing one-piece sculptures of kachinas." Now he carves full time.

Kevin Pochoema (not shown), a 27-year-old Hopi from the village of Bacobi on Third Mesa, has been carving kachina dolls since he was 16. The art of his carvings involves not only the finely detailed kachina figures but the bases or stands on many of his works.

"I often use the base to tell a story about the ceremony or the time of year when the ceremony takes place," he says. "I like detail, and I try to include as much in my small dolls as I do in the large ones."

Six-year-old Finnia Lynn Begay, a Navajo and the youngest artist in this group, began weaving when she was only two and a half years old. Taught by her mother, Sarah Paul Begay, the younger Begay, called Pumkin, has woven six rugs in the past year.

Cheryl Beno, 14, a third-generation Navajo weaver, who started when she was eight years old, learned the craft from her mother. In two consecutive years, she won Second Prize in the Young Artist's Division of the Navajo Nation Window Rock Fair, Arts & Crafts Exposition, and, in 1991, she won First Prize in the Youth Division at the Gallup, New Mexico, Intertribal Ceremonial.

Fourteen-year-old Celesly Shabi, a Navajo, began weaving when she was 11 years old. She was taught by her mother. One of her weavings won First Place and Best of Show in the Young Artist's Division at the 1991 Navajo Nation Window Rock Fair, Arts & Crafts Exposition.

At the age of eight, Patricia Watson Tsinnie learned how to weave from her mother, noted Navajo artisan Marie Watson. Now, at 21, Tsinnie's striking Navajo rugs combine the raised-outline weaving technique with Burntwater colors.

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Although born of traditional Navajo parents, 26-year-old Bob Lansing creates nontraditional pottery masterpieces. Influenced by the work of renowned Santa Clara potter Joseph Lonewolf, Lansing began to carve and incise designs onto “greenware” (commercially produced pottery) while still in his teens. Later he was encouraged by fellow potters to create his own pottery. He now does, and it is even less traditional than most contemporary pottery because it is thrown on a wheel and fired in a kiln. He excels in animal motifs and designs of Navajo and Pueblo origin.

Sixteen-yearold Lance Yazzie (not shown) is following in the footsteps of his Navajo father, Larry Yazzie, a well-known sculptor. “I have drawn and painted as long as I can remember. I just always liked art.” He started doing sculpture when he was 13, and he sold his first piece the following year at the Santa Fe Indian Market. Lance especially enjoys sculpting images of the bear, a central figure in Navajo legend.

Cecilia McKelvey, a 19year-old Navajo, was awarded First Prize in Pottery, Youth Division, at the 1991 Santa Fe Indian Market. One of three daughters of potter Lucy McKelvey, she and her sisters are following in their mother's footsteps. The pottery of Celinda, 15, Celette, 17 (neither shown), and Cecilia becomes the “canvas” for painted symbols that are adapted from sand paintings and Navajo ceremonies. Each of the girls began making pottery when she was four years old. One of seven children, Navajo Vernon Begaye, 27, says that "making jewelry was a family effort every-one helped. I did the polishing when I was small." Begaye likes smooth surfaces and straight lines, and he especially appreciates art deco, Egyptian, and Scandinavian de-signs. He was influ-enced by such artists as Charles Loloma, Charles Supplee, and Roy Talahaftewa. "I learned that when I get an idea, I need to get it on paper. Then the materials the stone, gold, and silver will tell me what to do with the idea."

Twenty-nine-year-old Kee Nez is from a talented Navajo family; his mother is a rug weaver and his brother, Al Nez, is an accomplished jeweler. Now a full-time artist, Kee Nez often uses sandcasting techniques to create his striking silver and gold jewelry.

Karen Antone's delicately woven horsehair baskets with intricate designs are based on Tohono O'Odham tradition. Hair from the tails of horses, and sometimes the manes, is used in their natural colors. Antone, 20, has been weaving about four years.

Twenty-five-year-old Navajo Jeanette Katoney started painting in 1988. She was inspired to become an artist by her mother's weaving. In one of Katoney's paintings, Recollection, she sees herself through her mother. The staff of life goes through the center of the painting, and the terraced design represents Navajo rug patterns.

We wish to express our appreciation to those museums, galleries, organizations, and individuals who provided information and works of art.

Americana Indian Art Shows, Flagstaff Bahti's Indian Arts, Tucson Coconino Center for the Arts, Flagstaff Steve Cowgill, Silver & Sand Trading Company, Taos, NM C&R Traders, Casa Grande Gallery 10, Scottsdale Garland's Navajo Rugs, Sedona The Heard Museum Gift Shop, Phoenix Hubbell Trading Post, Ganado Hugh Perry Gallery, Sedona Institute of American Indian Art, Santa Fe, NM Oreland Joe Lovena Ohl Gallery, Scottsdale Bill Malone, Ganado Margaret Kilgore Collection, Blue River Ranch, Blue McGees Beyond Native Tradition Gallery, Holbrook Museum of Northern Arizona Gift Shop, Flagstaff Pueblo Grande Museum Indian Market, Phoenix R.B. Burnham Trading Post, Sanders Southwestern Association for Indian Affairs, Santa Fe, NM Toh'atin Gallery, Durango, CO Bob and Judy Trehearne Tsakurshovi, Second Mesa The Turquoise Buffalo, Sedona The Turquoise Tortoise, Sedona Waddell Trading Company, Tempe

ARTISTS' EXHIBIT:

Works created by some of the artists featured in this article will be exhibited Saturday, October 24 from 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. at the Arizona Center in downtown Phoenix (Third Street and Van Buren). Artists will be present. For information, telephone the magazine at 258-6641 or the Arizona Highways Gift & Information Center at the Arizona Center, 257-0381.