gain.Knowledge.

Knowledge gained about another culture than  your own allows for stereotypes to be broken.

-anon.

EarART designs by Venaya

EarART earring designs by Venaya.

As an artist one of my outlets besides painting on canvas is designing and creating jewelry.

The purpose of my work is continue the Adornment practices in our daily lives.

My EarART designs are a new product available online.

Please visit my website at:

http://earartdesigns.weebly.com/

my Home.lands.nm/az



Huefano, NM Navajo Nation photo by Venaya Yazzie ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2013



Walpi, AZ Hopi Nation
 photo by Venaya Yazzie ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2013

These two photographs I took are located in two southwestern states. New Mexico and Arizona. It is always blessing for me to travel between th two communites. Both communities are sacred places for me as an artist, when I visited each I gain new knowledge and always find new inspiration.

Keyah ayoo nizhoni'aa.

Blessings in all things.

vj

So fierce Hopi.!!



Hopi woman 1880s.

This historical photograph is another favorite of mine. In this image the woman wearing a traditional female hairstyle, which is said to be worn by those who are unmarried. Notice that she is wearing a variety of necklances made of silver. Mostly likely many of these strung silver beads were

Navajo-made items, as many Hopi and Diné people historically have traded cultural items with each other for generations. The pendant she is wearing is called a naja (na'azha) which is made via the technique of tufa casting.  The additional pendants that look like crosses are stylized stars and many Diné historicalled used in their silverwork, and continue to make in contemporary jewelry designs.

As you can see Adornment is in full effect in this historical photograph.
She looks so fierce! 



My desert lineage.Hopitu.



Historical photograph of a Hopi (Pueblo) girl wearing her hair
in traditional young women's style.Circa 1880s era.
GraphicART by Venaya Yazzie

As an adult woman I have come to recognize how vital my lineage is as I perpetuate my Indigenous ways of being in the 21st century.  Because my People endured prayed, and survived, I too survive and thus in many ways continue the journey of  my ancestors.

I was born in northwestern New Mexico on the Diné lands and raised the communities of Huerfano and Farmington, but I also have connections to the Hopi Pueblo people of Arizona.  The Hopi heritage I carry in my blood originates from my late father's side of the family.

The memories I carry about my late father are rooted in story of family ties.  My father used to tell me about his father (my paternal grandfather) who was from the Hopi Pueblo nation of Arizona in Polacca.  My dad was a brilliant man and I will always adore him.

Today I am working on making familial connections to my relatives in Arizona and because of this current journey I am learning more and more about cultural Adornment in the Hopi world.



Oral history quote

by my family's matriarch:

“When I was a young child, my mother used to tell me to always wear jewelry.  She said that if you didn’t wear bracelets of turquoise on your wrists, you will look like the jackrabbit sitting out there in sage brush with his white, bare arms; silly and all plain.”

Yazzie girl.Tribute. Music by Sharon Burch.

Let it be known that every Tuesday I will post one of my fav songs on YouTube.

Today it is a song by Diné singer and songwriter, Sharon Burch. The song is called

Yazzie Girl, it reminds me of my grandmother Jane.

Some lyrics translated from Diné language to English:

She reminds me of a rainbow...beautiful woman, my grandmother, my mother...Yazzie girl..She is like white shell necklaces, she is like turquoise necklaces...She is like the highest mountains......

This song is a blessing so I listen to it often and smile.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP9iVfRGfH4

Blessings all around,

Venaya

My heroes have always wore turquoise.

My great grandmother, me and my maternal grandmother.

My heroes have always wore turquoise.

The childhood I was fortunate to grow up in always, always included women adorned with turquoise, shell and silver jewelry and velvet and cotton clothing. Now as an adult I am so very thankful for the life Creator God has given me.

Growing up between the urban areas of the San Juan Valley in northwestern NM and on the eastern region of the Navajo Nation I was taught to value the practice of adoring oneself. This photo is one of my favorite pictures of my childhood, it is one that encaptulates the beauty of my grandmothers. The unconditional love they both had for their grandchildren was healing, it was home. I was blessed to have my great-grandmother presence in my life until I was 18 years old. Through her daily rituals of rural reservation life, she taught me much, her gentle yet steadfast way of a Diné

 matriarch of the Manyhogans clan is my eternal blessing. I can still remember the last moment I shared with her in December of 1991. She would leave this earth later that month to become an angel.

And too, I am super blessed in the 21st century to have a best friend in my maternal grandmother (pictured on the right). She is my rock, and I am happy that she is a part of my daily life. From her I have learned to adorn myself with the traditional jewelry items of the Diné culture, she stands in my minds eye as a reminder of the matriarchal ancestors of my family's past.  If I happen to miss putting on my turquoise earrings, ring or a bracelet she always catches me and says, Where's your jewelry?

Such moments, such memories make me who I am, a Diné and Hopi woman of the matriarchal way of life. Shimásaní ayóó ba’ahénisín.

Diné Male Adornment

Diné elder

This historical photograph is important for the reason that this image depicts the Adornment

Tradition of Diné men. This practice of male adornment is fading within modern Diné culture due to the role of acculturation in 21st Indigenous society. I wil talk more of this soon.

Great photo. Strong presence.

Historical Female Adornment

Diné Woman

Adorned in silver work. She wears silver squash blossom necklace,

bead necklace and concho belt.

The Diné way of living a good life, requires perpetuating hózhó, the beauty way of life, which also includes regard for the spiritual.

Adornment with traditional jewerly is a major part of this effort.

Perpetuate Indigenous Identity: Adorn Yourself!

As highly cultural people many of our ways have been repressed via mainstream american acculturation but we have never been wholly assimilated. WE as a People have always carried on our ancestral ways of Personal Adornment. Adornment with jewelry items made by our family and artists in our community has allowed for us to overcome and continually survive. WE wear our wampum, abalone, turquoise.....as armor that protects us and keeps us!

I am happy to see people of Indigenous background wearing their tribal items in the 21st century. Indigenous Adornment is our Survival: it is our pride, it is our happiness, it is our balance and always an homage to our ancestors.

As I head out the door to begin my day of good things, I always make sure I have on my turquoise. Its my protection, my grounding.

I send you blessings,
venaya