Christmas blessings and adornment

Venaya Yazzie and her 'masani, Jane Werito Yazzie
Photo courtesy of FPL

This is a wonderful season for family. It is also a time for the wonder of cultural adornment. I was blessed to have shared this moment with my loving grand-mother/ mother as we share the presentation of Navajo String Games on the reservation in Shiprock, NM.

We share stories and game techniques with the community and the children.

Pueblo Male Adornment

/Pueblo Man Adornment
Photo by Venaya Yazzie 2014

Yazzgrl Art

Blessings!

Today is a 'beauty-ful' day, the winter birds are singing their morning songs, the western clouds are heavy with rain and the chilly early air is misty; New Mexico is truly blessed.

With this post, I just wanted to share my new website with you. I had previously  launched my official art website at (yazzgrlart.com) but, due to circumstances I not longer have access to that address. This site is one I am still building, but you will still be able to visit and view my pages there. The only difference with this new site address is that I have added an "s" to the end of it.

The new site can be located at www.yazzgrlsart.weebly.com
As an artist I must be proactive, therefore I have had created a new website which is exclusively to show my contemporary fine art paintings and conceptual art installations.


Please share with your circle of family and friends, and or those you might enjoy my art.

Be blessed, be a blessing. -Venaya

Venaya Yazzie and her Ke'staal - Women's Moccasins

Navajo style women's moccasins
Photo by Venaya Yazzie

Within the strong communities across Indian Country, the word has been out that all Indigenous people should, 'rock your mocs.' This was meant to be done within the month of November, which is designated as 'National Native American  Heritage Month.' So, across social media and within the campus of many universities a plethora of Generation X'ers and Millennials, and also manycollege students have been sporting their unique tribal moccasins as a way of showing pride in their identity as 21st century Indigenous peoples.

I truly believe We as Indigenous people should wear our tribal regalia and Our tribal footwear every chance we get! The moccasins pictured here are my own Navajo-style women's moccasins, which are called ke'tsaal, 'big shoes.' Most though refer to this style of moccasins as 'wraps.' These moccasins are made with cow and deer hides and are dyed a reddish-brown color. The shoes itself is permanently attached to a large piece of white deer hide, which when worn is wrapped around the ankle and calf of the woman.

Via Navajo oral tradition, it is said that the women wore this type of moccasin so in their nomadic treks their legs and feet would be protected from the flora and fauna as they walked.

Pueblo women in Indigenous cultural adornment.

Pueblo women in Indigenous cultural adornment.
Historical photograph source: Internet

I so adore this historical photograph, it is an amazing depiction of ancestral Indigenous southwestern desert adornment of tribal women.

In their Indigenous tribal adornment their presence is strong, they truly stand as Pueblo matriarchs of our strong desert ancestry. Simply beauty!

Yazzgrl Art Earrings by Venaya Yazzie

Yazzgrl Art Earrings by Venaya Yazzie
Photo by Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2014

As an artist I have always worked to extend my boundaries of my work in many venues, as of now, I am designing and creating wearable art via jewelry. This photo depicts a pair of earrings I made on wooden pieces and acrylic paints and glass embellishments. The abstract designs are inspired by the Navajo rug designs of my matriarchs of the Navajo weavers of my tribe.

Yazzgrl Art Earrings made by Venaya Yazzie

Yazzgrl Art Earrings made by Venaya Yazzie
Photo by Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2014

As an artist I have always worked to extend my boundaries of my work in many venues, as of now, I am designing and creating wearable art via jewelry. This photo depicts my earrings I made on wooden pieces and acrylic paints and crystal embellshment. The curved abstract designs are inspired by the flora and fauna of the high-desert southwest in northwestern New Mexico.

Navajo Matriarch - Adorned

My maternal grandmother/ Navajo matriarch
Photo by Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2014

 

Ever since I can remember the people in my family have been 'adorned' in silver and turquoise jewelry. This is still true today, and as an adult I fully appreciate and adore such ways of being as a Navajo person.

 

I am blessed to have my maternal grandmother in my life now, for her stories of the family and the cultural ways of our Navajo people inspire my to keep working on instilling the Navajo traditions and practices in the 21st century.

Navajo creatiion - Squash Blossom: a Navajo art

Sterling silver Squash Blossom Necklace
Photo credit: Internet

 

This necklace is beautiful. The pure aesthetic quality of this jewelry piece has a direct link to the Navajo people of the American southwest.

 

My work in the area of Navajo oral history has allowed for me to hear a plethora of traditional stories of the legacy of Navajo jewelry from the beginnings of Navajo creation to the present day 21st century.

 

Of those stories the most intriguing are those histories that are linked the Navajo Squash Blossom necklace. This jewelry piece is a pure Navajo creation that was inspired by the mother-land of the Navajo. As Navajo people were introduced to European silversmith techniques, soon many artists who were making jewelry were influenced by their immediate surroundings.

 

The arrival of the Anglo pioneers, Mexican groups and Spaniard conquistadors to the desert lands of the Navajo and Pueblo people, definitely influenced the artistry of many early Navajo jewelry artists. One of the focal inspirations was the metal pendants of fully adorned Spaniard horses, who wore such 'half-moon- medallions on their foreheads. But, before the Navajo were a making the 'naja' medallions they were wearing the Spaniard pendants that they would have taken from the horses, as a way of 'counting coup.'

 

As the Navajo artist became more skilled in the techniques of silversmith work, they would soon add the accompanying side 'blossoms.' Many non-Indigenous researches say this addition as do to the Navajo's influence by pomegranate fruits, which could be nothing further from the truth. In the early days, Navajo people did not see, use or consume such exotic fruits, for such fruits do not grow in the desert southwest. Instead the flora and fauna the Navajo people seen, utilized and ate was elements of the desert yucca plant and its fruit.

 

Soon the Navajo jewelry artists created and added the Navajo 'blossoms' to the 'naja' medallion. The 'blossoms' were a direct inspiration from the blossoming yucca flower blossoms.

 

Nowadays, the Squash Blossom necklace is made by other southwestern tribal people, and recently I have found that non-Native, non-tribal people are making the Squash Blossom necklace. There are pros and cons to this activity, but if a collector of fine Navajo jewelry wants to be true the artistry of the necklace, they should buy a Squash Blossom Necklace designed and created by a Navajo jewelry artist.

 

Blessings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Autumn change and blessings

Autumn leaves in Eastern Navajo Nation, NM
Photo by Venaya Yazzie

Blessings to you!

I would like to extend my gratitude to you all who view my blog. I am thankful for your comments and interest in Indigenous Adornment in the American Southwest. I too, am thankful for the change of seasons, and to witness the ways in which the Earth is 'adorned' in new colors as the high desert southwest flora and fauna make their change.

At this time of season, many of the Navajo and Pueblo dances and ceremonial life is in full effect, therefore, many of the Indigenous People are indeed 'adorned' in their finest traditional jewelry.

We are blessed to be a part of this season, this journey and ability to be inspired by Indigenous southwest culture. We are rich indeed!

Article about Turquoise and the Indigenous

Pueblo Mosaic Jewelry
Photo: Museum of New Mexico

It is a rare thing when I find a truly authentic article that touches to the core of the Indigenous artist, and their jewelry creations. I found this article via the Internet and was pleased that the Museum of New Mexico discusses the rich, ancient knowledge of why, where, when and how many of the desert's Indigenous people wear turquoise. As Indigenous peoples of the 21st century, many of us wear turquoise for spiritual reasons. Blessings.

Santa Fe features Turquoise, Water, Sky: The Stone and Its Meaning

March 20, 2014

Museum of New Mexico

If you love Turquoise, make your way to Santa Fe for a new exhibit. The Turquoise, Water, Sky: The Stone and Its Meaning exhibit opens at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture on April 13, 2014, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and will run through March 2016. The exhibit showcases the museum’s ample collection of southwestern jewelry and addresses all aspects of the stone.

In the Southwest, people have used turquoise to make jewelry and for ceremonial purposes for over a thousand years and may have traded it to the great population centers of Mexico. The Navajo, Zuni, Hopi, and Santo Domingo developed distinctive jewelry-making traditions over the past couple of centuries, producing world-renowned and highly desired objects. Turquoise, Water, Sky presents hundreds of necklaces, bracelets, belts, rings, earrings, silver boxes, and other objects illustrating how the stone was used and its deep significance to the people of the region.

Despite its close identification in the US with the Southwest, turquoise has long been esteemed in other parts of the world. Turquoise was one of the stones used in the gold funeral mask of King Tutankhamen in Ancient Egypt and it is prized by Iranians, the Chinese, Tibetans, Uzbeks, and by South American indigenous groups. The oldest turquoise mines in the world, operated for thousands of years, are in Iran. The word “turquoise” comes from the French name for a beautiful blue stone they thought came from Turkey, but was actually from Persia.

Additional information below:

The regions where turquoise is highly valued as a gem stone, the US Southwest, central and northern Mexico, Tibet, Andean South America, and Uzbekistan, are all arid regions. This is no coincidence as turquoise and its color symbolize water and sky and sometimes both.

The Zuni word for turquoise can be translated as “sky stone.” This link between turquoise and sky is true outside the Southwest, for example in Tibet, where the sky is sometimes called “the turquoise of Heaven.”

Turquoise’s stronger symbolism in the Southwest is to water, a scarce but essential resource. Turquoise has an almost poetic connection to water. It is formed in arid lands by infrequent precipitation flowing through host rock and depositing minerals and salts. It’s fitting that the resulting stone’s color echoes its origin.

Pueblo dances during the summer growing season are performed to ensure rain for crops with the dancers’ wearing turquoise regalia alluding to rain.

Southwestern turquoise has been mined for over a thousand years at various locations in Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada.

Turquoise, the stone, ranges from white (also called “chalk”), to deep blue, pale blue, florescent yellow-green, deep green, and everything in between.

Turquoise is a soft stone and changes color as it is worn, becoming darker and greener. In many parts of the world it is believed that turquoise can absorb poisons and protect the wearer, or alternatively, that its color reflects the health of its wearer.

While the color of turquoise is important, the color and shape of the matrix, the veins of host rock that run through turquoise, contribute to its prestige and value.

Shell and turquoise are often used together. Both allude to water, one based on origin and the other on color with the pairing intensifying the water symbolism.

For the Navajo, turquoise is linked to protection and health. At birth, babies receive their first turquoise beads. The stone, in both whole and crushed form, is also included in puberty rites, marriage and initiation ceremonies, and in healing ceremonies and other rituals. With the stone so intertwined with every stage of Navajo life it is no accident that they are famed for their turquoise jewelry.

The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture is located on Museum Hill in Santa Fe, New Mexico. To find additional details and information on the exhibit and on all things Santa Fe, visit www.santafe.org.

Information courtesy: Santa Fe CVB

Campitos and Mother-of-Pearl earrings

Handmade earrings by Venaya Yazzie
Photo by Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Navajo coral necklace

Besides wearing a this fabulous six-string coral necklace, I am also adorned with a turquoise necklace that belongs to my maternal grandmother, shi'ma'sani. This coral necklace was strung my ma'sani, so it made in the 'ol style' fashion meaning she strung the necklace to hang in a longer line, and the beads are strung along the whole string.

Handmade wooden Navajo earrings

Hand-made wooden earrings made by Lino Footracer
Photo by Venaya Yazzie

I was able to find the work of Navajo jewelry artist Lino Footracer from Arizona via social media. I purchased this pair of earrings and I was not disappointed when they arrived via post mail delivery.

Navajo silver beads and pendant

Navajo silver beads and pendant.

Navajo made sterling silver beads and sandcasted pendant. All beads are hand-fashion by a Navajo silversmith, who made each bead in two-parts which are sautered together. Each bead is hollow, and are heirloom pieces that belonged to my great-grandmother.

Navajo / Hopi Cultural Adornment

Photo of 2014 Miss Navajo Nation McKeon Dempsey
Source: Instagram

As an avid user of Instagram I follow the current reigning Miss Navajo Nation, McKeon Dempsey.

This photograph was posted by her which depicts southwestern Hopi Pueblo and Navajo cultural adornment in the 21st century. The Hopi girls are wearing white, red and black woven mantas with woven sash belts, turquoise and silver jewelry.  The three Pueblo girls are wearing their hair in traditional women's Hopi hair style.

Miss Navajo Nation McKeon is adorned in post-Long Walk era attire via her velvet shirt and 3-tiered skirt and woven sash belt. She also wears her silver and turquoise jewelry including silver concho belt and Navajo squash blossom necklace.

This picture is a great depiction of modern cultural women's adornment of the Hopi and Navajo.

Home.

Huerfano Peak - Mesa, NM on Eastern Dine' reseravation
Photo by Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2014

Growing up this view was my safety. my family is here, I am rooted in this high desert full of safe oceans and waving arms of rabbitbrush. My identity concerns the voice of northwestern New Mexico, my love moves upon the skies of eastern region of the Navajo Nation reservation. This is home.

Autumn blessings

/Navajo silver and turquoise cluster earrings from my private collection.
Photo by Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2014

As fall as arrived to the San Juan Valley in northwestern New Mexico, I constantly find myself outdoors. I am in awe of the rapid changes that happen daily along the Animas river where a myriad of ancient and young cottonwood trees 'adorn' the river sides. I took this photo as I was walking with a friend, I love the contrast of colors. Blessings

Indigenous Adornment is my way

Navajo/Hopi Artist Venaya Yazzie

I adorn myself to perpetuate the legacy of my ancestors. I adorn myself for protection and happiness.
I adorn myself to continue Indigenous survival.

Santo Domingo Pueblo-style

Santo Domingo Pueblo-style earring adornemnts
Photo credit Venaya Yazzie 2014
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Speaking of Indigenous earring adornments, these pictured earrings are the newest pair I have added to my collection.

Every year, when the annual Northern Navajo Fair rolls around, Shiprock, N.M. becomes a major Indigenous trading hub. It is a divine time, when many of the areas Indigenous tribal people gather at the cultural event to celebrate their unique ways of being. It is a time when I begin my family's tradition of early a.m. trek to the Navajo reservation.

I love the 'hunt' in which I initiate the journey of discovering the most beautiful and unique Indigenous jewelry, and or earrings to add to my collection. Every year I make an effort to look for my Pueblo brothers and sisters who make their cultural jewelry pieces, and every year I find exquisite beauty!

Navajo artist Shonto Begay

Navajo artist Shonto Begay poses with his art.
Photo by Museum of Northern Arizona

Among the plethora of talented Navajo artists is blessed painter Shonto Begay from Shonto, Arizona.

The work that Shonto brings to the world brings blessings to those who view his work.

Poster Hopi Festival of Arts & Culture MNA

Official poster for the annual MNA event.
Photo by Museum of Northern Arizona

The Museum of Northern Arizona located in Flagstaff, Arizona hosts several different Indian Art Markets throughout the summer months including: Zuni Market, Navajo Market and the Hopi Market. And, every year they promote their markets by their wonderful posters. I really like this year's poster which features a young Hopi woman 'adorned' with traditional Pueblo jewelry and face paints.

Hopi man in the 21st century

Hopi man in the 21st century.
Photo via NIWRC

I am speechless as I look as this magnificent photograph, which is used in part for the promotion of the organization called Indian Law, and or NIWRC.

I like this photograph for many reasons, but mainly for the bringing together of the past and the present. As you can see this beautiful young Hopi Pueblo man is dressed in 21st century clothing via is white tee and polo shirt. Yet, he is also 'adorned' in Hopi male regalia. He wears a traditional Pueblo-style headband and a wonderful Pueblo-style necklace which seems to be made of a shell medallion with turquoise and other varied shells.

So beautiful in image and in the message.
Blessings

Northern Navajo Fair Parade

K''e'. - Family at the NNF Parade

Navajo Soul Food

Navajo steamed-corn, Shiprock, NM
Photo: Venaya Yazzie

Parade Adornment

Northern Navajo Fair Parade, Shiprock, New Mexico
Photo: Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Turquoise Vintage

Photo: Internet source

I was able to secure via the Internet from a fellow jewelry enthusiast as myself. I adore this photograph for many reasons, the first being it is a wonderful portrait of hands that I am assuming belong to an Indigenous elder.

The silver and turquoise pieces displayed here seem to be a variety from Pueblo, Zuni and Navajo. Secondly I believe most of the pieces are vintage items with good turquoise.

Indi-Ears Designs by Venaya Yazzie

Photo credit Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I was able to do a jewelry photoshoot in my garden this past week.

Featured here is my one of a kind Indi-Ears Designs made my me, Venaya Yazzie.  These earrings are made on a base of Balsa wood slabs and include the following materials: turquoise, coral, shell variety including abalone.

Each of the designs I create are different and are inspired by my ancestors of the Navajo and Hopi desert southwest tribes.

Navajo male cultural adornment

Photo by Venaya Yazzie

Love this photo!
I took this pic of my Navajo Arts Enterprises Calendar, which showcases a Navajo man in full cultural jewelry adornment.

Art by Navajo women painter Beverly Blacksheep

Original art by Beverly Blacksheep
Photo by Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

During Labor Day weekend the Totah Indian Arts Festival takes place in the bordertown of Farmington, New Mexico. Its a great time when Indigenous artists, mostly Navajo, come together to showcase and share their original art works.

I was a participant in this show, and so was Navajo painter Beverly Blacksheep from Arizona. I love her work as man of her pieces depict Navajo cultural adornment of both men and women. She does a great job in showing the detailed garments and jewelry pieces in her art.

Happily I was able to do a trade with her at this show. This painting is the item I traded for my own art. Its a beautiful piece I treasure much.

EarART Designs by Venaya Yazzie

EarART Designs by Venaya Yazzie
Photo by Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

These earring adornments are my newest from my EarART Designs collection. This line was debut in August at the inaugural Indigenous Fine Arts Market in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This pair was sold during this event.

Made on a base of Balsa wood the earrings were designed by me. Each earring was hand-painted using acrylic paints and finished with an acrylic glaze to protect the art.

Look out for more new designs to come!

Earring Adornments from Santo Domingo

Photo by Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Beautiful ear adornments from Santo Domingot Pueblo in New Mexico.

Navajo Fair season and turquoise adornment.

Photo by Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

My Navajo/ Pueblo cultural Indigenous jewelry is a vital part of my identity. Turquoise and silver jewelry adornment items such as earrings and rings, are how I choose to perpetuate my Indigenous way of life and existence.

This season is the season of Indigenous Adornment for many on the reservations of the southwest. In September the Navajo Nation began its ceremonial participation in the annual tribal fairs across the reservations in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

I was able to kick off the celebrations last weekend in Window Rock, Arizona last weekend. I was delighted to see much cultural Navajo adornment being practiced by a mix of people including tiny babies to beautiful Navajo elders, all dressed in their finest Navajo garb and turquoise and silver jewelry adornments.

The life of a Navajo person concerns cultural adornment, it is what has been talked to us through our Navajo oral history.

Granmother's hands are my strength.

Photo by Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

strength.
may masaani's beauty-ful hands full of wisdom.
she is jane werito yazzie.
we are a family rooted at huerfano, nm.
eastern navajo land.

Bizhi ba, warrior girl

Bizhi ba, warrior gir

born into the neck
of the full harvest,
Bizhi ba
took deep breath -
autumn's early chill filled
her lungs.

ripened green melons scattereed
horizon west. corn
stalk leaves
motioned the dawning sun
to rise,
rise, rise.

baby girl at first cry
held  her matriarch's hand
strong fingers full of
ancient
winters.

strong grip
that praised the day the brown
glistening infant girl
crossed the hold desert lands
to this
fifth world.

poem by Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Hand and Ring

photo by Venaya Yazzie

Photograph of my hand adorned with vintage Navajo turquoise and silver ring. This was taken in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Heirloom Navajo Pins

my hand adorned in heirloom pins
photo by Venaya Yazzie

These Navajo silver and turquoise pins are heirloom pieces, some belong to me and some to my grandmother. The turquoise is varied.

Coins and Velveteen and Navajo

Navajo woman adorned circa 1930s
Web photo

Here is a fine example of a Navajo women in full adornment. This southwestern Indigenous adornment was perpetuated by Navajo women of the 1930s and 40s era on the Navajo reservation.

My grandmother has many photographs such as this one. The woman pictured here is wearing a velveteen shirt adorned with silver dimes, or currency. Instead of fashioning silver into buttons, many women chose to use the shiny coins to decorate their clothing. Sometimes they would also use quarters, and later some Navajo women used the coins given by Anglo traders on the reservation.

After the U.S. government learned of such practices they announces that the Navajo could not longer "deface" American property, so this type of fashion faded out.

I adore this photograph.

respect the stone.

my turquoise collection
photo by Venaya Yazzie

.dootłízhi.

turquoise for the Diné is meant to perpetuate hózhó. a good life. it us a stone that was gifted to us humble beings by the holy ones. it has a specific purpose in cultural ways of being (indigenous sw epistemology)& thereforeshould be respected. its not meant to promote the social ills of american pop culture....i.e. crudeness, violence, sexuality, drugs, etc. For if u'adorn' yourself w/ turquoise you are receiving blessings from Creator. please don't use it without prayer and reflection : it is an important element in cultural sw pueblo/diné dogma.

this *insight: frm masani is vital.always

Adorn yourself. Its medicine.

Wearing cultural jewelry is not merely an act of tangible adornment. Wearing Indigenous, southwestern jewelry, is an act of cultural sovereignty. Our turquoise is our survival, it is our prayers.

Bless yourself: wear your dootlizhi.

New book. Lloyd Lee, PhD

Venaya Yazzie with new book by Lloyd Lee, PhD.

Navajo scholar Lloyd Lee, PhD recently published his book titled, Dine' Masculinities and he asked for my art for his cover.  Get the book, its full of strong knowledge and insights. 

Zuni-inspired earring adornments.

Photo by Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
2014

In my palm I told a precious pair of Zuni-inspired earring adornments. These earrings are vintage and are made of mother of pear shell with turquoise, coral and onyx materials.

Wrist adornments.

Photo by Venaya Yazzie 2014
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Navajos have made and adorned their wrists with silver and turquoise bracelets for many years. This adornment of the self concerns not only the tangible, but the spiritual. Many Navajo understand that by wearing such items they will be blessed by Creator God. 

These bracelets are my own which I have acquired buy direct purchase or were gifted to me.

The matriarch.

Venaya Yazzie and her (grand)Mother.

My adulthood has brought me to the path of my grandmother, who raised me. She is the matriarch of our family and she is a blessing to me in every way.

The strong history she shares is healing, it is the history of our family, our Navajo people.

Hand adornment - ring

I recently acquired this ring via the Shiprock Indian Open Market in New Mexico. It is a Navajo made simple ring design made of sterling silver and an onyx stone. It has become my favorite piece I wear daily.

Ancient stone and my neo-shell earrings.

Pueblo-style earrings.
Photo by venaya yazzie

The earrings pictured here are my favorite earrings in my collection. I attained these circular discs about 15 years ago in Arizona. They are mostly made completely of shell material  including: spiny oyster, mother of pearl, and abalone, and turquoise too.

During my second week of my artist residency (AIR), I wore these earrings on my re-occurring visit to the dwelling called Balcony House at Mesa Verde. Yes, I did visit the dwellings at Mesa Verde, but not all. Some people, (Navajo) do not visit such sights due to their personal reasons, as some say it is taboo to do so. Being raised in a family of scholars, archaeologists,  and 'anthros', I feel I am somewhat more open-minded to studying and experience the history of Indigenous people of the southwest.  Furthermore, my grandfather and his brothers who were from the area near Chaco Canyon in New Mexico also worked as Navajo masons who assisted in re-building the walls at Chaco.

I must admit that the overall feeling I got from this place (Balcony House) was a calming, peaceful feeling even that of celebration and also the female. I was able to do many Plein-Air art sketching and photography in the area and will soon create a painting from these initial drawings and from one I will donate the AIR program.

Throughout my rural trek in the high-desert lands of Mesa Verde I 'adorned' my person. I wore coral, turquoise, silver; it was my humble way of paying homage to ancestors who once walked, and migrated among the ancient sagebrush, cedar, juniper trees and majestic ponderosa pine and blue spruce.

My art has blessed my life path, for it has taken me to places my spirit needs. I am so very thankful for art in my life. 

blessings,

venaya.

Adornment amidst Mesa Verde

for the last two weeks i was purposely lost in the natural world of the sandstone cliffs at mesa verde national park. i was chosen to participate in the 2014 AIR artist residency program in southwestern colorado. the program is meant to allow artists to reside in the park and therefore to be inspired by the beauty of the natural high-desert environment.

i was able to dwell on the grounds of the entire park, whichi includes ancient anasazi dwellings, and that were originally re-built by contemporary navajo men. the navajo masons whom is speak of are those who previously assisted in re-building the walls of the ancient sites in the early 1930s. the hogan in which i stayed were also build by these navajo masons as they needed places to live while they were working for the national park, overall the 'hogan' was a beautiful and very comfortable home away from home.

my visit while at mesa verde was very inspirational, as i was able to visit the sites that are found throughout the canyons. among the favorite the highlights was the site named balcony house, in which the dwelling holds a balcony-type area that faces the east.

i have included photographs of the my visit to the balcony house in which i wore my turquoise and coral necklace. i felt that it was a way of being respectful to the space and that i was bringing good blessings to the place.

Desert.Homelands

Desert Homelands
photo by Venaya Yazzie 2014

Be Blessed

Don't worry.
Wear Turquoise.


blessings

Studio Navajo Woman Portrait

Studio portrait by Christain Barthelmes

This photograph is titled “Red Stocking- Navajo Woman” and is a studio portrait by Christain Barthelmess. I really love this photograph fo the way she is adorned.  Though a studio portrait, she is depicting  the true essence of a Navajo female in terms of Navajo philosophy and identity.

She is dressed in post Long Walk clothing via her floral cotton tiered skirt and collared blouse. She has a Pendelton type shawl over her and is adorned in silver and I’m sure turquoise and coral. Her fingers are adorned with various silver ring bands. She also wears a silver squash blossom necklace with turquoise choker and silver buttons on her shirt.

The other reason I wanted to address this photo is because of the title handwritten on the photo itself which reads “Navajo Squaw.” This term might have been a societal norm and accepted in the era it was photographed, but really it is a disrespectful, rude and non-acceptable term to use in the 21^st century. In early days of American society this derogatory term was used by men, but it should never be used ever to address an Indigenous woman.

Female Navajo Elder: Beauty

Aunt Effie, an elderly Navajo woman.

Title and "an old Navajo woman perhaps 100 years (snows) old." hand-written on album page. She wears a blanket shawl. 

Date: between 1880 and 1910

Rights: Western History/Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.

Filename 10033080.TIF

21st Adorned Navajo Girl

Indigenous Navajo girl
Photo source Internet

This photograph depicts a 21st century young Navajo girl.
She is adorned with a contemporary velveteen shirt with silver button pendants along the shoulder, colalr and the front of her shirt. She is wearing a traditional Navajo style squash blossom turquoise necklace and matching earrings. This young woman is wearing her hair in the traditional cultural Navajo woman's style hair bundle, which is called a 'ts'ii yaal.'

Hopi Style Turquoise/White Shell Earrings

Hopi style earrings
Photo by Venaya Yazzie 2014

I just adore these earrings!

The earrings I have posted were originated and made directly from a Hopi artisan. I am sharing these earrings today because I would like to share the story of how journeyed across the desert to find me.

One day as I was browsing the hand-crafted items made by Navajo and some Pueblo vendors at the Shiprock Community open market I stopped at a booth with a small elder man sitting behind a small table.

He had a sweet face and he had a plain, white cotton fabric draped over the table with a variety of turquoise earrings upon it. Magical!

What was so wonderful to find was that he did not make the earrings to completely match. I ended up picking the two pictured to make a pair.
When I made the purchase transaction he smiled and called me his 'grand-daughter.' 

Happiness.