Model & Be Matriarch

Navajo model showing Yazzgrl Art Designs: Skirt, 'be matriarch' Tee and Handbag

Yazzgrl Art Designs Skirt

Yazzgrl Art Designs skirt by Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
2019

Designed and made by New Mexico artist Venaya Yazzie.  Each skirt is truly one-of-a-kind as Venaya does not re-make the skirts.  Her choice of mixed patterns and added adornments makes these skirt full of expression and life!

Made of 100% cotton printed fabric, with added applique methods, satin ribbon and elastic waistband.


Be blessedd
&
Be matriarch!

Yazzgrl Art is Venaya Yazzie

Yazzgrl Art

Venaya Yazzie

Venaya her art and her collectors at the annual Totah Indian Market Festival, NM

Yazzgrl Art is a company owned by New Mexico resident Venaya Yazzie.  Her art concerns a modern point of view of her matrillenial cultural of Navajo nation, and also her Hopi heritage.

Venaya is inspired by the matriarchs of her family in northwest New Mexico, in the high desert lands of abundant sage and mesas.

Visit her art site at:

Yazzgrl Art by Venaya Yazzie


Be Blessed
&
Be Matriarch!

The 'Be Matriarch' Handbag

Yazzgrl Art Designs

The 'Be  Matriarch' Handbag

By Venaya Yazzie

Yazzgrl Art Designs at the annual Santa Fe Indian Market, Santa Fe, NM

The 'Be Matriarch' Handbag is a series of handmade bags made by me Venaya Yazzie.  The concept of the bag is inspired by my female family members, my matriarchs of the Dine' (Navajo) Nation.

In a cultural society that lives as a matriarchal society, the concept of ' be matriarch' was conceived by me as I looked at the role that women play in my Indigenous culture.

Be Matriarch' is therefore the brain child of me.

#Navajonation

#bematriarhc

#venayayazzie

#newMexico

'be matriarch' shoulder bag

'be matriarch' shoulder bag made by Venaya Yazzie
Yazzgrl Art Designs
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Venaya Yazzie 2019

Detail of 'be matriarch' shoulder bag made by Venaya Yazzie
Yazzgrl Art Designs
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Venaya Yazzie 2019

I made this shoulder bag last month - it was created with the soul purpose of gifting it to a young Dine' friend who was moving to Taiwan.

I really like the way this bag came out as I is mostly representing blue hues. I decided to add the satin ribbon and silver ric rac trim to the bag. The bag is made of  90% upcycled materials, the only items I purchased new from the store were the ribbon, thread and silver button accents.

I hope this bag is a blessing to the Dine' woman I gifted it to.

Blessings.

All around - vjy

'Be Matriarch' Handbags at the annual Red Cloud Indian Art Show

Currently my 'Be Matriarch' handbags are in the annual
Red Cloud Indian Art Show in South Dakota from June 1 to August 11, 2019.

The show coordinators have created a website that allows viewers and potential collectors to view the artwork on display and also to purchase the pieces.

Please visit the site to the Red Cloud Indian Art Show:

Red Cloud Indian Art Show

My contemporary art pieces are located on page 57.

Please visit the site to see all the Indigenous artists that have art displayed on the website and to potentially own one or many of the original art pieces.

Blessings.

Shiprock, NM Treaty Days 2019

Upcoming event recognizing a monumental event in the sovereign Navajo Nation in the community Shiprock, NM, USA.

Four Navajo Women poets will be presenting in the afternoon they include:

Gloria Emerson, Hogback, NM

Tina Deschenie, Farmington, NM

Esther Belin, Bayfield, CO

Venaya Yazzie, San Juan Valley, NM

Blessings All Around!

The SW Indigenous Creative Process

Blue minerals and shell earrings made by Venaya.
PHOTO CREDIT: Yazzgrl Art
2019 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Growing up I recall my matriarchs always in the creative process.

Jewelry is a vital element of the life of a southwestern cultural person. I remember my grandmother and great-grandmother stringing minerals and shells to make their cultural jewelry items.  They would design and create one to six stranded necklaces. These divine necklaces were commonly made up of: turquoise, heishe shell beads, coral and other varied types of shell.  Also included in the necklaces were silver beads.

The southwest Indigenous culture is made up of necklaces, bracelets and earrings.  Today I am inspired of my memories and as a result I create unique earrings such as the pair I share with you today.  Using modern materials such as wire and earring hooks and findings, I work from the viewpoint of a Navajo person.

The earrings pictured are made of Mother-of-pearl shell discs, Apple coral beads and magnecite mineral formed into a star-shape.

I love designing and creating contemporary Indigenous jewelry items.  For me the creative process of an Indigenous person is rooted in the ancestral ways of the Navajo and Pueblo peoples of the American southwest community.  We are in essence perpetuating that free-Indigenous way of being that our ancestors did before such items we machine-made.

I have researched the historical Indigenous trading methods of the Navajo, Apache, Ute and Pueblo communities with the people of Mexico and South America.  During the time the Anasazi Puebloan people this kind of Indigenous trade played a vital role in cultural resources with the above mentioned communities.

When I create ancestor-inspired items I always think of the resiliency of the people of the southwest, no matter what colonization did to interrupt our ways of being, the ancestors continued, we continue today! Amazing.  So, I continue to make jewelry items as a means of continuing the narrative of resilience.

Be Matriarch!!

Blessings, VJY