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

What does 'matriarch' mean?

Venaya with her family 'matriarchs' circa 1973.
Photo: Venaya Yazzie
2019 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I share this image of myself and my great grandmother and maternal grandmother because it's one of my favorite family captures.

As long as I remember I have always been in the presence of my matriarchs, communally they raised me up.  The one steadfast way of being that stands out about my experience their strength in prayer and belief in God.

The term matriarch has many meanings for various people, for me though it concerns the tradition of prayer in our lives.  Long before I was born, my maternal grandparents gave their lives to Jesus Christ and lived their remaining lives as Believers in Him.  They raised up their family to have such faith, and so we did not dwell in the traditions and dogma of the Navajo religion.

The family story goes that my great grandmother seen the Navajo belief system as a means of instilling fear in the lives of the people. She did not want to be fearful of anything and therefore lived a live as a Navajo free from superstitions and tribal taboos and such fear-related borders.

They raised up their children to also be followers in Jesus Christ. So, my legacy too is to be in one almighty Creator God. I have tried to live my best life in the shadow of Christ, but at times have fallen short. But, all we can do as humans is to do our best to love one another with great compassion and care for each other.

I share this entry with you as a means of stating that I truly believe in the power of prayer, it has been instilled in me and it is how I find strength and harbor.  When people in the world, including family (sadly), come against you via jealousy and ill will, I have faith that prayer and belief in God will keep me safe.

This concept is, in my opinion, how I see the term 'matriarch' embodied in my family line. It is our family tradition to continually pray foe one another and love each other as good as we can.  And though we fail and fall again and again, we proceed on, knowing that our Creator has grace for us.

So, as matriarchs, pray for each other as a means of blessing one another.

Blessings all around.

VJY

The Four Corners Navajo Poets in Mancos, Colorado

Navajo Women Poets event
Source: Mancos Public Library

Four Dine' - Navajo Poetess' will converge this month at the foothills of Dibe'nitsaa, in Mancos, Colorado.

Sponsored by the Mancos Public Library and Shari Dunn. Hope to see you there!

Blessings All Around.
#navajo#navajopoets#indigenous#women#poetry

'Be Matriarch' Original Handbags- Origin Story

Be Matriarch Original Handbags made by Yazzgrl Art- Venaya Yazzie
Photo: Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
2019

Be Matriarch Original Handbags made by Yazzgrl Art- Venaya Yazzie
Photo: Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
2019

Made in the spirit of my high-desert Dine' matriarchs, my grandmothers, aunts and Indigenous sisters, I design and created these handmade 'Be Matriarch' handbags with each of them in mind.  Truly, their legacy inspires me constantly as a creative being in this current space.

Growing up with my Dine' elder women in my life I have been witness to their daily life tasks and household duties.  Of the myriad of responsibilities they did and continue to perpetuate the one that stands out is their constant and conscious act of sustainability practices.  My maternal grandmother, who is now 89 years of age, continues to reuse and recycle.  In today's contemporary jargon we call this practice "upcycling."  Many hipsters and earthy-type individuals live with this practice in mind - all of which is a good thing!  But, my tribal and ancestral relatives have been doing this for hundreds of years.

As a young girl, I would see my grandmothers and great aunts disassembling various items to be repurposed for future use.  Among the myriad of items they upcycled was the Four Corners area product, or bag it was sold in: the Bluebird Flour sack.  This is a regionally specific item used by many people in the are communities of New Mexico, Utah, Arizona and of course in southwest Colorado were the product is produced. The Cortez Milling Company, Inc., is located just northwest of Cortez, Colorado.  The mill produces three type so flour to cook with, the are the: Bluebird Flour, Red Rose Flour and the White Rose Flour.

Each of these types of flour have been used for years by the regional Indigenous peoples of the Four Corners communities of: Ute Mountain Ute, White Mesa Ute, Jicarilla Apaches, some of the Rio Grande Pueblos and Jemez Pueblo, and the Navajos from Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.  As tribal people we used the flour to make our various sorts of tribal-specific breads, one leading type of bread being the frybread.  For the Dine'/ Navajo people, the traditionally made tortilla is a favorite type of bread where the Bluebird Flour is used.  Many woman stand by the notion that only this type of flour can be used if you want the bread to be good!

So, as you see the Bluebird Flour brand has and continue to be a mainstay in our Indigenous communities in the Four Corners.  The flip side of the bread products produced by the flour, is the bag itself.  The flour is stored and sold in a hearty 100% cotton material cloth and stitched together with a heavy-woven cotton thread, which itself is string-like.  The stellar mark of the bag though is the art that is printed on it.  The Bluebird.  It is a farm scene with a field and a blue-colored bird perched upon a stalk of grain.  The Bluebird brings joy to people when they see it either in person in the nature, or on printed upon the flour sack.

For me I see the bag as a southwest, high desert cultural item.  Both the product and the bag itself have become integrated in the tribal culture of the above mentioned tribal people.  For the Navajo specifically, the bird bird species itself plays a vital part of our cultural stories, and therefore symbolizes goodness, blessing and or good luck.

I recall my matriarchs using all parts of the disassembled bag for their use.  The cloth and the heavy thread were upcycled and used for other things in the Navajo household and for personal use.  The Navajo matriarchs used the bag to store dried corn in, and to store dried- Navajo tea in.  Then they would use the heavy-thread/string to string turquoise beads with and or use the string when someone had their ears pierced.

Today, years later I carry on this upcycling tradition in the Be Matriarch Handbags I create.  With each bag I strive to make at at least 85% to 90% materials. I being with reusing the Bluebird cotton bag, which is screenprinted on with my design, then I use found material and remnant materials from the fabric store, which includes the various trimming.  I visit the second hand stores to get the woven belts and sashes in which I use to make the bag handles and straps. And I also use the belt hardware to attached to the bag itself.

I am very proud to state that the Be Matriarch Handbag is 100% inspired by my matriarchs! In that way the person who acquires one with be blessed with such Beauty.

Blessings All Around.

Venaya Yazzie

Yazzgrl Art

New Mexico, USA

(posted 04-15-19 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)

Dine' asdzaani nihi dzil - Navajo women are our strength

Dine' (Navajo) women, girls and babies.
Photographer: Unknown - Source: Internet stock photo

Navajo women are our strength. My people have a term for the female being as, aszdaa'.
It does not literally mean "woman." The Dine' language terminology cannot be translated to American English, our language is older that such a language as mixed English.

The language of the Dine' begins and ends with asdzaa' - her and her female relatives have a distinct set of female terms that Navajo men do not us. Our language is therefore gender-based. 

I believe all women are the strength of humankind, but as an Indigenous woman - I believe that tribal women hold the people together, they are the "glue" to our communities.  Therefore, I have great respect for my tribal matriarchs and hold them in the highest esteem.

Never forget that all womankind are beauty. Treat them well. They are sacred beings, life-givers, nurturers.

Bless them.

Matriarchy is not Feminism

Truth of the matter. Graphic made by Yazzgrl Art
Photo credit: Venaya Yazzie
2019 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

As a member of the southwestern, high-desert tribal people of the Dine' (Navajo) and Hopi people, this is my truth. As an Indigenous woman, we are rooted in Indigenous matriarchy.  I believe that that because of this identity, we therefore, cannot be "feminists." The "F" word is the total opposite of our Indigenous women's society.  I hope we can, as women, find our history and root ourselves in our tribal traditions and ways of the matriarch, not in the ways of non-Indigenous concepts of the femme.

Get "knowledg-ed" in your ways - not in their ways. We have a strong and resilient oral history and a culture narrative that is so unique and beautyful, get to know who you are, and where your history lies - that is your strength.

Blessings

Adornment and Beading

Beaded earrings with mother-of-pearl shell made by Venaya Yazzie
Photo credit: Yazzgrl Art
2019 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Adornment. The term is very large in essence - it could refer to alot of things, but in this case it concerns earrings, beaded earrings.

As I mentioned before, I acquired the act of beading via a Lakota friend while I was a student at the Institute of American Indian and Alaska Native Arts.  But, my family beaded in the early days. My maternal grandfather used to talk of his history in the Chaco Canyon community, when he and his father used to bead. They used craft of beading to generate income for the family.  He said that he would bead roses and make belts.  I feel very happy to know that beading is a somewhat family tradition, and that I am able to carry on this effort in 2019.

I continue to bead, mostly earrings, but have come to love creating beading pictorials (well what I call my creations of art imagery). I have made several of these beading pictorials, which are inspired by my own 2-D paintings I make.

These earrings I made using the four (sacred) colors of the Dine' (Navajo) people. We hold the colors of white, blue, yellow and black in great significance.  They are representative hues that hold a plethora of symbolic meaning in our epistemology.

These earrings are sold, they traveled to a new home in Hollywood, CA, they will soon 'adorn' the ears of a strong, Indigenous woman, sister.  My hope is that my creations bless the individual who wears them.  This is 'Beautyway.'

Blessings in all things.

VJY

posted 2-28-19

Navajo dogs.... Indigenous southwest pets

Navajo pet Schnoodle named "Rollie"
Photo credit: Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2019

I always remember that there used to be a cat in our urban home neighborhood that had earrings.  This cat had two shiny earrings on the tips of his ears.  I loved to catch a quick glimpse of this neighborhood cat, as a kid I thought it was the most beautiful sight.

We all for the most part have had experiences with pets in our lives. Whether we had been a pet owner or knew someone who had a beloved pet.  Most of the time these animals are beloved and treasured and treated like a human in the home.  Material items such as toys and pet clothing are purchased for them.  They usually have a bed to sleep upon and travel with their owners.

And then I always remember the pets my great grandparents and uncle and aunts had on the Navajo reservation home.  These dogs and cats (there were goats, sheep, horses, cattle, ducks, chickens too) were unlike the before mentioned animals.  These dogs and cats were not considered to be "pets" - instead they were thought of as needed comrades.  Haha! That sounds funny, but it was true. Dog and cats were needed to help maintain the 'balance' of life on the reservation home.  They each had their duties to fulfill as they lived there at the home of cheii and masani.  The dogs for example, had the important job of talking care of the family sheep herd.  From what my memory tells me, these dogs my cheii owned were so very smart! And so aware of the land around them, they were keen animals, and they were intelligent beings as they understood the Navajo language.  My cheii and masani only talked in the sacred Navajo language, so that is the only expression those sheep dog were commonly used to hearing, but I know they also comprehended English too.

The Navajo refer to cats as "gidi" or "mosi." The first expression describes a young cat, a kitten. The other latter word refers to an older, wiser cat.  But, in the Navajo home the cat's reason for being is to make sure the mice and other rodents are maintained.  The cat was never allowed in the house of my great grandmother, I don't think she liked cats, but she needed them around so the rez-mice would not enter the home or area of the home.

The memories I hold of life at the reservation home / ranch of my great grandparents brings that balance, or 'hozho' back into my life as an adult.  I treasure those memories, they truly make me smile.

Today, the modern Dine' pet owner looks a dogs and cats as their "friends" or pet companions.  We treat our dogs and cats as family members, our "babies" if you will.  I today's Navajo world, pets are a part of our daily lives.  I share this image with you of our family's beloved dog "Rollie." He's a Navajo dog, but doesn't speak fluent Dine', he only knows some words.  But I often share my jewelry with him.  I think he looks so beautyful in the coral and turquoise necklace I made.  He looks like a prince, so handsome! I feel like its more that blessing him with the goods, as a way of protection for him ( and the cats!).

I hope we all make our pets feel special and loved - and that we appreciate too what they do to make our lives better in the 21st century as Indigenous people.

Bless each other.

VJY