Contemporary Navajo Folk Art
Many
people have become aware of Navajo folk art through, The People Speak,Navajo Folk Art
(you can read it here). Historical recordings of Navajo Folk art date to the 1870s
when it was noted that "simple" mud toy figures were made by parents for their
children. There is nothing "simple" or primitive about this art - it is
imaginative, educational, constantly changing and provides a keen editorial eye on the
world around the Navajo, as well as teaching Navajo children about their own traditions
and responsibilities.
Among
our favorites are Coyote (the Blue figure below with one paw over his eye) who is the
trickster figureportrayed in the Dine Bahane, the Creation Story of the
Navajo. The carved elephant/rat is a totally imaginative character. The Raven figures
play a large role in Navajo myth and story. And all the other animals of
traditional Navajo life - like owls, dogs, skunks, and chickens that co-exist in their
everyday life -- are represented here at Art+Workds Too.
The range of Navajo folk arts is not confined
to carving, but includes paper cut outs and other found material creations that
80-some-year old Mamie Deshille has made famous. Then there are the famous mud toys you
see here - unfired painted recreations of Navajo life that teach about their tradition and
values - patience, family, responsibility, and the care of animals. Today the mud toys
also inspire laughter and humor as riders are often mounted on elephants, zebras, giraffes
and other wild animals not of the Navajo world.
Navajos don’t need to "sign" their
folk art (although we ask them to do it for you) because they already know who has made
the art. Each family has its own style and the other families respect their unique
creation and don’t copy. There are no primitive, anonymous artists among the
Navajo - or other Native peoples for that maqtter. Native peoples have always known who
created a certain object by the way it was made. They don’t need signatures to tell
them and it didn’t make the artists anonymous just because we couldn’t recognize
the artists.
So, for example, we have the case of the Navajo chickens and any discussion
of Navajo art is incomplete without a special mention of Navajo chickens. There are many
styles of chickens, which represent the different families or families within families
carving chickens today. Here we have two styles: the angular style of Lulu and Dareen
Herbert and the plump figures of Kathy and Laban Herbert.
Many more artists exist in this movement and
there is great fun in collecting and watching the constant- and rapid- innovations.
