My vision:

My motivation when I paint is to show many facets of Dine’ (Navajo) life. Sometimes the idea, like in the painting “My Umbrella” was to show contemporary life – these three people could be at any swap meet anywhere across the reservation. Other times I like to portray the lifestyle of Dine’ from times past. It is important to me to portray Dine’ life honestly and to make the scenery normal or everyday life. Though the scenery may be commonplace, the people I portray are still traditional in their lifestyle – they wear their jewelry, and their hair tied up, and they have a strong sense of identity and pride. It is important for to me to show respect to the Dine’ people through my artwork, and I enjoy sharing my view of the traditional world with others.

My Biography:

I was born and raised in Tuba City, Arizona on the Navajo (Dine’) reservation. My clans are honeycomb born for the salt clan. I received a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts from Northern Arizona University, with an emphasis on painting in 1994. I have been a professional artist for over twenty years.

My pieces have been shown locally and regionally and have been included in galleries, museums, and private collections. Many of my paintings have won awards, including an honorable mention at Santa Fe Indian Market, in 2007, for an acrylic abstract; a third place ribbon, in 2005, for an acrylic at Santa Fe Indian Market; a rst place ribbon, in 2004, for a watercolor at Santa Fe Indian Market; an honorable mention, 2001 and 2004, for two watercolor pieces at the Heard Museum Indian Fair and Market; a rst place ribbon for a watercolor painting, 2000; and a rst place ribbon for an oil painting, 1999, at the Museum of Northern Arizona Navajo Show. I received a rst-place ribbon at the Totah Festival in 2023 for the painting category. I was chosen as the poster artist for the 2001 Gallup Inter-Tribal Ceremonial Pow-Wow poster.

I was selected as a South Western Association for Indian Arts fellow in 2002. I illustrated two children’s books, Little Prankster Girl, by Martha Blue in 2002, and Proud to be a Blacksheep, by Roberta John in 2006. I was inducted into the artist association, Art of the People, which is a prestigious Native American artist group in 2006.

Currently, my art pieces stylistically combine impressionism, realism, and romanticism marked by vivid colors. I work with a variety of media including oil, acrylics, watercolors, lithographs, and pen and ink.

One compliment that I get from other Dine’ is when they come up to my artwork at different art shows. They will say that they can see their aunt, grandmother, or uncle in the paintings. Dine’ people recognize their relatives in the pieces, which validates me as an artist. I feel the work is real and honest when I get that reaction.