Welcome to the Navajo and Pueblo Indian Paintings Page from Sunshine Studio - Santa Fe Indian Traders - with paintings and watercolors by Jim Abeita, Narciso Abeyta (Ha-So-De), Elliott Adams (Tyma), Gilbert Atencio, Robert Becenti, Arthur C. Begay, Harrison Begay, Filbert Bowannie, Louis Brown, Robert Chee, Neil David, Duane Dishta, Robert Draper, Adelido Garcia, Paul Goodbear (Chief Flying Eagle), Geraldine Gutierrez, Joe Herrera, Bobby Hicks, Velino Shije Herrera (Ma-Pe-Wi ), Bobby Hicks, Michael Jones (non-Indian), Louis Lomayesva, John Martinez, Rafael Medina, Geronima Cruz Montoya (Po-Tsunu), Raymond Naha, Tonita Pena (Quah Ah), Alfonso Roybal (Awa Tsireh), Patrick Sanchez, Percy Tsisete Sandy (Kai-Sa), Fritz Scholder, Sindelaer (non-Indian), Irving Toddy, Jimmy Toddy (Beatien Yazz), Andy Tsinajinnie, Kyrate Tuvahoema, Paul Vigil, Romando Vigil (Tse-Ye-Mu), Hubert Wackerman, Bruce Watchman, Johnson Yazzi, and Jimmy Yellowhair.

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Book-36 - Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation I, Contemporary American Indian Art from the Southwest

Authors: David Revere McFadden and Ellen Napiura Taubman

Dimension: 9-1/2" x 11-1/2"

Special Features: 224 pages, more than 200 illustrations - documents a traveling exhibition of superb contemporary Native American art - consisting of jewelry, fetishes, paintings, pottery and weavings - this book is now out-of-print

Price: $50 plus $5 Shipping - Status: A few copies available at this price

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Jim Abeita

Jim Abeita was the darling of the Indian art world for more than two decades. In the 1970s, he won numerous awards and was able to command very high prices for his paintings. The beginnings of his career are discussed in Clara Lee Tanner, "Southwest Indian Painting", Second Edition, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona (1980) pg. 406-407. His art has been celebrated in several books, e.g.., Rick Tanner, "The American Indians of Abeita, His People," A Rick Tanner Publication, Scottsdale, Arizona (1976).

Jim Abeita is now in a new phase of his life. He has remarried to an elegant and caring Ute lady, Shiela, and is the father of a new toddler, Shyann Abeita. He feels comfortable with his new family and is now able to pay more attention to his art. Jim was the winner and featured artist of the Totah Festival, an annual American Indian Art Festival at Farmington, New Mexico, September 2-4, 1995. We saw Jim and his work at the Totah Festival and we agree that he is well on his way through the third comeback of his life. Indeed, he commented that a number of collectors and traders seemed to have hoped that he would die. He assured me that this is not going to happen. We wish him the best of success in this crucial venture!

Update: August, 1997: We have seen several of Jim Abeita's most recent paintings and are pleased to note that his works now have the level of quality and detail that was his hallmark in the 1970s. His personal life is going well also, with a second child by his third wife born early this year. We are pleased to announce that Jim Abeita is Back !

The large (24" by 36") work pictured above is a radical departure from Jim's normal style. It was painted on the day that he received news that a good friend's son had shot himself. This was also the date, July 11, 1991, of a partial eclipse of the sun visible in the Navajo Reservation. This painting, entitled "A Distant Warrior", is a self-portrait of Jimmy crossing to the third world. The sky shows the sun in eclipse with numerous nearby heavenly bodies. Birds of prey are circling above. He is carrying the only articles of value to a Navajo at this stage, his peace pipe, his peyote fan, and his prayer stick. A rabbit, showing no fear of man, is in the foreground. Two coyotes are barely visible behind the rabbit. The overall style is loose, with fiery overtones, done with bold and violent brush strokes. This is a disturbing piece, for serious collectors only, priced at $3,500.

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Robert Becenti

Navajo artist Robert Becenti of Crown Point, New Mexico, is famous as an accurate painter of Navajo life. This painting is a night seen of an Apache puberty dance by the famous "Gans Dancers". It is done in acrylic on canvas, highly realistic, with dancers around a fire, with audience in the background under a night sky.  12" x 24", very nicely framed, Sold 

Arthur C. Begay

We had several paintings by the talented Navajo artist, Arthur C. Begay. Arthur was born in 1931. He has lived for most of his life near Newcomb, New Mexico, not far from the Two Grey Hills Trading Post. In the 1950s, Arthur won a fellowship to study under the famous Saturday Evening Post illustrator, Norman Rockwell, and spent a year working in Rockwell's studio in Westport, CT. Arthur's work has many characteristic features learned from Rockwell. No longer available.

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Filbert Bowannie

Zuni painter Filbert Bowannie specializes in very detailed watercolors of Zuni ceremonies. This 12" by 14" watercolor depicts the Kainakwe arriving to perform a male puberty ceremony, with the sacred mesa of the Zuni (Dowa Yalanne) in the background. The Kainakwe ceremony was performed once each 10 years, but has not been seen for more than 20 years. The price of this painting is $475.

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Raymond Naha

Raymond Naha is one of the most sought-after Hopi artists of recent history. His dance scenes show the whole of the event, with important background figures that portray the cultural setting. This consignment piece, entitled "Peyote Dancer", is done in an outdoor setting with numerous figures in the background, and was painted circa 1970, $1,350.

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Percy Tsisete Sandy (Kai-Sa)

Percy Tsisete Sandy (Kai-Sa) was a Zuni trained at the Dorothy Dunn American Indian School in Santa Fe, NM. After marrying a Taos woman, he lived most of his life at Taos Pueblo. His work is discussed in Clara Tanner's "Southwest Indian Painting" pages 393-396. He is most famous for water colors of Indian Dancers and wild animals. This fine matched pair watercolor Doe and Buck, each 9" by 12", is available as a set for $950.

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Percy Tsisete Sandy (Kai-Sa)

Percy Tsisete Sandy (Kai-Sa) was a Zuni trained at the Dorothy Dunn American Indian School in Santa Fe, NM. After marrying a Taos woman, he lived most of his life at Taos Pueblo. His work is discussed in Clara Tanner's "Southwest Indian Painting" pages 393-396. Kai-Sa is most famous for watercolors of Indian Dancers and wild animals. This watercolor entitled "Zuni Corn Dancer", ~8" by 14", slightly truncated in scanning, is available for $650, Sold.

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Jimmy Toddy (Beatien Yazz)

Jimmy Toddy was given the nickname Beatien Yazz ("Little No-Shirt") as a child while playing near the Wide Ruins Trading Post. He learned to paint at a very young age, and is the most celebrated of the Navajo Painters. His life and work are discussed in Clara Tanner, "Southwest Indian Painting," Second Edition, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona (1980) pages 344-350. There are also two books by Alberta Hannum on life with Beatien Yazz, "Spin a Silver Dollar," Viking Press, New York, 1944, and "Paint the Wind,", Michael Joseph, Ltd., London, 1951. Both of these volumes were illustrated by Beatien Yazz. In the space available here, we cannot do justice to the fascinating story of the career of Beatien Yazz, and recommend that you read at least one of these volumes.

Beatien Yazz's recent history has been sad. His eyesight has deteriorated due to glaucoma. Caught in the clash between cultures, he chose to go to a medicine man for treatment, forsaking the white man's ability to slow the course of the disease. In the last few years, his ability to paint has deteriorated, with the last of his works being done in about 1991.

This cheery fawn, a 8-1/2" by 10-1/2" tempera on paper, done circa 1980, condition good but some paper spotting, is priced at $600, Sold. 

Virgil Vigil (Tesuque) is the son of Paul Vigil. His work is very detailed, done in brighter colors than that of his father, Paul Vigil (see above). Virgil is the heir-apparent of the traditional Pueblo Dancer painters. This large Eagle Dancer with Drummer was painted circa 1997, 16"x16", matted and shrink-wrapped, $475.

Bruce Watchman, a Navajo now living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is noted for extremely detailed portraits of Navajo and Pueblo dancers. This San Juan Deer Dancer, a 9" by 12" watercolor, is one of his finest portraits and shows the attention to detail that Bruce Watchman is noted for. It can be yours for $490.

Johnson Yazzi

Johnson Yazzi is, in our opinion, one of the best younger Navajo artists working today. Johnson started painting later in life after a brief career as a coal miner. He had only limited use of the English language until he earned a Certificate in Advertising Arts at Maricopa Technical Community College (AZ). His pastels and oils present powerful images of the Dineh (People of the Navajo Nation). He has won "best of class" ribbons in prestigious shows including the Gallup Inter-Tribal Ceremonial, The Heard Museum Show, and Santa Fe Indian Market. A painting by Johnson Yazzi appears in "Enduring Traditions" by Jacka and Jacka.

Johnson has returned to College on a scholarship and is partially supporting himself by selling his artwork. He is now in his Senior year working towards a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. Johnson's art has matured greatly in the nearly two years that have passed since we first displayed his work on this page. The supply of his art work is very limited, and we are fortunate to be able to help Johnson Yazzi sell these paintings, which have become available now that one of the galleries that showed his work reorganized its displays.

Note that the spelling of Johnson's name is Johnson Yazzi, (not Johnson Yazzie) an unusual spelling for a Navajo.

Johnson Yazzi is the consummate artist. Imbued with a natural talent, he is not only a master of his craft, but is gifted at portraying the people and events of his Native American culture.

Born and raised on the Navajo Reservation, Johnson was inspired by his late uncle, the acclaimed Navajo artist Clifford Beck. Johnson's paintings reflect the same elegant simplicity that so expertly captures the emotion of each particular time and place, yet he has developed a distinctive style of his own.

Johnson has attended art classes at four different schools since 1979. However, each of his teachers was quick to recognize his natural talent and wisely allowed him the freedom to explore his own avenues of expression and his own style.

He received a Certificate in Advertising Arts in 1981, and worked as a freelance graphic artist for an advertising agency until 1986. At that time, at the age of twenty-six, he became a full-time artist. In 1988, he received a scholarship from the Grand Central Museum of New York.

Johnson, who signs his work Yazzi, prefers to work in oils and pastels, and primarily portrays different aspects of Native American culture in today's society. A versatile artist, he has an exceptional understanding of composition and light, and his familiarity with his culture and the people allows an instant rapport with subjects who seem to come alive with the touch of his brush to canvas.

His paintings speak with an eloquence of their own, and are often more than the simple portraits they may seem at first glance. A child peeking from behind the grandmother's stalwart figure may speak symbolically of the importance of grandparents in the Navajo culture. The subtleties of color create the harmony and beauty so necessary to the traditional Navajo.

Tradition is a recurring theme in paintings that are realistic without being banal, emotion-filled without being overtly sentimental. His exceptional work, which reflects his continuing growth as an artist, is now sought after by a growing number of collectors.

Note added by Sunshine Studio: We notice that Johnson Yazzi's love for action in paintings is missing in Lois Jacka's review. Several of his latest works show a resurgence of the action and motion theme, an essential part of Johnson Yazzi's Native American culture.

Note Added 11/99: We have only two of Johnson Yazzi's paintings available for sale at this time. If you wish, we can contact Johnson and get photographs of currently available works. This process will take 2-3 weeks. We thank you in advance for your patience.

This painting won a 2nd place ribbon at the New Mexico State Fair in Albuquerque in September, 1996. Winners ribbon has been lost. Sold, please ask us about other Johnson Yazzi paintings that may be available.

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