Southwestern Souvenirs

While small-scale jewelry is lost on me, I do have friends who will enjoy these earrings by Claudia and Ryland Gasper.

Earrings by Ryland and Claudia Gasper

Zuni inlay makes for wonderful gifts and works like these have a luster all their own. Multi-stone inlay in the design of a sunface is a special Zuni motif. These Pueblo artists have done particularly well in creating designs that serve as shorthand for deeply felt cultural beliefs.

Claudia and Ryland Gasper

I like this sincerity in Zuni design. I think when people are evaluating first-class American folk and craft arts, they should look to Zuni for its wondrous range of talented artists. Buying directly from the artists helps ward against imported forgeries, too. Ryland and Claudia Gasper can be reached at P.O. Box 1656, Zuni, NM 87327 and by e-mail at: rylandgasper@yahoo.com and Clg_hairdresser7@yahoo.com.

Those who represented fetish carvers for the pueblo at the Zuni Festival of Arts and Culture were a good choice, indeed. My absolute favorite carver, Lena Boone, wasn’t there, but she had a wonderful Six Directions set for sale in the Museum shop. The award winners for this year, Claudia Peina and Lorandina Sheche, had tables of exquisite animals and other figures.

Two Zuni fetishes.

I bought these two fetishes as gifts for friends. They each show typical qualities inherent in good fetish carvings. The sculptural dimension is well formed, as is the material used, and the animals’ poses are both natural and iconic. The rabbit, made by carvers Lynn and Jayne Quam, seems ready to break from his stone block and lope away, while whimsy lurks in Lorandina Sheche’s rendering of the eagle. You can contact the Quams by mail at P.O. Box 583, Zuni, NM 87327-0583.

Lynn Quam