Post by Charnell

Marilyn Casabonne with her parents, photo by T. Harmon Parkhurst

Marilyn Casabonne smiled as she sorted through her parents’ Santa Fe memorabilia. Her mind floated back to early childhood days when her family and photographer T. Harmon Parkhurst spent many weekends at a mountain retreat.  Parkhurst snapped a picture of Lyn at age three with her parents at one of those gatherings and to this day, more than seventy years later, it hangs in a place of honor in her home.

Lyn’s sorting produced more than sweet memories of her childhood.  She found three well-preserved black and white 8 x 10s taken by Parkhurst of his studio sometime in the 1946-1950 timeframe. Those photos answer several of the questions Vera and I had about the years the photographer let Navajo artist Quincy Tahoma paint in a loft of his studio on Don Gaspar street in Santa Fe.

One wall of the Parkhurst Studio circa 1946

The first glimpse inside Parkhurst’s Studio shows Tahoma’s paintings displayed on two walls, beside a painting by another (unknown) artist; many Navajo Indian rugs; pieces of pueblo pottery; and a professional photograph by Parkhurst.  The door toward the end of the main wall suggests a depth to the shelf on which the pottery is displayed, and that area may indeed have served as Tahoma’s loft during the early- to mid- 1940s.

If you click on the Parkhurst photo to enlarge it, you’ll find that I’ve superimposed red numbers at the tops of three paintings.

Buffalo Hunt, 1945. Accession #: 2003.153.2. Gift of Duane and Beverly Miller to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum

Number 1 is the 1945 Buffalo Hunt painting owned by Duane and Beverly Miller until they donated it in 2003 to the famous  National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.  We received permission to use the digital image too late to include it in the book Quincy Tahoma: The Life and Legacy of a Navajo Artist, but here it is for you to enjoy.

Number 2 is a 1946 Buffalo Hunt painting currently owned by the Philbrook Museum in Tulsa.  I photographed that painting when I visited the Philbrook several years ago (and therefore can verify it’s the same one as is in this photograph) but cannot include it in this post in the absence of reproduction rights.

Cut-out of the painting (labeled #3) in the Parkhurst Studio photo

©2012 Quincy Tahoma Blog. All Rights Reserved.

John I. King, Navajo artist, in front of his tent at the Santa Fe Indian Market

Post by Charnell

Sunday morning was my last trip to Santa Fe’s 2011 Indian Market, and I was ambling past the remaining tents I hadn’t seen before.  Tired and almost on auto pilot, I stopped abruptly — now on full alert — drawn to paintings in which I felt Quincy Tahoma‘s influence.

The tent belonged to Navajo artist John I. King, with whom Vera and I had corresponded during earlier years of our Tahoma research.  In 2004, John emailed us, It reminds me so much of when I first saw their [work] (QTahoma, HBegay, Beatin Yazz, Chee, Nailor and Tsinaginnie) in the Arizona Highways magazine when I was about 7 or 8 winters [years of age] during the early 1960s. I was so captivated by their work of its simplicity, neatness, and yet told a very interesting story about the scene or subject. What was intriguing to me is the fact that these artists depicted what is real life situations of yesteryears in a very simplistic portrayal. I loved the stylized horses and other subjects. I love their work and it truly inspired me to follow the Native American traditional art form. These artists truly understood their subject matter in a very classical form with spiritual connectivity. 

Time of the Season by John I. King

And when I looked at John’s beautiful watercolors. I could clearly see the influence of Tahoma’s paintings from the late 1930s and early 1940s.  As John and I chatted, he further explained, ” I was influenced by Quincy Tahoma’s style of art when I was a young boy.  The flat application of images with fine lines and colors was very intriguing and pleasant.”

Charnell and John enjoy a leisurely chat at the Indian Market

While John works full time at the US Government’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to help assure the quality of multi-family dwellings, art remains his passion.  He welcomes inquiries on (and orders for!) his paintings and can be reached at PO Box 278 in Thoreau, NM 87323.

©2012 Quincy Tahoma Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Gerdy and Ramos Sanchez welcome Charnell and Vera to San Ildefonso Pueblo

Retirement years sometimes signal the end of one’s professional career, but for Ramos Sanchez of the San Ildefonso Pueblo, they mean a full-steam-ahead return to painting.  Artistic talent runs deep in the veins of the Sanchez family with father Abel Sanchez (Oqwa Pi) a noted American Indian artist and nephew Russell Sanchez a sculptor superstar.

Ramos and his beloved wife Gerdy live quietly with their dogs Blue and Hercules at San Ildefonso not far from San Juan Pueblo, where Gerdy lived when Ramos came a-courtin’.  As a young man, Quincy Tahoma would come to visit Gerdy’s mother so they could speak in Navajo tongue and feast on traditional meals.

Ramos Sanchez in his home studio

In their current home, light streams into a cozy studio where Ramos creates scenes of traditional Indian ceremonies. He showed us several completed paintings, plus we got a sneak peak of a few awaiting only his unique finishing touch.  What a special treat!

Ramos Sanchez by his booth at the 2011 Indian Market, wearing an eagle-claw necklace.

The next day, Ramos was in place at Indian Market bright and early — about 7:00 AM by my calculations — greeting all who stopped by to appreciate (and hopefully to buy) his art.  While Vera and I produced the book Quincy Tahoma: The Life and Legacy of a Navajo Artist during our retirement years, our efforts pale in comparison to this vibrant octogenarian’s.

(Vera chiming in) I wrote about my first meeting with Ramos here. We were happy to bring a Ramos Sanchez (who paints as Oqwa Owin) fan together with her idol, and told their story here. I wrote about getting lost on the way to the Sanchez house in this post. And guess what, I managed to get lost taking Charnell for her first visit to Ramos! But I felt better when Ramos and Gerdy’s daughter-in-law, potter  Linda Tafoya Sanchez, who lives down the road, said she frequently gets lost trying to decide what dirt road to turn on.

So, what are you going to do when you “retire”?!!

©2012 Quincy Tahoma Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Santa Fe Indian Market

We met many artists at the Santa Fe Indian Market last week. One in particular made the trip complete for me.

Back in May, as Charnell Havens and I were deep in a blog tour promoting the book Quincy Tahoma: the Life and Legacy of a Navajo Artist, I wrote at A Traveler’s Library about some books that would help you get acquainted with American Indians.

One of those books was about Geronima Cruz Montoya, The Worlds of Potsúnú: Geronima Cruz Montoya of San Juan Pueblo.

Quincy Tahoma, a Navajo (Diné) honed his artistic talent at the Santa Fe Indian School.  Teacher Dorothy Dunn started what she called The Studio, where young (and not-s0-young) American Indian Artists came to learn to apply new techniques to their talent and old traditions.  Geronima Cruz was a student at the school, and the slim, quiet young woman became Dorothy Dunn’s right hand, helping to teach younger students.  When Dunn left to get married, Geronima Cruz took over as the head of The Studio.

Quincy Tahoma was in high school when that happened. Miss Cruz got married and became Mrs. Montoya. Although her style of painting could not be more different than Tahoma’s–she painted the typical Pueblo way with geometric designs, flat figures, and no background while Tahoma painted roiling action against deserts and mountains– Geronima Cruz Montoya admired the young man’s talent.  She once said that he just sat in the back of the room and painted and painted.

When Charnell and I were gathering information about Tahoma’s life, we interviewed many people who knew him, but we never had a chance to talk to Geronima Montoya. She does not like to do interviews since she has become quite deaf.  But imagine my delight when I discovered her name on the program for the Santa Fe Indian Market. She shared a booth with an artist son. Appropriately placed for such an icon of Indian art, her booth was under the portal in front of the Governor’s Palace on the north side of the Plaza.

Geronima Cruz Montoya at the Santa Fe Indian Market

She sat on a lawn chair in a line with some of her family members, dressed in a patterned blouse and tan slacks, her gray hair pulled back in a bun. I looked at some of her recent paintings in a bin, and then  I approached and said “Geronima Montoya?” She nodded. A relative sat beside her and took in everything I said, and later wrote it all out for the 96-year-old artist.

This woman has lived from the era when Pueblo men were just beginning to paint images on paper for sale to outsiders–mostly ethnologists and anthropologists–until this event that draws 100,000 people each year. She has seen women become a force in the Indian Art World. She has seen the 90-year-old Santa Fe Indian Market grow from a Saturday gathering of Pueblo potters under the portal of the Governor’s Palace in Santa Fe to a sprawling wonderland of 1100 artists from many tribes, many of whom have graduate degrees from universities across the country. And she has seen the market for Indian art grow and diversify–with the traditional art that she practiced fading from view and then having a rebirth.

When I spoke to Geronima Cruz Montoya, I was speaking to the history of American Indian art.

John King, Navajo painter, in front of his Indian Market booth

While teachers like Dunn and Montoya influenced Tahoma, Quincy influenced other artists. We chatted with three artists who are quoted in the book as saying that Quincy Tahoma inspired them. Upton Ethelbah, Jr. (Apache/Santa Clara) of Albuquerque won a blue ribbon for a stunning white sculpture; Anthony Emerson Chee (Diné) has a studio in Farmington, New Mexico and John King (Diné), painter of horses, says he was strongly influenced by Tahoma’s paintings.

©2012 Quincy Tahoma Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Quincy Tahoma at work

It’s amazing how sometimes things just fall into place like pieces of a giant puzzle.

Vera’s  last two posts were dedicated to thanking some special folks who helped her (and sometimes both of us) navigate our long, challenging research journey that ultimately resulted in our crafting the biography Quincy Tahoma: The Life and Legacy of a Navajo Artist.

At the risk of overkill, I’d like to continue that theme a little longer and underscore the importance of our being in the right place at the right time with the right people.  The “right time” was especially important because some of the “right people” are now gone, and I’m not sure we could have completed the book without their help.  Vera and I are deeply indebted to them for their recollections, insights and additional leads.  Here are the Quincy Tahoma angels:

• Police photographer and investigator Abundio Armijo, Jr., (Bundy), who let Tahoma use his lab to paint when the artist was jailed for public intoxication.  Bundy was also called to the scene when Tahoma died.
• Santa Fe jailer Clifford Brito, who gave Tahoma custodial duties so he could get outside the jail cell and paint in Bundy’s lab.
• Dickie Montoya, the policeman who more than once rounded up the drunken Tahoma and took him to jail.
• Placido Ortiz, who knew Tahoma when he painting in the loft at T. Harmon Parkhurst’s Studio on Don Gaspar Street and whose sisters cleaned the studio while Tahoma was around.
• Richard Howard, the art dealer who connected Charnell to Jean Wallace McSwain, Tahoma’s first love.
• Katherine Teba, who knew Tahoma during and after his Santa Fe Indian School days.
• Maurine Grammer, who told of Tahoma’s wanting to marry a special Indian woman
• Dolores Silva, whose father, James Silva, befriended Tahoma and helped the artist to keep painting during his rocky years
• Elmer Jenkins, a football hero at Santa Fe Indian School, who served as a “big boy” watching over “little boy” Quincy Tahoma.
  

  Treasured Memories

I’d like also to give special thanks to Jean Wallace McSwain and Ray Dewey, who are very much still with us.  Jean and I spent a delightful weekend chatting at her California home, where she shared with me the gifts that Tahoma had given her during their time together.  First loves are always special, and their romance was no exception.

Ray Dewey has encouraged me, since we first met in 1995, to keep following the crumbs on the Tahoma Trail.  He was delighted when Vera and I joined forces in 2000 and the research project picked up steam, and he has remained a faithful cheerleader.  Throughout our years of research, Ray continued to think of people we should contact which, in turn, led us to magnificent Tahoma paintings.  His suggestions also yielded some folks who personally knew Tahoma and were able to give oral histories.

Many, many thanks to all those who invited me into their homes so I could photograph their beautiful art.  Many of these pieces have been in their families since their ancestors knew Tahoma in the 1940s or 1950s, and both the art and stories of their acquisition have been passed down from generation to generation.  These are family heirlooms and we hope that the book provides a way for their owners to share these treasures with others.

On a personal note, I’d like to thank my dear friend Sandy Gillman, who accompanied me on a research jaunt in 2004 and took copious notes as I interviewed Bundy, Clifford Brito, Placido Ortiz and several others. We had a jam-packed schedule that probably wore her out, but I think Sandy enjoyed it as much as I did.

Holly, Josh and Allie with Ray Dewey in 2001

Last, but certainly not least, thanks to my grandchildren Josh, Holly and Allie, who caught the Tahoma bug when I took them on vacation to Tahomaland some ten years ago and who would never have allowed me NOT to finish putting the pieces of the puzzle together.  Hozho, all!

©2012 Quincy Tahoma Blog. All Rights Reserved.

In Quincy Tahoma, Life and Legacy of a Navajo Artist, if you turn to the acknowledgements,you see, “We owe enormous thanks to dozens of librarians, archivists, government officials, museum curators, and experts in Navajo life and art for digging up the primary and secondary source material we needed….We do not dare start thinking each of those people individually, but we value every one of them, who universally went beyond what they simply had to do and added their personal interest and attention to our passion for finding facts.”

That would include numerous librarians at the Laboratory of Anthropology in Santa Fe, at the library of the Museum of New Mexico, and the library of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Also librarians at the Santa Fe Indian School, at the Fra Angelico Chavez History Library in Santa Fe, the New Mexico Library and Archives, The Center for Southwest Research in Albuquerque and Special Collections at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Although we did not dare in the book, I will dare here, by naming a few of those people who helped me personally.

Dr. Peter Iverson, Arizona State University, retired, was one of the first people Vera talked to. He told us the project was important and spent hours giving us names of other people to contact.

Bruce Bernstein, welcomed me to Washington D.C. several years ago with an impromptu tour of the Suitland Maryland storage area for the yet-to-be-opened National Museum of the American Indian. Bruce lived and worked in Santa Fe for many years and wrote a book with Jackson Rushing about the Santa Fe Indian School.

Alan Furth, archivist at Arizona State Museum on the campus of the University of Arizona, told us about the collection in that institution of about 50 paintings by schoolboy Tahoma, and shared them with us.

Laura Holt became a friend as she moved from one institution to another in Santa Fe. (Now with the School for Advanced Research Catherine McElvain Library.) She was always ready to let me pick her brain and suggest new avenues of search.

And I owe an enormous debt to Elizabeth Kennedy, professor of history and teacher of oral history, for helping me understand the requirements of writing true history, and techniques of developing oral history into literature. She questioned my assumptions, and sharpened my sensitivities and gave me the generous gift of her time.

In the tricky business of a non-Indian writing about a Navajo, we had the help of several people, in addition to the oral history sources named in the book. In addition to the warm welcome we received from the Saganitso family of Tuba City, and the wealth of information from Harrison Begay which are acknowledged in the book, here are some others who helped.

• Mark Bahti, owner of Bahti Indian Arts, not only gave us advice on gathering information and on publishing, but introduced us to Harrison Begay and opened up a whole world of information from one of Quincy’s best friends.
• Carolyn O’Bagy Davis, non-Native who has written much about the Hopi, gave very appreciated advice.
• Ron Maldonado, Culture Liaison  for the Navajo Nation, paved the way for our research trips to the reservation, and sat and talked with us, sharing ideas and interest.
• Gerdy Sanchez, who is half Navajo, shared what her mother had told her of Navajo culture. She and Ramos Sanchez, in San Ildefonso Pueblo read the manuscript to look for any mistakes we may have made.
• Dr. Jenny Joe, professor at the University of Arizona, also gave us first hand feedback from a Navajo point of view as one of our first readers.

On a personal level, I would like to thank two important groups of writers who have been friends throughout her career–AWC  and TWW , for support, encouragement, cheerleading and practical advice. And of course my chief personal cheerleader–my husband Ken, who seems to think that I can do anything even when I am having serious doubts.

©2012 Quincy Tahoma Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Two pages in the book

If it takes a village to make a child, it takes a small city to make a book.

Our names, Charnell Havens and Vera Marie Badertscher, are on the cover, but we owe so much to so many whose names remain hidden.

In Quincy Tahoma: The Life and Legacy of a Navajo Artist we thank a handful of people in the acknowledgements (page 232). We include a list of 50 people who generously gave us their time in interviews. Quite literally, without them, there would have been no book. (You can find their names on page 228.)

The names of  people and institutions who allowed their paintings to be reproduced (unless they requested anonymity) appear with each picture. Without them, we would have had a black and white book of words and you would not have been able to ooh and ahh over Tahoma’s art. Without them, we would not have been able to show you authentic snapshots of Tahoma’s times.

But there are many others whom we want to thank. Too many in fact for one post, so we’ll be back with more after this.

Let’s start with Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.

Schiffer Publishing shipment

• Nancy Schiffer first accepted the book at Schiffer Publishing and her enthusiasm buoyed our spirits.
• Pete Schiffer steers the company, and has answered questions of these two novices.
• Jesse Marth, our editor, saved us from making terrible errors like strange spellings and unclear sentences. In a world where editors can be a writer’s worst nightmare, Jesse was a dream to work with,
• John P. Cheek designed the book, and we absolutely love his creative touches. We love the black and white picture of Tahoma, screened in behind the table of contents. We love the bears on the copyright page. We particularly love that he captured the spirit of Tahoma by including flying swallows on each chapter heading facing page.
• Bruce Waters designed the cover, taking full advantage of one of Tahoma’s most dramatic paintings.
• Stacey McNutt, marketing, continues to work with us to get the word out. She is cheerful and hard working and we’re glad to have her in our corner.

There are more people whose names we do not know, but we know they are there, working in sales and shipping and keeping the website and Facebook page of Schiffer up to date.

THANK YOU, SCHIFFER TEAM!

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If you have not yet subscribed to the Quincy Tahoma newsletter, consider getting your free subscription today. Readers of our last issue–2 weeks ago–were particularly interested in the list of galleries and auctions we gave them so they could find out where to acquire their own Tahoma painting. It is easy to subscribe–just fill in the box on the right.  You can see a an on-line archived copy of the last issue here.

©2012 Quincy Tahoma Blog. All Rights Reserved.

In a previous post, Vera mentioned one of Quincy Tahoma’s guardian angels — Spanish-American, hard-working, wheeler-dealer, political-pro Eppie Montoya.  Indeed, while he surely was an unlikely candidate for a guardian angel, he wasn’t the only one who fell into that category.

Quincy Tahoma photo, Courtesy of Jean Wallace McSwain

Eppie’s longtime friend, trader and nightclub owner James Silva was a resourceful man and knew how to turn a buck.  The son of a Lebanese immigrant, Jimmy worked hard — hand in hand with his lovely wife Ella — at their Bernalillo movie theater, grocery store and trading post from 1933 through the early 1940s. They had a son and five daughters to support, so to bring in more money, Jimmy moved his base of business operations in 1944 to Santa Fe.  Here, he opened a nightclub and liquor store, where Eppie was probably a customer from time to time. Jimmy and Eppie had known each other since school days and while their lives had taken different paths, they converged once again to help the Navajo artist who was struggling with alcoholism.

Jimmy had first recognized Quincy Tahoma’s talent when the artist was a student at the Santa Fe Indian School. Silva started buying Tahoma’s paintings at the school’s store and continued to buy, collect and sell them through the years. Jimmy Silva, the shrewd businessman, bought low and sold high.

And Jimmy Silva, the compassionate humanitarian, brought Quincy Tahoma paints and paper whenever the artist was incarcerated. He then picked up the paintings and sold them for Tahoma, returning a percentage. Jimmy tried often to stop Tahoma’s drinking by giving him a cozy place to paint and to sleep. In his Bernalillo complex, on the busy tourist Route 66, Silva set up a studio in a room behind his shop. Light poured in from a huge window and Tahoma, using a board to mix his paints, created a variety of paintings. When Silva could not be nearby, he asked his daughters to look in on Tahoma and make sure that he was not slipping out to get a drink.

1956 The Thundering Herd, Courtesy of the late Dolores Silva in memory of James and Ella Silva

Tahoma’s many paintings from this period range from gentle deer to warriors chasing buffalo, and two very unusual paintings. A thundering herd of buffalo was painted in three stages, according to Silva’s daughter Rose. She said Tahoma explained to her father that the first horizontal band was the buffalo herd, the second the sky/storm, and the third the base.

1956 Christ on the Cross, Courtesy of the late Dolores Silva in memory of James and Ella Silva

And to show his gratitude for Jim and Ella Silva’s many kindnesses, Tahoma painted a subject very different for him, but familiar to this deeply religious Catholic family. The head of Christ, brow circled with a crown of thorns, portrays deep sorrow and pain. In the lower right hand corner, the thumbnail sketch with his signature—the next chapter—shows Christ on the cross.

Tahoma also a painted a similar portrait of Christ for his other shima (Navajo for mother), Eppie’s wife Josie. Tahoma, the rolling stone, never stayed long in one place, but the Montoyas and the Silvas  provided homes in Santa Fe and in Bernalillo and surrogate families when he needed a secure base.

Learn more about Tahoma’s various residences as he moved from place to place, when you read Quincy Tahoma: The Life and Legacy of a Navajo Artist. You can receive the earliest copy available. If you click the Buy Now button in the right hand column, we’ll send the book to you in the next two weeks.

And by the way, our third newsletter went out this morning, with paintings by Tahoma, news about appearances, and more. If you did not receive one, you can sign up in the subscription form in the right hand column and we’ll send you the one you missed. Or if you want a sample, click on this link to the News about the Quincy Tahoma Book.

©2012 Quincy Tahoma Blog. All Rights Reserved.