Happy Customer

Many people who buy Quincy Tahoma: The Life and Legacy of a Navajo Artist are enthusiastic about their purchases, but two people who bought the book when I was at the Heard Museum weekend before last were particularly happy.

Beveraly Blacksheep holding one of her children's books.

Artist Beverly Blacksheep, who says she was influenced by Tahoma, had seen the book at the Késhmish festival at Window Rock last December. That’s where we first met, and I bought one of her beautiful creations as a Christmas gift for Charnell. Then, at the Heard where she was once again showing her creations, she decided to buy a copy of our book.

Heard Museum Courtyard

Of course, Beverly was happy, but Phyllis, the other purchaser, was — well, I don’t think ecstatic is too strong a term. I was sitting in the beautiful Heard Museum courtyard just outside the Book Store when Phyllis made a beeline for my table, put a hand over her heart and said something to the effect that this was her lucky day.

It turns out that Phyllis, who grew up in Ohio as Charnell and I did, had read Arizona Highways as a youngster. (Her mother had a subscription.) And she never forgot the paintings of Quincy Tahoma, Harrison Begay and others of that era that were reproduced in Highways in the early 50s.

In fact, the paintings influenced her decision to study art and influenced her style. Although some teachers criticized her for having too simple an approach, she stuck to her guns, loving the color and simplicity of the Studio-trained artists.

She never thought she would have the opportunity to see so many Tahoma paintings. As you probably know by now, the book is crammed with images–260, many of which are full-color photographs of Tahoma paintings. She stood and told me her story, and lovingly caressed the book, finally saying, “Well, I have to buy it!”

Then she went off in search of Beverly Blacksheep, whose work she also loves. She returned to the bookstore after the books had been returned to their display inside the store, and we got this nice shot of her celebrating what felt for her like a “homecoming” with one of her favorite artists–one who changed her life.

Vera and Phyllis

If you are an artist inspired by Tahoma, or if you know of a contemporary artist inspired by Tahoma, please do get in touch. We love to share those stories as a testimony to the lasting influence of this outstanding Navajo artist.

(And Phyllis, if you happen to be reading this, I lost your card–so would you please e-mail me with your contact information? Thanks.)

©2012 Quincy Tahoma Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Now in a unique double play, I’ll be celebrating that anniversary with book signings at the Arizona Centennial History Conference in Phoenix this weekend. Yep. We’re one year old, but Arizona is one hundred.  And I’ll take a couple of hours off from the conference to pop over to the Heard Museum on Saturday morning for their Indigenous Visions series–this Saturday featuring Navajo artists. (See our event calendar for all the details.)

So if you are in Phoenix this weekend, please drop by and chat. No presents necessary. (But you’re always welcome to celebrate by buying a book.)

©2012 Quincy Tahoma Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Heard Museum Book Store

We were invited to sign copies of the Quincy Tahoma biography at the Heard Museum in Phoenix in early March. In addition to one of the best Indian arts and crafts stores you will find anywhere, the Heard has the delightful book store, with a coffee shop right beside it!

The Heard Museum Indian Fair and Market always has a mind-boggling array of art. I thought the Navajos there this year were particularly creative in finding new expressions. When you look at the slide show below, watch for the Navajo hat maker and the Navajo scarf creator (TahNibaa Naataanii) who combines silk and felt.

I also like the ledger paintings which are in two photos of Black Pinto Horse and his work.  Quincy Tahoma was influenced by the early Plains Indians who painted on ledger paper, when there was nothing else to use. We saw many ledger painters at the Santa Fe Indian Market, and it is refreshing to see this historic art brought back to life.

I was there signing Quincy Tahoma: The Life and Legacy of a Navajo Artist  beside Susan Lowell, who writes children’s books set in the southwest, and with a Navajo author, Malcolm Benally who wrote Bitter Water, oral histories  about Navajos who live in the Disputed Hopi-Navajo lands. It was a sunny, lovely day on the patio of the Heard Museum, but hard to stay put with all that great art and entertainment going on all around the grounds.

Hope you enjoy these photos.

©2012 Quincy Tahoma Blog. All Rights Reserved.

With spring just around the corner, it will soon be time for backyard barbeques. What sounds good? Steak? Ribs? Chicken? How about a buffalo? A BUFFALO BARBEQUE?!! That’s exactly what Colonel Dale Bumstead served to Arizona’s finest at his luncheon a long, long time ago — January 4, 1951, to be precise.

Colonel Bumstead's Buffalo Barbeque menu

It seems that in the summer and fall of 1950, the good Colonel had his eye on two targets: hiring “that Indian artist” (Quincy Tahoma) to paint the wildlife on his sprawling ranch, Tal’-Wi-Wi, and bagging Arizona’s renegade king buffalo “Old Outlaw”, also known as “Big Grunt”.  And it was pretty well acknowledged that when Col. Bumstead set his sights on something, he didn’t miss.

So Tahoma moved out to Tal’-Wi-Wi and tooled around on a truck with the ranch foreman, Wilbur Bushong, on day trips to Alpine and St. John to watch the deer and the antelope play.  These frequent excursions allowed the artist to memorize the musculature and movements of various wild animals as they foraged for food, ran, played, fought and rested.  As Colonel Bumstead reported, “Tahoma has a remarkable photographic memory and the ability to accurately and rapidly record what he sees or dreams in his colorful paintings.”  In exchange for harnessing that talent, Bumstead provided the Navajo artist with a bit of adventure, his room and board, but no booze!

By now, you might be wondering whether Tahoma’s work and the buffalo barbeque ever came together.  They did indeed, but we’re only going to tell you part of the story in this post!

Quincy loved to paint buffalo and he took every opportunity to see them in action. So it was only natural that when Colonel Bumstead arranged a hunting party to go after the renegade buffalo, he invited Tahoma to tag along.  The octogenarian Bumstead had been an accomplished businessman and a military explosives expert before becoming a rancher, stockman and sportsman.  He knew how to plan, he knew about ammunition, he knew how to shoot, and he knew the temperament of buffalo.  While he had heard stories about this killer buffalo “Big Grunt”, he had yet to meet up with him.  The plan was to take a scouting party out for surveillance first, and after tracking down the renegade, they would regroup and come back the next day armed for the kill.

"Big Grunt" Photo by Jerry McLain

The party included Bumstead, his photographer friend Jerry McLain from Phoenix, Harold Pratt (superintendent of the House Rock Valley buffalo herd), ranch hand Ray Bell, and Tahoma.  According to a January 1951 article about the adventure, John Jay Broderick of the Arizona Wildlife-Sportsman told the harrowing story that unfolded after the five men’s strategy session.

“The next day, without guns, they piled into the pick-up and started across the plains in quest of a glimpse of the outlaw. Just before the sun was ready to hide for the night behind the vivid Vermillion Cliffs, Pratt spotted a lone bison several miles away.

As they approached, the animal’s tail shot straight over its back.  Prattt was certain they had located “Big Grunt”. The huge bison continued to graze while the light truck drew within 200 yeards of him, but he kept his head toward the approaching party.

McLain unslung his camera equipment for location shots, while Bumstead and Pratt left the vehicle to approach the reputed killer cautiously on foot.

Slowly “Big Grunt” lifted his head and gave the men full attention.  They froze in their tracks.  Minutes passed while the renegade pondered.  Then he made his decision.  He didn’t like the presence of his visitors.

In a sudden surge of wild power, the great bison pawed the earth like a fighting bull, emitting the gutteral grunts that had given him his name.  He buried completely one horn in the earth – a hardpan sufficient to turn the point of a pick.  He ripped it out with a savage twist and thrust the other horn in just as deep.

The men, without weapons, did not accept the challenge. They backed quickly toward the truck, in which the engine prudently had been left running. In less time than it takes to tell it, the big outlaw charged. The truck swung around to give McLain camera range.  When he realized he could not catch the truck, “Big Grunt” stopped, but each time it swung toward him, the chase was on again, the outlaw’s tail straight over his back as his signal of defiance.”

Quincy Tahoma at Tal'-Wi-Wi Photo by Jerry McLain

Jerry McLain got some photos, Quincy Tahoma got his mental images, and Colonel Dale Bumstead got a taste of the bulk of bone and muscle he would face the next day.  Nobody got much sleep that night!

Did Colonel Bumstead ever slay “Big Grunt”? Did Tahoma paint the buffalo? Was this huge renegade the same buffalo that was barbequed a few months later and what role did the Navajo artist play in the festivities?  Stay tuned for the next post…and possibly the next one after that!

We are deeply indebted to George Bell, the son of ranch hand Ken Bell, who sent us 1951 Tal’-Wi-Wi newsletters. a copy of the menu and copies of two articles about the renegade buffalo hunt. Thanks also to Shirley Bushong, Wilbur Bushong’s widow, for her recollections about Tahoma’s time spent at the ranch.

Special note to those who can get to Phoenix on Saturday, March 3:  

Vera Marie will be autographing our book, Quincy Tahoma: The Life and Legacy of a Navajo Artist, at the Heard Museum Indian Market from 2:00-4:00 PM on Saturday, March 3.  While it will not be on display this weekend, the Heard Museum has an extensive collection of Quincy Tahoma’s art, including several scenes that were painted at Tal’-Wi-Wi for Col. Bumstead.

©2012 Quincy Tahoma Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Apologies for being away from the blog for a while.  We may be sporadic in our publishing for a time.  In the mean time, read this article in the Rolls Royce Owner’s Luxury Travel magazine about traveling in Dinétah--Navajo land–using Tony Hillerman novels as a guide.

©2012 Quincy Tahoma Blog. All Rights Reserved.

I just love a story with a happy ending, don’t you?

Signing table, gift shop, Navajo Nation Museum, Window Rock

On December 12, I wrote about my visit to the Keshmish Festival at Window Rock, which was held the first weekend in December at the Navajo Nation Museum. In passing, I said:

A young girl came by who wanted to buy the Tahoma book for school, but could not afford it. I gave her information to pass on to her school so they might purchase it for their library.

Navajo Prep, Mascot Image from Facebook Page

A fan of Quincy Tahoma, who has bought copies of Quincy Tahoma: The Life and Legacy of a Navajo Artist for herself and as a gift, wrote to us and said she wanted to give a copy of the book to that school. Although I had not written down the name of the young woman who was interested in the book, I did remember her school was Navajo Preparatory. I looked it up on line and found out the 20-year-old school was located in Farmington, New Mexico. Although students stay in residence at Navajo Prep, this is a far cry from the boarding schools of Tahoma’s childhood and before. Whereas those students were prepared for “practical skills” like cooking and shoemaking,  about 95%  of each graduating class of Navajo Prep goes on to college.

I wrote to the school librarian and explained the wishes of the would-be donor.

Unfortunately, this all happened just before Christmas, so I did not hear back until a week into the new year. The answer from Ms. Sategna, the librarian, was YES! Not only was she delighted to have a copy of the book, but when she got my note, she put a notice up asking who the student was that attended Keshmish and saw the Tahoma book. Very soon the young woman appeared, and they had a long conversation about her interest in the book.

Our donor, who by coincidence, raises sheep–just as many Navajo do–promptly paid for a book through Paypal, and I sent it off to Navajo Preparatory School. She plans to donate another book to another Western Indian tribal school in the near future.

For privacy reasons, the librarian is not giving out the name of the young woman who started this story rolling, but I am hoping that she may contact us some time and let us know how she likes the book, and how it may influence her education.

One more coincidence–you may know that Charnell and I grew up in Ohio. Well guess where the librarian is from?  Right! She hails from Ohio, although she has lived on the Navajo reservation for most of her adult life.

I’m going to let our donor, who also wants to remain anonymous, have the last word:

Two young people look at Tahoma's book at Keshmish

 ”Perhaps other people will use this idea to put these books in schools as inspiration for the children.  It is my biggest hope that this student does communicate with you and you can encourage her in her art.” 

Quincy Tahoma loved children and frequently helped children learn to draw and paint. We know that he would appreciate knowing that his life and paintings might inspire young artists.

We know that the former librarian of Santa Fe Indian School bought a book for that school, and a teacher bought one for another school on the Navajo reservation. Would you like to join this effort and donate a book to a Native American school? Let us know.

©2012 Quincy Tahoma Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Shelly Duncan's Guidon Books in Scottsdale was well prepared for the Quincy Tahoma presentation

Thanks for being a reader of the QuincyTahoma Blog.  If you like what you read here, please subscribe to the blog and/or the newsletter and please share our blog with your friends.  All of these actions are made easy with buttons at the blog site. (Meaning if you read this in your e-mail or on Facebook, you need to click over to the tahomablog.com site.) We have forms to subscribe to our newsletter or to subscribe  by e-mail to the blog.

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I hope you’re enjoying the new, cleaner look of Tahoma Blog.  We are also hoping that photographs will show up better in this new format.  If you find something that doesn’t work, or something you’d like to see changed, please let us know.

Quincy Tahoma portrait

Our audience continues to grow which is a GOOD thing, because it means more people will meet Quincy Tahoma and his art.

Here are the 9 blog posts you liked most last year:

• To Market, To Market explored how Tahoma sold his paintings.
• Tahoma’s Horses talks about his love of horses, one of his favorite subjects to paint.
• Navajo Comfort Food. Mutton stew and how to make it.
• Win a Book, in which we gave away a copy of Quincy Tahoma: The Life and Legacy of a Navajo Artist.
• Elmer Yazzie, Navajo Artist Inspired by Tahoma. Many artists were inspired by Tahoma, and we profiled a couple of them last year. More to come.
• Book Publisher Challenges Discounters. One of the reasons we like our publisher, Schiffer Books–they are challenging the practice of deep discounts on new books.
• Good Reads in Art. We’d like to think that Quincy Tahoma, a Top Pick in the Southwest Books of the Year is one of the best–but honesty compels us to admit that there is other good reading about Indian art out there.
• Tahoma Book Goes on the Road. We have been sharing our marketing trips with you. This was just the first foray.
• The Reviews Page. Here we share with you all the nice things that reviewers have had to say about our book. (And, honestly, if they say something negative, we include that, but it does not happen often.)

Did this roundup include your own favorite post or page at the Tahoma Blog? Which type of subject matter would you like more of? What else would like us to write about? Any specific questions for us? Please join the conversation.

©2012 Quincy Tahoma Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Navajo Grandma, hand-crafted doll by Sylvia Begay

When I went to the Keshmish (Christmas) Festival at the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, I could not resist bringing home this grandmother doll. This hand-made beauty resembles Pueblo story-teller dolls, but this doll has a distinctly Navajo grandmother. Sylvia Begay( who also made the Christmas ornaments I showed on Facebook) calls these “story dolls.”

Since both Charnell and I are grandmothers, I wanted to learn the Navajo word for grandmother. Some of the people stopping by the table where I was showing the Quincy Tahoma book tried to teach me. I am a visual learner, and trying to remember, or follow the pronunciation of a Navajo word evades me.

One woman explained that the Navajo have two names for grandmothers. Most of the references on the Internet will give you one or the other, but not mention the difference–critical to a Navajo who pays attention to relationships! Where they do show up on the web,  ”My father’s mother” shows up  as ama’ sani and “my mother’s mother” –shima sani. (Rendered as Shah-mah’ tsah’nih at Navajo.org–not quite as simple as English speakers might like.) And Sylvia Begay who crafted this grandma, called them ma sani in an interview. So take your pick.

Earlier in the day, a girl about five years old had stopped to look at the Tahoma paintings I had rotating on my small computer’s screen.  When one of his “Navajo Madonnas” came up, she happily pointed and said “Shima“.  I was proud of myself for knowing that she meant “mother”–one of the very few Navajo words that I have actually have conquered, because we talk about it in the book.  Tahoma used the word shima to refer to women in families that befriended him–perhaps always searching for a mother of his own.  But as far as we know, Quincy Tahoma never was able to experience the spoiling of a grandmother.

Since Charnell has only daughters, she will always be a shima’ sani. Since I have only sons, my grandchildren all will know me as ama’ sani.

Navajo Grandma

I welcome Navajo-speakers comment and corrections on the rendering of these words, as I have seen slightly different words used, also–so I continue to be confused. But then, I’m a grandma, and we tend to be confused a lot.

By the way, Tahoma did speak Navajo, and by the time he started to school at Santa Fe Indian School, students were no longer punished for speaking their native languages.

If you are not Navajo, do you know any Navajo words? If you ARE Navajo– do you speak your language? Who taught it to you?

©2012 Quincy Tahoma Blog. All Rights Reserved.