Bingo Smith is a 63-year-old Navajo sand painting artist who lives with his wife in the Farmington, NM area.
Unlike most sand painters, he does not work on fiberboard. He uses glass Christmas ornaments as the base for his work. Each one is carefully coated with a layer of sand and then, using ground up rocks and minerals, he creates a unique design on the ornament.
We’ve known Bingo for at least ten years and have carried his works for all that time. He is a really nice man who is one of those many Native people who inherited a disposition for diabetes. He has always been in shape and used to be a runner. Those days are behind him now. His health has been a challenge, but he keeps coming back when it knocks him down.
He and his wife have eight daughters and, because of a serious health problem with one of his girls, he and his wife are raising her children.
Both are disabled and unable to hold a “real” job, but he has developed a following for these unique Christmas ornaments that has sustained them. Life hasn’t been easy for Bingo, but he always looks at the bright side and always has a smile on his face.
We have sold his ornaments to people from all over the world when they have visited the gallery.
The problem with selling them on the web is that they are not very expensive, and they cost so much to ship because of the packing, that it doesn’t make sense. But we really want to share them with you, and sell more for Bingo, so we put our heads together and here is what we came up with.
His Christmas ornaments sell for $12 to $14 each, way below the cost of any handcrafted or fancy ornament you can buy in a store. To make it possible to sell them on the web, what we are going to do is to offer you an assortment of six ornaments at a cost of $60 dollars plus $10 shipping.
We have put these assortments together, so, with this deal, it is not possible to pick out individual designs, but I am sure you will be happy with the selections!
These ornaments make great gifts, they will give a touch of the Southwest to your home and keep a wonderful artist going!
