Stella Shutiva was from the Acoma Pueblo which is West of Albuquerque off of I-40 near Grants, New Mexico. Potters from prehistoric sites in the southwest created pottery that had a corrugated look and feel. The outside of the pot is textured in rows where the coils circle the pot. Stella's mother, Jessie Garcia, is credited with being the first person to recreate this unique style.

Ben Eustace was born into the Zuni Pueblo sometime in the 1920’s. He became a well known silversmith who was essentially self taught. He did something unusual in the 1970’s when he registered a leaf design with the copyright office. His family still uses that style today.

Back in 1957, when my father, Jackson Clark Sr.,  started buying and selling Navajo weaving, he was also in the Pepsi Cola business. When he went to his first wholesale show, the Los Angeles Gift and Jewelry Show, the show manager asked him what his company name was. He told them it was the Jackson David Bottling Company. It was named after him and his partner, Dave McGraw.

We have received a lot of credit for being the traders who developed the Burnham area Navajo weaving designs. That, of course, is not true. The weavers from the Burnham area, specifically the Begay and Barber families, did not need anyone to help them create these wonderful pieces.

If you study the history of the Southwestern tribes, you’ll find that the Hopi and Navajo have not always been the best of buddies. Some of the animosity is long term, going back to ancient days, and some of it relates to more recent times. 

Ruth Teller was one of the finest Two Grey Hills weavers. She lived in a small place not to far from Newcomb on what used to be Highway 666. My dad used to stop and see her and I went with him a couple of times.

She had three daughters that also were amazing weavers. Two of them, Roseann Lee and Barbara Ornelas worked together to create a large Two Grey Hills tapestry that won the Best of Show at the Santa Fe Indian Market in 1987. It was the first Navajo weaving to win the award and it set a record price for contemporary Navajo weaving when it was sold.

Jacla” is a Navajo word for “ear string.” Jacla’s are traditionally made with turquoise “heishi” which is essentially flat turquoise beads, hand ground and strung in strands, which were worn by Native people as far back as the Anasazi or “Ancestral Puebloans” as they are recognized as today.

If you have been following our newsletter a while, you know the story of the Burnham weavers. In a chapter house area south of Shiprock and across the road from Two Grey Hills, a group of five sisters, Anna Mae, Marie, Helen, Alice and Sandy, began creating unique Navajo weavings in the 1970s.

Towards the end of the1800s, the Navajo had begun to adopt the clothing worn by the traders and settlers in the Southwest. The Navajo women moved from wearing the woven dresses and blankets that came from their looms and adopted the long velvet skirts and blouses that they were first exposed to by U.S. Army officer's wives while the Navajo were kept in captivity during the Civil War.

The number of weavers has dropped dramatically over the years, but the quality you can buy today is amazing! When we started doing this fund raiser, 31 years ago, we knew we would be raising badly needed funds for the CU Museum to restore and preserve textiles. What we didn’t really think about then was that we would be providing the opportunity for hundreds of weavers to continue their work. It has been a great partnership with the Museum and all of their great volunteers!

In 1975, I was invited by the buyer from the University of California, Northridge, bookshop to do a week long trunk show, with Indian jewelry and Navajo weavings. This was during a time that turquoise jewelry was a hot commodity and it sounded like a great idea.

We have, without any question, the best customers on the planet! To all of you who follow our newsletter and make it possible for us to share the great works of Native and Southwestern artists, we say "Thank You!"