A WONDERFUL ZUNI ART FORM LITTLE KNOWN TO OUTSIDERS Tony was born in 1927 and seems to have pursued all of his artistic skills until his passing in 1989. Gregory Schaaf even gives him two biographical entries in American Indian Jewelry Vol.2. One of his siblings is usually left out of his illustrious family, sister Lolepa (called Lolita), who was also an important jeweler. Nobody knows which talent he pursued first, but he had a unique take on painting, creating what we called collages, but different from the works usually given this name. On the painting he glued cloth- often padded, SHALAKO COLLAGE BY DUANE DISHTA, 1965 feathers, sticks and The eagle feather headdress and horn are paint on board, other things, but the hair on the head is black yarn, the hair down the back he also carved out is horsehair, the beak is cut dowel, the feather ruff is real wooden parts of feathers as are the brown ones on the back. The coral and the figure. These are turquoise of the necklace are real stone, and most of the more bas-relief than figure is made up of small pieces of felt, which was the way collage. Call them most katsina dolls were dressed in those days. high-relief. But both of those forms only During what I have dubbed the “Golden use a single material: stone or metal. Tony’s Age” in Zuni—the Forties and Fifties—there works are like a partial katsina carving glued were many artists [and I think a few of them to a board and then “dressed.” Duane Dishta deserve the title Genius] who did it all, finally told me once that these pieces by Tony picking the talent most lucrative—usually inspired him to become an artist. The work jewelry work. Even then they often still had to pictured here was done by Duane in 1965. have a “real” job to support their families. Edaaki favored the eagle dancer for his Teddy Weahkee is one artist in this group works, and there are still several in Zuni. His and Anthony Edaaki is another. Teddy was paintings of the Koko are found in several already doing renderings of Kokos (katsinas) mediums. It is possible he liked the eagle in the early thirties, and at that time, it dancer because when they appear they come was still forbidden. He got a lot of censure as a pair. There are several examples of this from the medicine men at the time. He is katsina in Zuni, including one very large pair probably best known for his paintings on framed together. There is no evidence that he hides, harking back to the time before Anglo ever sold these pieces to the outside world, influence. though some surely made it into collections. 18 September 2016
FULL VERSION OF DUANE DISHTA SHALAKO Anthony Edaaki also carved katsinas in the round, and these are really beautifully made. Again, there is no evidence that he sold these “dolls” outside of Zuni. Many Zunis are still touchy about the katsina dolls that were traditionally given to young girls
FRED BOWANNIE HOLDING A MARVELOUS HIGH RELIEF CARVING OF SHALAKO