Alice with Stella Teller working with pastel
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Alice Yazzie
Navajo
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Alice Yazzie has perfected the use of pastels.
Recognition of this ability was given to Alice when she was awarded Best
of Painting Division at the1997 Indian Market and1st place for pastels at
the 2000 Indian Market. Alice is also well known for having done the art
work for the Navajo Nation Fair poster in 1992.
Alice Yazzie is typical of the gifted Dine. She was born and raised in the
wide-open country south of Hubbell Trading Post near Klagetoh, Arizona. Alice
studied in reservation boarding schools where teachers recognized her ability
from her earliest school days. She was raised in an artistic family, was
taught to weave by her mother and was weaving on her own by age six. She
has known from childhood that she wanted to be an artist.
After high school, Alice attended the American Academy of Art in Chicago.lice
has accumulated multiple awards in Indian and non-Indian markets for her
paintings and pastels. Most recently, Alice received Best of Classification III,
Drawings, Paintings, and Graphics awarded at the 1997 Indian Market in Santa
Fe, New Mexico. The award winning pastel stood out with technically superior
execution, detail, lighting and composition.
Pastel mastery enables Alice Yazzie to illustrate historic pottery that
allow collectors to purchase a single piece or an entire collection of historic
pottery designs for their walls. Alice excels in use of pastels. A French
term to describe ground colored pigments formed into a crayon, and the resulting
pictures drawn with such crayons. Alice uses the soft pale colors to give
depth and dimension to her still life drawings. She has the ability to render
the jagged edge of a broken pot or to replicate detailed Mimbres pottery
designs. Her composition abilities are punctuated with a variety of subjects,
including pottery, Navajo rugs, baskets, animals and birds. Tribal Expressions
is pleased to exhibit the exceptional pastel drawings of Alice Yazzie. |