A symbolic alchemy: Harriette Tsosie transforms shapes into a language of their own

Harriette Tsosie’s paintings move from mysterious shapes and squiggles into a language all their own.

The Albuquerque artist discovered her unique voice in themes of identity, genetics, place and language.

“I always see things as symbolic, so I’m very interested in symbols,” she said.

A symbolic alchemy: Harriette Tsosie works transform shapes into a language of their own

Working primarily in encaustic and acrylic for the past 20 years, Tsosie shifted into cold wax during the pandemic after taking an online class.

The results can be seen at Santa Fe’s Museum of Encaustic Art through Sept. 1.

Her interest in symbols came from both Joseph Campbell readings and her husband, Cat, of Picuris Pueblo.

The pair have collaborated on intricately painted gourd rattles.

“The culture is so rich,” she said. “Everything has meaning.”

Symbols and letters dominate her work, with text from Persian (Farsi), Hebrew, Chinese (oracle bone script) and Native American petroglyphs.

The disjointed imagery are redolent of work by the Swiss Surrealist painter Paul Klee and the Russian abstractionist Wassily Kandinsky, as well as Native American art.

Born in New York City, Tsosie moved from there to Cincinnati to Charlottesville, Virginia, Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Florida with her parents; her father was an electrical engineer. She says her focus on identity may stem from all of her childhood moves.

“When I moved to New Mexico, I was astounded by the land and the history,” Tsosie said. “Place is so important to the (Native) cultures. That became part of my identity issues.”

Her painting “Chaos and Order” connects with her interest in genetics. After her parents moved to Florida, her mother died. Then Tsosie and her siblings took turns caring for her father until he died.

“We found this treasure trove of my grandparents’ letters and diaries,” she said, dating from 1899. “I brought them back and I started typing up the diaries. ‘Chaos and Order’ was the 1899 diary; that was the only year missing.”

Tsosie turned the missing tome into shredded paper.

The painting “Journals” incorporates Rolodex cards with pages and text.

Flush with aquas and blues, “Stream of Consciousness” features symbols from both languages and alchemy.

“Alchemy was a pseudoscience,” she said. “They thought they could change base metals into gold.”

“Road Trip” consists of six panels.

“It was the idea of place again,” Tsosie said. “How do you go from one place to another? They’re just shapes.”

The symbols for alchemy include all the planets, plus the sun and the moon.

“They thought of them as formulas,” Tsosie added.

In cold wax, the artist mixes a buttery soft paste made of beeswax with a small amount of solvent and resin. The results are mixed with oil paint on the palette. The wax adds body, transparency and depth.

“You can use a palette knife or silicone brushes,” Tsosie said. “You can get some Impressionist effects with it. It’s really soft; it takes a long time to dry.

“I like experimenting with different materials.”

Today she’s working in collage, using ink on paper, then painting on top of it.

Tsosie and her husband’s hand-painted rattles are available at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center.

“My husband cleans them and inserts a dowel handle and adds stones to make it rattle,” she said. “Then we both draw designs on them and I paint them.”

To acquaintances who wonder how they work together without fighting, she said, “It works because of him. Once he finishes a rattle, he detaches from it. It’s like it’s not his anymore.”

Tsosie traveled to New Mexico after working as an Iowa State University fundraiser in the 1990s to meet alumni and fell in love with the land. She met her husband when she was working for Animal Protection of New Mexico.

“We moved to his pueblo for five years,” she said. “That was just fabulous.”

The pair bought their Albuquerque home in 2009.