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'History in the Making' at Art123 Gallery takes inspiration from the Gallup area
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From jewelry to paper collage, Art123 Gallery’s August show, “History in the Making,” showcases 22 artists whose work is based on and inspired by the Gallup area.
“It feels really exciting, because growing up on the reservation, I didn’t really know that there was a gallery or much of an art scene in Gallup,” Shundiin Desbah Nakai, mosaic artist, said. “So being able to see that taking place, and seeing more artisans in general, in that area, and having the gallery space is really exciting.”
“History in the Making” will be on display through Sept. 6.
“Each artist does not have a lot of wall space. So I think we’ve limited most of the artists to like one large piece, or no more than five,” Virginia Primozic, gallery coordinator and paper collage artist, said. “So I have four pieces in this show.”
Primozic has a piece that depicts downtown Gallup in paper collage and said it fits the theme because it shows the history of the area.
“Whenever we have moved around, I’ve tried to do local history to understand why is this town here, what birthed it, what brought people to this area,” Primozic said.
Jaycee Custer grew up around jewelry making — his father was a silversmith — and views it as wearable art.
“In a way, it’s like miniature sculpture,” Custer said, “and the way I look at it is like jewelry is almost like a billboard.”
A trade passed down through his family, Custer learned traditional methods he mixes with the modern.
“I bring those traditional elements into the work. I also bring in, like, pop culture, because obviously that’s a really big thing in today’s society,” he said. “And I find myself trying to find a balance between the traditional and the now.”
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While Custer’s jewelry is a balance between the traditional and now, Nakai creates mosaics depicting balance with the Earth.
“I have a central figure in my piece, and she’s kind of interacting with the Earth,” Nakai said. “And her attire that she wears is a representation of what Navajos would wear back in the day.”
Nakai wanted to feature the motif to show “a better relationship with the Earth.”
“I feel like it was in line with the theme of the show, just because it showcases Navajo culture,” Nakai said. “Which is really close to the gallery, because the Navajo reservation is really close to Gallup, so I felt it was a good fit.”
Adam Shorty’s acrylic paintings depict stories in vivid colors.
“It looks very bright. Some of my family, my friends and my customers that really like my work they always tell me that it’s very bright, very different,” Shorty said. “And you’ve never seen a lot of things like this because of the lines I usually do on my paintings.”
The stories in Shorty’s paintings have been passed down through the generations.
“These stories are actually being told by my grandparents and some of them were stories that we heard when we were little,” Shorty said.
Shorty is not the only participant in the show using techniques learned from family to inspire art.
“I feel like my work, for me currently, it’s a good representation of my time growing up on the Navajo reservation,” Nakai said. “And just the beliefs and principles that were kind of taught to me by my grandparents.”
Custer said he enjoys passing down traditional artwork and showcasing it.
“It feels very powerful in a way, just because the jewelry that we make, we tend to put our traditional stories in,” Custer said. “So getting those stories out there is very important to me.”
