About the 2002 Jurors

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This year's SWIAF juried competition was enthusiastically embraced by our panel of jurors.

Our panel included Melanie Yazzie (Navajo), Assistant Professor of Art with the University of Arizona.  Her broad background in painting and printmaking lent important expertise to the panel's skills.  Gerard Tsonakwa (Abenaki), multimedia sculptor in wood, stone and precious stones, is also a noted mask carver with work in several major museum collections.  Ron McGee, manager of McGee's Indian Arts in Keams Canyon, Arizona, is well versed in jewelry, pottery, weaving, baskets and carving.  The perspective he brought to the jury process offered a taste of the several generations' involvement of his family as important dealers of fine quality Native American Art. 

This year's youth awards were judged by multimedia artist Glory Tacheenie-Campoy (Navajo).  Her background with the Arts Genesis Program reflects her commitment to nurture the creative efforts of  Native American youth.   Suzanne Griset, Division Head and Curator of ASM Collections, and Diane Dittamore, Ethnological Collections Curator with ASM Collections, judged the purchase awards categories.  Their knowledge of collections needs, coupled with their respective studies of native crafts, positioned them with the unique knowledge required to add important work to ASM collections. 

Significant this year was the rapid consensus the jurors had regarding top awards.  Six out of twelve awards were given unanimously.  This is unprecedented in the past five years of judging.  All jurors agreed that the high quality of the top award winners largely was self-evident.  "Cream always rises to the top,"  said juror Melanie Yazzie. 

Jurors were asked to comment on what they look for in particular art forms with which they are very familiar. Here are a few of their observations.

Katsina carving: Ron cites overall appearance as important but often looks at the hands of a figure to judge the carver's skill. He also observes how the artist has used the natural form of the wood to create his composition. He places importance on authenticity in terms of color combinations and markings. Gerard looks for innovation, commenting that it is difficult to "break the mold" in this art form.

Stone sculpture: Gerard observes how the artist has taken the spiritual substance, the "bones of the earth", and created form and surface texture with it. He values work that keeps old traditions but gives them a contemporary turn. Ron points out that it's important to consider whether a work is made from one piece or several: it is often much harder to get expression into a work carved from a single piece of stone.

Jewelry: Ron looks for the amount of detail work and looks at the back of the piece as well as the front. The way an artist finishes the back of a piece will be a factor in the comfort of the wearer. Gerard points out that some "artist's jewelry" may not be as wearable but should be judged on the quality of innovative design. He also looks at the way in which the artist uses different materials to create a work.

Painting/Printmaking: Melanie places importance on expression in new, innovative directions rather than formulaic design. Technique in printmaking is important since taking shortcuts will be obvious in the resulting work. She also looks for the use of unique palettes of color as well as how the artist incorporates community themes in their work.

Weaving: Diane regards quality in weaving to come from the way a design is laid out as well as the color palette. Fineness of weaving is important especially with handspun fibers.

ASM thanks all jurors for their volunteer efforts to support the growth of Native American arts and encourages all artists to consider entering work in upcoming competitions.