Alternate Views 
1-String Apache Fiddle
by Anthony Belvado, San Carlos Apache
Description: Hollowed out and hand carved split agave stalk with mesquite root peg and string holder and tin inlay; includes horsehair strings and mulberry bow.
About this Award: This award is also called the "passion award". Each juror selects one piece after all other awards have been decided. The Judge's Choice Awards are designed to bring recognition to a work that each juror, independently, feels is outstanding. These pieces may have been overlooked due to the limited number of awards or because they fell outside other award categories.
Juror’s Comments:
Mark Bahti: I chose the Apache fiddle for my Judge's Choice award for several reasons. One is this is a craft that needs to be encouraged, to be kept alive. And, secondly, the way this artist approached it is not simply keeping alive an artifact. He did his own technique of putting this together. He created his own glue and wood chips for sealing off the ends. He applied tin or galvanized metal to the inside, attaching it to the body with rivets, which is technically a difficult feat. He created a 21st century Apache violin. I admire him for keeping this craft alive and keeping it real by keeping it in this century.[See additional comments on this piece under the Gordon Carle Award of Excellence in Tribal Arts.]
(About another piece that was considered but not chosen, “Changing Woman”) The vessel up to the handles is wonderful. It's spontaneous, there's enjoyment, there's an artistic vision going on, and then it hits the shoulder with the feather motif and it just feels like it changed gears and whatever excitement and vision was going on stopped there. I would recommend to the artist to keep going where you were headed when you were building the rest of the vessel, because you've got a good vision and a good eye going.
Photo by Marnie Sharp