Jurors’ Comments:

Ryan Huna Smith: I selected the piece based on its emotional appeal—love. That message just radiates from it. Plus it’s nicely executed. Nice sculpture all around; a fun piece that would appeal to a lot of people.

Gerald Dawavendewa: In all the works the skill, the techniques, the artistry are all great. This one added a little extra in that it all came together. You have the skill, the technique in the carving, and the artistry, but the imagery really gave you the story—overall a really great piece.

White Swann: The title, the colors, everything blended so well together.

Jurors’ Comments:

White Swann: Its uniqueness, the design, the smoothness; it’s the only Jicarilla basket here.

Ryan Huna Smith: I liked the woven design, the size of the basket, the turtle design. It’s a nice piece overall.

Gerald Dawavendewa: I like the variation in the design, the detail, which even comes down to the shells for the eye, and the quality of the weaving, even when you look at the back side, which isn’t normally viewed. It’s got a clean, nice quality to the weaving.

Jurors’ Comments:

Gerald Dawavendewa: This is a great piece because it’s not only the skill of the weaver but the innovation that they made to create this little quail figure. It takes it a notch more with whimsy and innovation; the small details make it come alive.

Ryan Huna Smith: The basket is very simple but it’s very fun and very whimsical; it brings a little smile to your face. I like the nice tight weave of it; it has a nice weight as well. In addition it’s functional; the lid comes off and you can store things in it. A very nice piece overall.

White Swann: Because of the uniqueness. It’s got a little backside that’s quite unusual in the weaving. It’s a very tight weave.

Jurors’ Comments:

Ryan Huna Smith: What’s striking about the piece is the use of the space around the whole pot, the geometric designs, the real nice fluid flow of the graphics.

Gerald Dawavendewa: This is a great pot. It’s has a lot of strong flow in the design going around it. It also uses a lot of different design elements and techniques. It has a lot of great imagery and required great skill in the creation of the piece.

White Swann: It’s just a beautiful pot. The colors, the texture of the carving and the gracefulness of the design.

Jurors’ Comments:

Gerald Dawavendewa: I like the sheen to it; it’s a mica clay base. I like the dynamics between the designs being large and the size of the vase, but the cutouts give it a little bit of a lightness—as well as the detail—I really enjoy that they even thought of having the shell and stone on the inside. They were thinking about the whole imagery from inside and out and I think that really added to the pottery piece.

Ryan Huna Smith: I like the pot overall. It’s a very nice size. I like the cutout motifs of the celestial designs. That really adds a lot to it and particularly I love the incorporation of the Gan figure on the lid. It’s very striking and caught my attention right away. Nice piece overall.

White Swann: It’s just a striking piece. I like the outside, the color variation, the designing, the texture. Also on the inside the shell helped me decide in favor of the piece.

Jurors’ Comments:

White Swann: First of all I like the shape of the pot. The cleanness, the speckling that gave it a little texture, and the maidens on there are very nicely done. It looks like designs found on rocks. And the gracefulness of the dragonflies.

Ryan Huna Smith: The pot’s a nice simple shape. I like the designs, which remind me of designs in Hopi quilt-making. Nice pot.

Gerald Dawavendewa: I like the design, and the cylinder style. You don’t see that style on a lot of pottery. The imagery is great; each figure has its own special detail that makes it, even though they’re similar, they’re all very different—even the changes in the style of the dragonflies, where some of them are very strong and crisp, and others have almost a rock-carving effect. The overall splatter is a great addition to it.

Jurors’ Comments:

Ryan Huna Smith: I like it because it’s very small, but at the same time there’s a lot of exquisite detail that’s carved within the piece. There’s a nice gesture to the figure. Very nicely done.

Gerald Dawavendewa: The frog is a great piece. The folds in the cape and how it’s detailed and the cutting inside shows exceptional carving. It just captures the movement and the feeling of that particular katsina.

White Swann: It’s very well carved and has a lot of meaning.

Jurors’ Comments:

Gerald Dawavendewa: It’s a great bear. The proportions are really nice. It’s almost a classic style. It captures the essence of the katsina. It’s got the detail that makes it come alive.

Ryan Huna Smith: It’s a nice large size katsina, very traditional. There’s a lot of nice detail all the way around. I really like the carving of the hands; they are really well done.

White Swann: The white bear is well proportioned. The very clean detail caught my eye.

Jurors’ Comments:

Ryan Huna Smith: I like the look of the sculpture. At first it looked like bronze, but it’s actually wood and acrylic. I liked the whole emotional involvement with the concept of love. It has a nice appeal overall…definitely a nice piece.

White Swann: I thought it was bronze when I first looked at it. The artist has really put a good touch to it to bring out the craftsmanship in this piece. The title helped it, but he did an excellent job.

Gerald Dawavendewa: This is a great piece because the moment you see it you can capture the imagery, the story-telling, which really added a lot to the carving. It just has that terrific detail. The imagery really brought it alive and made it what it is.

Jurors’ Comments:

Gerald Dawavendewa: It’s a mixed media piece, and he was able to use a lot of different techniques and materials that really worked out to a strong image that’s very contemporary but still uses traditional styles. The shape is a very good attribute of it as well.

White Swann: I’m looking at the kite shape, the unusual frame of the piece, and the mixed media that all blended together well, brought the background out, and made the design stand out.

Ryan Huna Smith: I was struck by the fact that it’s not a canvas piece; it’s on a wood panel. I liked the use of the different mixed media, and also that it’s not following the traditional square or rectangular space but the diamond shape which is pretty interesting. The use of color is very nice too—a lot of secondary colors. A very striking piece.

Jurors’ Comments:

Gerald Dawavendewa: I like the use of a lot of pastel colors, but they’re still very strong. It’s a cohesive, strong image even though there’s a lot going on. You can appreciate it from a distance, but also closer up.

Ryan Huna Smith: I loved the use of color—minimalist but nice. I liked the fluidity of the design from the top to the bottom. Overall it’s visually very nice.

White Swann: I noticed the background has nice texture, which brought the design out really well. I liked the blend of pastel colors and the meaning behind it all.

Jurors’ Comments:

White Swann: I chose this piece because of the cleanness of everything—the stone, the silver, the settings. It’s all balanced. And the texture and the colors are beautiful.

Ryan Huna Smith: What was really striking about the piece is the incorporation of the night sky. Some of the stones almost look like they have lights inside them. In addition the weight of the piece—it really has a nice solid weight. Overall I just really liked the piece; very nice.

Gerald Dawavendewa: It’s a great design. The inlay work is exceptional. Just the designs to each of the ends all the way across it. It just has a great imagery to it.

Jurors’ Comments:

Ryan Huna Smith: I like the piece overall. The figure inside; the anatomy. I didn’t realize until a closer look that there was a figure in the center of it. It’s kind of different, kind of unique. Nice weight to it, just nice quality work overall.

White Swann: I chose the dragonfly bracelet because of its uniqueness.

Gerald Dawavendewa: I think this is a great piece because it goes beyond just being an item you can wear; it’s an art piece. It’s a bracelet without being a bracelet. It’s got that innovation that makes it stand out.

Jurors’ Comments:

Gerald Dawavendewa: This is a great, classic, traditional style with the shell inlay as part of the bracelet. Then you have the mosaic of lapis, spiny oyster. It just has that classic look to it.

Ryan Huna Smith: I love the use of the shell. I also like the use of the color, the lapis. It’s just just a nice, clean, very nice piece.

White Swann: I liked it because it’s a traditional style, the lapis and other stones are stone on shell; that’s pretty much what caught my eye.

Jurors’ Comments:

Gerald Dawavendewa: It’s an incredibly tight weaving that borders on a tapestry, if it isn’t already one. Even though it has a very complex weave it just works together as a whole.

White Swann: I chose it for the tight weave and the colors that blend very well together.

Ryan Huna Smith: I like it a lot; a very nice tightly woven design. An incredible amount of work went into it. Very nice piece overall.

Jurors’ Comments:

Andrew Higgins: We chose a basket by Hopi artist Sadie Marks, who lives on the Tohono O’odham reservation. She uses Tohono O’odham materials to make her baskets, while almost always incorporating Hopi motifs. It’s fascinating that she has been able to do this so successfully. We do not own a Sadie Marks basket, and that has been on our wish-list. Some other artists mentioned that this is one of the largest baskets they have seen Sadie make in several years. I first saw this basket from far away, and it looked alive. Closer up, it was truly stunning. Sadie started the basket with a beautiful butterfly, and then created a whirlwind out if a very tight open-stitch technique, back to a closed-stitch, coiled, to a stacked chevron or diamond design, with different plant materials—banana yucca, devil’s claw. Around the basket she has spiders, birds and butterflies. Overall the basket is really stunning. It’s an amazing example of so many elements tied into one, and it works so beautifully. We are honored to have Sadie’s basket in our museum; it’s going to look wonderful in our "visible vault" for all the public to see.

Diane Dittemore: We are very happy to have such a fine example of Sadie Marks’ work for our permanent collections. I used to see her submissions to Tohono O'odham Community Action’s juried competition when they were hosting annual basketry celebrations and I made a mental note at the time that she should be represented at ASM.

Kay Hendricks: What blew that basket out of the water for me were the colors—the red highlights and the lacy effect from the different types of weaves. It seemed to be a perfect synthesis of Hopi and Tohono O’odham basketry traditions, with the butterflies, birds and spiders important to both tribes.

Paddy Schwartz: The gorgeous basket that was the winner this year was a marvel of technique and grace, having a wonderfully delicate but intricate amalgam of patterns. I especially enjoyed the use of the Hopi iconography such as the little yellow butterflies done with traditional Hopi yucca preparation techniques. All in all, a fine basket visually and technically.

Susan Smith: This basket jumped out at all of us first thing.  It is truly magnificent.  All the art we looked at was beautiful but we all came back to this, our first choice.  The blending of cultures, Hopi and Tohono makes it truly unique.  The workmanship is excellent.  Her arrangement of the colors and symbols are beautiful.  What else can one say?

Jurors’ Comments:

Diane Dittemore: I really love the very traditional “flying saucer” shape. It’s a very beautiful crisp design, a little modern, a twist on the migration feather design, and beautifully done. The painting is just impeccable.

Andrew Higgins: The museum does not yet have a piece of Fawn Navasie’s pottery, so it’s great for us. It’s beautiful low-shoulder yellow ware, beautiful firing, and the painting design with the bird wings or tails is quite exquisite.

Jurors’ Comments:

Andrew Higgins: I selected it for its amazing detail. The carver made the manta, or cape, that the frog is wearing as if it’s in motion. The base has great detail and the face is fun and really exquisite.

Diane Dittemore: Wilma had a special love of Southwest arts and crafts. The frog is immensely detailed and beautifully carved, and has a wonderful sense about it—the lovely googly eyes. It just seemed like something she would have really loved.

Juror’s Comments:

Dawn Cromwell: The artist has carefully developed a landscape picture that is filled with action, color, and a visual theme. Quality work by a young artist.

Juror’s Comments:

Dawn Cromwell: Original work with natural materials; a high quality work by a young artist.

Juror’s Comments:

Dawn Cromwell: Excellent work in imaginative sculpture and use of materials.

Juror’s Comments:

Dawn Cromwell: Good workmanship with nice white design.

Juror’s Comments:

Dawn Cromwell: A well done and technically difficult piece.

Juror’s Comments:

Dawn Cromwell: Creative, well crafted pottery!