Indian Persectives

INDIAN PERSPECTIVES

CORN DANCE

orn Dance by Ted Schuyler. Egg Tempera. 1947. Considered by Ted's family to be his masterpiece, this painting represents over 600 hours of painting. The scene is the Santa Domingo Corn Dance. Photographs of this ceremony were not allowed, so Ted painted the scene entirely from memory. His memory was so exact however, that later when Ted took his work to Maisel's curio store in downtown Albuquerque, a Santo Domingo silversmith, who worked at the store and had participated in the dance, recognized himself in the painting. This caused quite a stir because he believed Ted had used a camera, until Ted offered to go home and paint the complainer's portrait from seeing him again that day. The work is currently one of two "traded" back and forth between the Chinle and Rio Rancho Gormans.

Shalako

Shalako, by Ted Schuyler. This painting was done in 1954, and is rendered in casein on masonite, about 18 x 24. In addition to the Santo Domingo Corn Dance, Ted was fascinated by the Zuni Shalako, a home-blessing ceremony conducted in that Pueblo in December. This painting was a favorite of Trudie's from her childhood, because it was so "spooky". It represents the Shalako dancer coming down from the hills around the Pueblo to begin the celebration. From the collection of Lorna Barreras and Melvin Gorman.

Squirrel

Squirrel by Ted Schuyler Oil. 1964. One of two oil paintings of the same male dancer whose name was Squirrel. From the collection of Tish and Curt Gorman

Florence Shije

by Ted Schuyler, this marvellous formal portrait of a Pueblo woman in "full regalia" was painted in 1955 in oil. Lee worked on this model at the same time, and her portrait was displayed with Ted's at his Memorial Exhibition in 1990. This large oil, about 36 x 48, is in the collection of Lorna and Melvin. The background is a rendering of a three-paneled screen grounded with silver leaf on which Ted painted a juniper tree, and which he often used as a backdrop for portraits. This screen, unfortunately, is no longer in existence.

Florence Shije

This portrait of the same Pueblo woman was painted by Lee Clarke Schuyler at the same time as the portrait by Ted shown above. Likewise painted in oil, it is of approximately the same size, but due to the difficulties of photographing "in situ", it is not shown here in full dimension. Both portraits were shown together at Ted's Memorial Exhibition in August of 1990 to show the contrast in styles of the two artists. This painting was in the collection of Nancy Jolly, who lived in Rio Rancho near Tish. Tish and Trudie visited Nancy, shortly after her husband Joe had passes away, and at that time this painting was added to the website. In October of 2012, just after her 101st birthday, Nancy Jolly passed away. Her daughter Margaret donated this painting back to our family, so it is now in the collection of Tish and Curt Gorman.

PUEBLO WOMAN

"Pueblo Woman" by Lee Clarke Schuyler 1964. Oil Size 16 x 20. From the collection of Ray & Trudie Barreras

Grinding Corn for Kinaalda

Grinding Corn at Kinaalda. By Trudie Schuyler Barreras. Acrylic 2006. 16x20. This painting represents the young Navajo girl's coming of age ceremony, Kinaalda. An important aspect of this ceremony is that the young girl grind her own corn for the traditional Kinaalda cake which will be baked in the ground overnight.Trudie's three Navajo granddaughters, Chrystine, Jennifer, and Devon have each had such a ceremony.