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West By Southwest Ernie Bulow
TYRA QUETAWKI TYRA QUETAWKI
ZUNI ART FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY ZUNI ART FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
Though she comes from a family with more than its share of artists, Tyra Quetawki found her muse following conventional skills. After high school she entered the nursing program at UNM-Gallup, then moved to the main campus in Albuquerque to study computer science.
As computers have become smarter and faster, new uses are being developed. Tyra liked using Photoshop and as time passed, she became more and more interested in the computer’s artistic possibilities and started taking art classes. When she heard of a class called “Visualizing Ideas and
Concepts,” she had to try it. There were only about a dozen students signed up for the course, and she was encouraged to follow her own interests. She was the only Native in the class. In the meantime, her life was plenty exciting. She was Miss Zuni, and Miss UNM-Gallup, and then entered the Miss Indian competition. She didn’t win, but she came in first in the dance. Though it was Pow Wow oriented, she created her own version of Zuni traditional dance, and it went over well. Though Tyra was traditionally raised in the pueblo, she became interested in the old ways, especially in dress and personal adornment. “I wanted to know how to tie my hair in the old way, wrap the women’s Zuni leggings, and things like that. I wanted to do my own.” Her interest in traditional ways, and a class about pushing the boundaries of creative photography were a good match. Her introduction to photographic art included classes in “film,” using the old type cameras and producing negatives.
E. S. CURTIS TOOK TWO PHOTOGRAPHS AT THE She was given a lot of freedom and
TURN OF THE CENTURY OF ZUNI GIRLS DRAPED photographed aspects of
WITH JEWELRY. TYRA HAS COMBINED A CURTIS the village and villagers WITH A SELF PORTRAIT LINKING HER TO THE PAST. that interested her. The
THE NECKLACE SHE HAS ON WAS MADE BY HER class final allowed for GRANDFATHER ELDRED MARTINEZ. open ideas and she became intrigued with the melding of past and present. Essentially her job involved integrating old photos and modern, using techniques
Ernie’s Selfie
West by Southwest
by Ernie Bulow
THIS SEAMLESS IMAGE INVOKES THE DISTANT PAST AND THE HECTIC PRESENT. that allowed her to combine the two kinds of photographs in a new and unusual way. Tom Kennedy, at the visitors’ center, supplied her with vintage images like the iconic photographs of E. S. Curtis. What she did with them was all her own.
It takes hours to create each of her “paintings,” but the results are amazing. For the modern half of each piece, she uses images
HERE THERE IS MORE SEPARATION OF THE TWO SUBJECTS-A LEARNING EXPERIENCE. of herself, respecting the privacy of other tribal members and expressing her own journey.
The Native artists have always been expected to be original, have a personal point of view, and make their own art. But at the same time, there must be enough of the art that came before to identify the work as Indian. Just when it seems like there is nothing new to try, no virgin territory, the artistic impulse finds new paths and new directions. Tyra Quetawki has found hers.
But she still doesn’t know where it will lead. So far, she has little interest in going commercial with her art, and she is, for now, her own audience. But the originality and quality of her work seems to push her more and more into the spotlight. If she can recapture tradition as she wishes, there will be more to come.
