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A 40-Year Journey Among Zuni Fetishes
Why is a twenty-year resident from Lincoln County writing an article for the Gallup Journey? During these years I have regularly traveled from the home of Smoky Bear, over 285 miles to reach Gallup across the sparsely populated back roads along US 60 and into the southernmost part of McKinley County to the Zuñi Reservation. Why? To continue my passion — buying Zuñi fetishes, meeting with carvers and area traders. But it didn't start then. My introduction was in 1980 when I first visited Zuñi, as an itinerant teacher-trainer for the public schools. Later I became a teacher-trainer for the Gallup schools, many of the nearby outlying schools within McKinley County, and also in twenty-three other states during a fifteen-year teaching career. In conjunction with these teaching activities I became, and still am, an itinerant trader of Zuñi fetishes and jewelry throughout the country, continually traveling numerous times each year to Zuñi along the New Mexico backroads to buy and to meet with carvers and their families.
What is it about fetishes that attracted me and became an obsession to own some and to share some with so many in so many places? [Speaking of obsessions, among the general public the term 'fetish' is still considered to be an 'erotic obsession.' Perhaps that confusion of terms attracted the curious and helped create the current and growing cachet of the carvings]
Once I was introduced to fetishes, the first being a gift from a young schoolgirl, I was hooked. I bought all I could and realized that if I sold some, I could become a collector. That became my mantra: buy, collect and sell. The fetish trade, for public consumption, although only fifty years old at that time, was enjoying a new start and a revitalization. Fetishes have always been an integral part of Zuñi culture, from their origins as found stone objects, often referred to as concretions, to simply shaped objects of reverence. The craft then progressed to hand-carved representations of mostly animal images, based on the belief that the spirit of the animal is embedded within the stones, antlers or other natural materials.
The revitalization of the fetish trade occurred in the 1980s when two groups of young carvers, comprising over 15 children from the Quam and Quandelacy carving families, brought new ideas, new materials, new designs and new techniques to fetish carving. There was an 'explosion' of talent and production. Many other families had been and continue to be involved in the growth and changes in carving, including the Weahkee and Leekya families, now in their 5th and 4th generations of carvers. This sudden, increased output and newly created demand among collectors were coordinated by a large group of itinerant traders. They bought and brought fetishes directly to stores and galleries throughout the country. Their efforts changed the perception of
Orin Eriacho Albert Eustace
what a Zuñi fetish was and that the craft was emerging into an art form.
For many decades in the first half of the 20th century, any fetishes for sale to the public were kept out of view in the few locations in Zuñi that had them — in particular, at the Vander Wagen trading posts. Starting in the 1970s they were finally displayed in stores, both in Zuñi and in trading posts in Gallup. Retail locations in both Arizona and New Mexico began to offer them and advertise them. Also in the late 1970s, the annual SWAIA Santa Fe Indian market began and proudly continues to include prominent Zuñi fetish carvers, including names such as Lena Boone, Pete and Dinah Gasper, the Quandelacys and others.
Not only was the demand for 'tabletop' fetishes intense, so was the demand for authentic Zuñi fetish necklaces. Tabletops refer to those carvings that can sit on a table, a shelf, a display case or even be carried in a pocket, pouch, or purse.
There is nothing to compare with the beauty and elegance of a Zuñi fetish necklace. There were some made starting in the 1930s, notably by or attributed to Leekya.
Starting in the 1960’s, the majority were made by a small number of carvers, including David and Mary Tsikewa, Lavina and Leonard Kaskalla, Eddington Hannaweeke, Pete and Dinah Gasper, Debra Gasper and Ray Tsethlakai, Lena and Rignie Boone, George Haloo CheeChee, Emerson Quam, Sam and Lita Delena, Rosita Kamassee, Verna Kushana and almost everyone in the Quandelacy family - starting with matriarch Ellen, including all of her daughters and sons, Stewart and Andres. Each of these and other necklace makers had their own designs and styling. Their necklaces all feature meticulously hand-carved small animals using a variety of materials, interesting bright colors and styling that makes it fairly easy to identify which artist made which piece. Most of the one and two strand necklaces display bilateral symmetry of animals and colors. Some of these artists also made necklaces with ten of more strands. Non-artist-made necklaces were different. They were made by 'stringers'. These individuals, mostly Anglos, purchased drilled fetishes from certain Zuñi carvers and created their own designer necklaces, often with accents and features that also appealed to buyers.
Now that Zuñi fetishes have finally been accepted as an art form, collectors might focus their attention toward four families that have significantly extended and expanded fetish carving of the past four decades. Each of these groups or 'clans' of carvers, working totally independent of the other clans, have contributed to innovation in totally different directions.
They are:
Haloo Clan (Beyond Tradition) - notably siblings Troy Sice and Claudia Peina Quandelacy Clan (Reaching Ahead) - notably brothers Stewart and Andres
Cheama Clan (Technical Prowess) - notably brothers Dan Quam and Wilfred Cheama Laate Clan (Precision Execution) - notably cousins Estaban Najera and Florentino Martinez.
