{"product_id":"clitso-dedman-navajo-carver-his-art-and-his-world-hardcover","title":"Clitso Dedman, Navajo Carver: His Art and His World - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eRebecca M. Valette\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRebecca Valette's \u003ci\u003eClitso Dedman, Navajo Carver\u003c\/i\u003e is the first biography of artist Clitso Dedman (1876-1953), one of the most important but overlooked Diné (Navajo) artists of his generation. Dedman was born to a traditional Navajo family in Chinle, Arizona, and herded sheep as a child. He was educated in the late 1880s and early 1890s at the Fort Defiance Indian School, then at the Teller Institute in Grand Junction, Colorado. After graduation Dedman moved to Gallup, New Mexico, where he worked in the machine shop of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway before opening his first of three Navajo trading posts in Rough Rock, Arizona. After tragedy struck his life in 1915, he moved back to Chinle and abruptly changed careers to become a blacksmith and builder. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e At age sixty, suffering from arthritis, Dedman turned his creative talent to wood carving, thus initiating a new Navajo art form. Although the neighboring Hopis had been carving Kachina dolls for generations, the Navajos traditionally avoided any permanent reproduction of their Holy People, and even of human figures. Dedman was the first to ignore this proscription, and for the rest of his life he focused on creating wooden sculptures of the various participants in the Yeibichai dance, which closed the Navajo Nightway ceremony. These secular carvings were immediately purchased and sold to tourists by regional Indian traders. Today Dedman's distinctive and highly regarded work can be found in private collections, galleries, and museums, such as the Navajo Nation Museum at Window Rock, the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, and the Arizona State Museum in Tucson. \u003ci\u003eClitso Dedman, Navajo Carver\u003c\/i\u003e, with its extensive illustrations, is the story of a remarkable and underrecognized figure of twentieth-century Navajo artistic creation and innovation.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eRebecca M. Valette\u003c\/b\u003e is professor emerita of Romance languages at Boston College and an internationally recognized expert in language methodology, testing, and applied linguistics. She and her husband, Jean-Paul Valette, have curated several exhibitions of Navajo textiles. They are coauthors of \u003ci\u003eWeaving the Dance: Navajo Yeibichai Textiles (1910-1950)\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eNavajo Weavings with Ceremonial Themes: A Historical Overview of a Secular Art Form\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 288\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.02 x 9.13 x 6.06 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e December 01, 2023\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51759083979040,"sku":"9781496235817","price":39.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/eb3726be04e27843909694654561122c.webp?v=1780142131","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/clitso-dedman-navajo-carver-his-art-and-his-world-hardcover","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}