Joyce Begay-Foss

Joyce Begay-Foss is a Diné weaver, educator, and curator. She is the director of education at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture.[1] For her weavings, she has received more than 20 awards at the Santa Fe Indian Market and Eight Northern Pueblos arts and crafts show.[2]

Life and career

Begay-Foss was born in Shiprock, New Mexico.[3] Her parents are Helen (née Smith) and Fred Begay, a physicist and traditional healer.[4] She grew up both in Northern New Mexico and on a Navajo reservation in Arizona.[3] When she was young, she and her family moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico.[3]

She began weaving in her 20s, and started the company Walk In Beauty Fiber Arts in her 30s.[3][5] She was a curator at the Poeh Museum, leaving the position in the 1990s.[6] In 1998, she became the curator of education at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (MIAC), and in 2000, she became director of education for their newly opened Living Traditions Center.[3] In 2008, she was selected as the Chairperson of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, which combats counterfeits and promotes economic development of Native American arts and crafts.[7]

In 2011, after the two year exhibit "Spider Woman’s (Na ashje’ii ‘Asdzáá) Gift: Navajo Weaving Traditions" at the MIAC, Begay-Foss was a co-writer of the book "Spider Woman’s Gift: Nineteenth Century Diné Textiles."[8] The book discusses Diné basket and textile weavings from the 1850s to the 1890s.[9] In 2019, Begay-Foss curated the exhibition Lifeways of the Southern Athabaskans at the MIAC, which received an Award of Excellence from the American Association for State and Local History.[10][11]

Begay-Foss teaches weaving to children and adults. She has won awards for her weavings at the Santa Fe Indian Market and Eight Northern Pueblos arts and crafts show.[12]

References
  1. "Museum Information". New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs Media Center. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  2. Bellard, Betty (6 July 1996). "Navajo weaver teaches youth dying artform". Carlsbad Current-Argus. p. 3A. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  3. Cline, Lynn (14 January 2000). "Weaving cultures". The Sante Fe New Mexican. Sante Fe, New Mexico. p. 16. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  4. "Navajo physicist, traditional healer dies at age 80". Window Rock Navajo Times. 13 June 2013. p. A-11. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  5. Linthicum, Leslie (5 April 1992). "Designing Women". Albuquerque Journal.
    • For first page of the article, see Page 10
    • For second page of the article, see Page 11
  6. "Begay-Foss to Discuss Work as Navajo Weaver". Rio Grande Sun. 24 October 1996. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  7. "Joyce Begay-Foss and Rebecca Webster Selected as Indian Arts and Crafts Board Chairperson and Vice Chairperson". U.S. Department of the Interior. 26 November 2008. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  8. McKenna, Arin (25 August 2011). "'Spider Woman's Gift' offers insight into Navajo weaving | LAMonitor.com". LA Monitor. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  9. "'Spider Woman's Gift' author comes to Shiprock". Farmington Daily Times. 23 November 2011. p. 5. Retrieved 31 July 2020 – via newspaperarchive.com.
  10. "MIAC Celebrates Exhibitions and Awards". Museum of Indian Arts & Culture. 15 May 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  11. "AASLH Awards Banquet" (PDF). American Association for State and Local History. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  12. Indyke, Dottie (1 August 1997). "Begay-Foss finding her own way in rug weaving". Santa Fe New Mexican. p. 32. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
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