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You are too modest about your writing.
You write just fine, lady. I wish I knew a good agent to send to you.... Just look! This is the 40th comment!
posted by
WindTapper
on July 1, 2004 at 3:59 PM
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scoop, the kokopelli seems to have spread across America....he is redefined
and expanded upon as he travels. I found a wonderful book of petroglyphs from the southwest and made every kokopelli figurine that I found within its pages, no copyrights on petroglyphs !!!, and it was fun. Some ancient ones have huge duck figures as their heads, some have stylized modern flat top haircuts, some have what appears to be huge water drops flying off of the backs of their heads....many have ducks sitting upon their flutes. Strange variations and delightful.... One shows two of them facing each other, their flutes going from one to the other, fused....like mirror images, with no hunchback.....
So you sell your kokopellis, scoop, or just fill your house with them ??? How's your son doing, is he still in the USA? Praying that he is....thanks for stopping by and for leaving a comment.
posted by
benzinha
on June 28, 2004 at 1:27 PM
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msaries, thank you for your kind comments.
posted by
benzinha
on June 28, 2004 at 1:21 PM
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Beni I haven't talked to you in awhile
your work is beautiful, I have been working lately with different Kokopelli figures out of wood and copper, thank you for your Ebay site
posted by
scoop
on June 27, 2004 at 6:04 AM
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You are as talented with clay as with prose, Abuelita.
Amazing work.
posted by
msaries
on June 26, 2004 at 12:42 PM
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Cynthia, welcome back. I missed you as did others here !!! We have talked
about the good writers being missing in action, you specifically. Yes, I came out.
posted by
benzinha
on June 26, 2004 at 12:26 PM
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Tamara, sure, I'll email you.
posted by
benzinha
on June 26, 2004 at 12:25 PM
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Thanks, VIVA.
posted by
benzinha
on June 26, 2004 at 12:24 PM
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Temple, another thing, no, sharing a love for New Mexico !!?
Thanks for your kindness. The funny thing is that I am too poor to buy my own artwork in the stores, even at wholesale !! Life is funny like that.
posted by
benzinha
on June 26, 2004 at 12:22 PM
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Benzinha, it's a pleasant surprise,
on my first day back in the blog-o-sphere after several months, to find out a little more about one of my favorite writers.
posted by
Cynthia
on June 26, 2004 at 10:43 AM
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Would you make one on request? I'd love to have two made for my Hopi friend that resemble her and her sister. Click on my name and email me if that's something you'd be willing to do. (Smallish - I'm thinking in the 6" high range)
posted by
Tamara99
on June 26, 2004 at 10:37 AM
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Padre, if you ever make it to the US, mi casa es su casa..... I have made a
collection of some of the Franciscans who have worked out at Mission San Xavier del Bac, where I sell my things. The lady who runs the gift shop gets so upset when a padre transfers or passes away and I make little figurines of them for her. My favorite is of old Father Justin who always had messy hair, didn't care how he looked, just about sharing help and love. He wore metal framed glasses and was a sweetie.
My figurine of him looks like him and has one hand raised up in the air, releasing a dove, releasing life on Earth. It makes Judy cry when she thinks about it. I'm about to make an angel of her dad who just died. He held highball drinks, scotch on the rocks, in one hand and a hand of Poker cards in the other, wore glasses and had a white falt top hair cut. Sounds like I can make him. The secretary out there lost her second sister in as many years. I am making two O'Odham Indian lady angels hugging each other half bending over and laughing, like they used to, for her.
I make a lot of memorial pieces. St. Francis holding people's favorites pets who passed away, like that. For a not very religious person, I spend most of my day at work inside of it. Penance for my sinful youth.......
posted by
benzinha
on June 25, 2004 at 3:52 PM
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LadyKenobi, shall do as you say. Thanks. Will make 2, one with a big rack?
Absolutely everyone does images of the Virgencita de Guadalupe here in this area. I have done her as a standing statue, as a wall plaque, in a retablo, inside small wall altars, in jewelry amd on cloth, appliqued and embroidered.
My sister sent me a huge ten inch tall by seven wide or more, sequined and painted image of the Virgen from Mexico. It blinds people who walk behind me when I'm wearing my Levi jacket from the 60's, where I sewed it on about a year ago.
posted by
benzinha
on June 25, 2004 at 3:44 PM
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shavonne, thanks
for saying so. I loved your Belle photo, what a cutie. I sleep with my big old Dobbie-Rottie Makeda the Queen of Sheba and with Autumn my reservation rescued dog who sleeps so cutely like your Belle, that you want to kiss them while they sleep, like newborns.....
posted by
benzinha
on June 25, 2004 at 3:37 PM
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I think your work is great
cheers VIVA
posted by
VIVA_LA_KATZE
on June 25, 2004 at 12:09 PM
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Abuelita, you are so talented.
Well, I guess I knew that already! But your work is so beautiful. Makes me homesick for New Mexico. The artwork, the food, the frybread, the sunsets. I miss those things. I, too, would love to buy some of your pieces, but money is not my friend at the moment. Thank you so much for sharing yourself and your work with us. Benzinha is out of the closet!
posted by
Temple
on June 25, 2004 at 11:39 AM
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Love Your Art Work
Thanks for calling it to our attention. I would love to just sit and watch you work and create those. Very special.
posted by
TAPS.
on June 25, 2004 at 6:48 AM
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After the night shift I am blogging........It's good to reduce the stress..
posted by
Star5_
on June 25, 2004 at 6:33 AM
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Benzinha,
that is beautiful work. Too bad I can't come to visit your shop.
posted by
Friar__Tuck
on June 25, 2004 at 6:30 AM
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just gorgeous!
Your spirit shines through the work-- how I wish I could afford it-- it reminds me of the DeGrazia nativity my mother brought home from Arizona. Let me know when you make a couple of those angel ornaments. I want one for my mother and one for my own future Christmas tree :) I am so glad you shared this.
I can't tell you how cool it is and how impressed I am that your work is in the National Cathedral. Do another post, please, and tell us all about it-- what the work is, and how it came about, and EVERYTHING! And one more thing, have you ever done any work with the image of Guadelupe?
posted by
LadyKenobi
on June 25, 2004 at 6:29 AM
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I think your work is beautiful. I can't afford to buy it but I can tell you if I could I would.
posted by
Shavonne
on June 25, 2004 at 2:18 AM
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No, actually I met her in Florida. I know she lived in Arizona for a while, but believe she was raised here.
posted by
Tamara99
on June 24, 2004 at 10:51 PM
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Tamara, even if I do closed eyes now, I indent the lids on top, as I didn't
do on this old one. I just placed them on top of her upper face, didn't indent her cheeks or form her nose very well. I used an old New Mexican Pueblo bird design, taken from pottery, as her blanket design. It was the only clothing design that I used the first five years, keeping this simple.
I do tiny little Hopi girl angels, too. And Zuni, Navajo, etc., too. Did you meet your Hopi friend in New Mexico? All of my friends there are Navajo, from Shiprock. Don't you just love the young maidens' hair styles within the Hopi tradition? I do.
posted by
benzinha
on June 24, 2004 at 10:30 PM
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jaded, I just looked at the Birdlady again and there is one red
bird sitting upon the daughter's legs and it's head is missing. My brother makes me crazy !!!!
I sell the Birdlady and daughter for $100, now. She stands about ten inches high.
posted by
benzinha
on June 24, 2004 at 10:24 PM
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Very cool - I thought she was big.
I like her with her eyes closed.....she reminds me of a friend of mine who is Hopi.
posted by
Tamara99
on June 24, 2004 at 10:23 PM
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JadedMind, I made this piece of a lady and her daughter who used to
stand on the side of the road in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. They had tropical birds all over themselves and the birds were all tied to them on red strings. This picture is of a dusty old one that I made for the first time and gave to Mom. My brother actually took photos of my oldest things inside Mom and my sister's house and they were covered with dust, and then, he placed them online. I was so embarrassed.
He is supposed to find his password to the site for me, so that I can go and update those ancient dusty pictures with new and pretty ones.
My prettiest BirdLady was sold to the Ambassador of Nigeria in D.C. a few years ago. I put her in African clothing for him.
posted by
benzinha
on June 24, 2004 at 10:22 PM
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Tamara, thanks. That angel hangs on the wall and was made ten years ago.
She is about 18 inches across. Now, I make her with her eyes openand with better jewelry and a more nicely formed nose and lips. I also do fingers on the bigger pieces now and didn't before. She sells for $175.
I make smaller angels that hang on trees, etc. and they sell for just $15. My angels are $15 to $225, depending upon their size and detail. That $15 one would be only about five or so inches across. Thanks for liking even my oldest and dustiest work.
posted by
benzinha
on June 24, 2004 at 10:17 PM
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lonebutte, I used to sell in Albuquerque, Santa Fe' and Taos, but don't
any longer. I love New Mexico, the little backroads are wonderful. I want to live in a tiny place called Mora, New Mexico and fill their little chapel with my saints, which are much nicer now than the ones shown in the gallery online. Thanks for visiting.
posted by
benzinha
on June 24, 2004 at 10:13 PM
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jemmie, thanks. I knew that this headline would grab you, too.
posted by
benzinha
on June 24, 2004 at 10:11 PM
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firahz, gracias.
posted by
benzinha
on June 24, 2004 at 10:10 PM
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maj, all of our talk made me just do it.....so, other than the fact that
the photos in the galleria are about ten years old and don't look like my work anymore, it's so much better and more polished now, and that I'm embarrassed by the old photos online, I'm glad that I did it. Thanks.
posted by
benzinha
on June 24, 2004 at 10:09 PM
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chris, I knew that my headline would make you come visit.
You said that you never would in one of your comments months ago, and look here, you came. Thanks.
posted by
benzinha
on June 24, 2004 at 10:06 PM
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I don't think primitive is the right word
... there's a simplicity to a lot of your pieces, but it makes them all the more attractive. I don't think I can afford to buy any of them, though. T99 has beat me to adding a pic, so now I look like a copycat, but I really liked this one (so did my daughter):
posted by
JadedMind
on June 24, 2004 at 9:13 PM
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I love this one! And I know just the person I would buy it for!
How big is this, and how much is it?
posted by
Tamara99
on June 24, 2004 at 7:10 PM
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I am no judge of art, but I do know that there's an awful lot of it in my area (New Mexico) that is skilled and slick and very expensive, but not particularly attractive. I like simpler stuff that comes out of the joy of creating it.
posted by
lonebutte
on June 24, 2004 at 4:36 PM
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Abuelita
Absolutely beautiful! I love your work!
posted by
Jemmie211
on June 24, 2004 at 4:17 PM
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muy bonita, abuelita de la alma
love always.... f.
posted by
firahz
on June 24, 2004 at 12:32 PM
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PS: a total aside
http://www.mbayaq.org/efc/efc_hp/hp_obw_cam.asp 7 am through 7 pm Pacific time
posted by
majroj
on June 24, 2004 at 12:31 PM
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Thanks for the link!
Now, with Gomedome's book, I have two Christmas presents taken care of......
posted by
majroj
on June 24, 2004 at 11:25 AM
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I don't think you have anything to be nervous about...
for what it's worth.
posted by
chris2303
on June 24, 2004 at 10:20 AM
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