Bennard Dallasvuyaoma
Hopi
Rainbow Low
26" in
length
Bolo: 2 1/4"
W x 3 1/2" L
Tips: 2 1/2" in length
Bennard and Frances Dallasvuyaoma
are Hopi from northern Arizona. Bennard is also one-quarter Pima.
They currently live in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Bennard was an
educator for sixteen years certified to teach four major subject
areas for grades Kindergarten through Twelfth. But over the course
of sixteen years, he has also taught College level students.
Bennard became a full-time
self-employed jewelry artist in 1993. He has exhibited his jewelry
in the United States, Europe and Asia. Bennard started exhibiting
in the Indian Art Markets in 1998 where he has won a number of
awards in the most prestigious Indian Art Shows including the
world renown Santa Fe Indian Market.
Frances was an attorney practicing
Indian, Business and Environmental Law. She has helped Bennard
with the jewelry since 1993 but she has since retired from the
practice of Law and now works with him full time.
Dallasvuyaoma Designs (DD)
jewelry draws on the Hopi and Pima Tribes for the philisophy
as well as the style of the jewelry. The gemstones are cut in
the ancient mosaic style that was originated by the Hohokam,
predecessors of the Aikmel Oo'dam (Pima) and the Hisatsinom,
ancestors of the Hopi. The gemstones are encased in sterling
silver which has been cast in Hopi sandstone rock from the Hopi
Village of Hotevilla.
The name "Dallasvuyaoma"
is as follows: "Dallas" means "Corn Pollen"
and "Vuyaoma" means to carry the corn pollen in Harmony.
The jewelry is designed to
represent harmony and balance. The sand cast that they get the
sandstone from Hotevilla on the Third Mesa. The Hopi called the
Hopi Reservation the Center of the Universe. So what these artists
are really doing with their pieces of the sandstone is holding
the gems bringing them together from all over the world for Harmony.
These outstanding Artists
have sold their pieces at the Museum of New Mexico, Indian Shop
in the Dept of the Interior in Washington, D.C., the Museum of
Man in San Diego and have also been sold in Switzerland and Japan.
