Migrations--Introduction
Eagle by Ben
Gorman,
Navajo artist.
I am publishing these web pages for several reasons. As an
artist and poet, I have been a longtime student and collector
of Native American art. My goal here is to do honest business
that honors the makers of these artworks. As much as possible,
I buy new items directly from the artists, or from cooperatives
or native-owned enterprises. Old items, of course, have passed
through many hands. As I wrote in one of my poems, "I seek
the hands that made them." Sometimes I feel as if I have
"rescued" some of these older pieces--at auctions, where
hardly anyone wanted them, or lying in the corners of collectibles
shops and on dusty shelves in antique co-ops. I offer some of
these things now for sale, and hope
that there are people out there who will cherish them as much
as I have.
Old Things
Old Things
It is because I too
have been migrating all my life
with deep roots trailing behind
long and complicated as a tree--
stuck down here and there,
coming from there and here--
that I gather remnants,
turn shards in my hands,
cherish worn pots
and frayed weavings,
grasses coming unplaited,
old linens embroidered
patiently.
In these archives, perishing--
each piece a word,
or a fragment of a word--
I collect what sings:
syllables from the speech of bees,
grandmothers, seeds.
(--Carol Snyder Halberstadt)
Inukshuk, an Inuit guidepost.
The World Wide Web, spun from the Internet, is egalitarian, open,
informal, relatively inexpensive, and an extension of all the
other ways that exist for people to gather information and communicate
with each other. I have met some wonderful people on the Internet/Web,
who I would probably never otherwise meet. I have also discovered
that it is a small world, as some of the people I have met know
each other or are interested in making contact with each other.
This is not really surprising, since we tend to share similar
interests. The Internet has enabled me to meet people in Canada,
Oregon, California, and upper New York State, in the Southwest
and Midwest, and some here in the Northeast, where I live. Some
of them have become friends, others are good acquaintances, others
have places I visit for information and learning, and with some
we have done good business.
People I have met include my friend, Ben
Gorman, a fine Navajo artist and silversmith, who lives in
Chinle, Arizona. Ben lives near Tseyi (Canyon de Chelly), which
is one of the most beautiful places in the world. I met Ben through
Arch & Challis Thiessen, of
Sunshine Studio in Santa Fe, with whom I have done some good
and honest business. One of my personal passions is Inuit art--carvings,
prints, artifacts--and I found Arctic
Visions Online Gallery, as well as many other wonderful Inuit
sites on the web. Lee Ellsworth, of Tulip Antiques, has some good
baskets for sale, including from the Philippines, and he is interested
in Northeastern and a wide variety of other baskets. His email
address is: lecath@northnet.org.
Phil Moerschell, a serious collector in the Northwest, seeks quality
Native American beaded items and baskets (especially Pomo). He
is also looking for old cowboy items, spurs, bits, and gun belt
rigs, and will consider trades. You can reach him at phm3@empnet.com.
One of the best sites I have found, and one that opens to a world
of other fine places, is the Web site of Karen
Strom. Her home pages are a great resource, and a wonderful
place to visit--go on the "Voyage to Another Universe,"
and check out her links to many other Native American sites as
well. I have also listed some other interesting sites.
Write to: Migrations, P.O. Box 543, Newton, MA 02456
or email to: carol@migrations.com
to place an order, or for more information.
Copyright © 1996 -1998 Carol Snyder Halberstadt, Migrations.
All rights reserved.
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