Author: benjaminharjojrfund

We are so pleased to announce the moment we’ve all been waiting for! Last month, the
benjamin harjo, jr. Artist Fund made our inaugural grant award to award-winning textile
artist Ksm Lx’sg̱a̱n, Ruth Hallows (Tsimshian). Ruth received a total of $500 to help her
with her attendance at the Heard Museum Guild’s 68th Annual Indian Fair & Market.
Ruth will be at booth D-24, so if you plan on attending, stop by and congratulate her.

Ruth weaves in the Chilkat and Ravenstail traditions of the Northwest Coastal People.
She travels to Tsimshian communities in Washington, Alaska, and British Columbia to
converse with first-language-speaking elders in Sm’algyax about these ceremonial
textiles and shares the skills and training she has gathered through workshops,
presentations, and lectures, as well as in traditional apprenticeships. She maintains a
daily practice of Chilkat and Ravenstail weaving in her home on O’odam and Piipaash
traditional lands near Phoenix, Arizona.

Ruth says about her art practice, “I weave for the wellness Chilkat and Ravenstail
textiles afford me. A single parent of four…I find respite and joy in engaging my full mind
and body in recording history and hope in the curvilinear and geometric shapes of
Northwest Coastal People. I value connection, wellness, and simultaneity. I weave
Tsimshian textiles on O’odam and Piipaash traditional lands, incorporating shared
values… Each part of life forms and is formed by all other parts, just as each part of my
artistic practice forms and is formed by all other parts. I grew up Urban – aware of my
heritage and disconnected from my lands, relatives, ceremony, and language. When I
reconnected to community, I realized that relatives who grew up in physical connection
experience the same longing for home I have always felt. Weaving ceremonial textiles
allows me to process and record both personal and collective identities and
experiences. I weave our histories of hope and healing with patterns from Ravenstail
and Chilkat regalia.” https://ruththewholeruth.art

We are so proud to have made this first award. We couldn’t have accomplished this
without our wonderful donors! The work isn’t done! We are looking forward to making
our second award to a deserving artist for the Santa Fe Indian Market later this year.
Additionally, we are still raising funds for our $80,000 for 80 campaign to honor Ben’s
80 th birthday this past September. Meeting this goal will enable us to establish an
endowment that will ensure the organization will continue to give for years to come!

In honor of our first blog post/newsletter, we thought we’d answer a few questions. 

Q: What’s the story about the beret in our logo? 

A: When Ben first started attending school at IAIA in 1966, all the instructors wore a beret. At that time, some of the instructors were also prominent Native American artists, including Lloyd Kiva New, Charles Loloma, Allen Houser, Fritz Scholder, and others. Wearing the beret is something Ben recognized and always emulated. The red and black beret was gifted to him by his wife, purchased at the Santa Fe Indian Market from a Northwest Coast artist. Since Ben’s passing, the beret was given to their “nephew”, Kenneth Williams, Jr. (Northern Arapaho/Seneca). Currently, Kenneth manages the Case Trading Post at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian. He is also a talented bead artist in his own right. Kenneth generously submitted the image here of the beret. 

Q: What does our logo, “Paying it forward with generosity and kindness,” mean?

A: Ben and his wife Barbara are naturally magnanimous individuals at heart.  Whenever they identified a person in need, they made a concerted effort to meet that need. This is especially true of other artists. Ben always recognized that he was particularly blessed in his career, having had the opportunities that came his way. He always wanted to help other artists whenever he could, in any form he was able. Sometimes that help was financial, but often it was with encouragement, advice, teaching, and more intangibles. He believed in paying his good fortune forward, and that is the principle on which this charitable fund was built. 

Q: Why is Ben’s full name always in lowercase letters?

A: We always present Ben’s full name in all lowercase letters because that’s the way Ben signed his artworks: all lowercase in a very precise print. Initially, Ben signed his artwork with just “harjo.” However, in the late 1970s, another artist began using the same signature, so Ben changed his to the one seen on all of his artwork to date. When asked, his wife, Barbara, says Ben never articulated the reason why he chose to sign his work in this way. However, for some Native Americans, signing and printing their names in all lowercase letters is a deliberate practice with cultural and political meaning, rather than a grammatical error. It is often a quiet but powerful act of decolonization and resistance to Eurocentric conventions. 

Q: Is Ben related to other artists with the surname Harjo: 

A: Ben is not a known direct relation to any other artist with the surname Harjo. Though Harjo is a common Indigenous surname. According to the Oklahoma Historical Society, the second name, Harjo, is an Americanization of a Creek word meaning “recklessly brave.” However, historically, it became an adopted name for many other indigenous peoples across Oklahoma (historically known as “Indian Territory”). 

Did you know: 

• Ben was chosen twice as the artist for the official poster of the Santa Fe Indian Market.
• Ben’s artwork is held in major institution collections across the nation, including the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.
• Ben was invited to participate in several international events, such as:
  • Franco-American Institute in France
  • Invited to create a work of art for Kyoto, Japan’s 1200^th birthday
  • Justice Kauger, of the OK Supreme Court, organized the Sovereignty Symposium for many years, and Ben was the t-shirt designer 
• Ben created artwork for three U.S. Supreme Court justices: Sandra Day-O’Connor, Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader-Ginsburg
• Original logo for Red Earth in Oklahoma was Ben’s design, as well as the original list of artists invited to apply, with Mavis Doering

Is there a story or something you’d like to tell subscribers about Ben? Submit your stories to our email benjaminharjojrfund@gmail.com.  You could be included in a future blog post or social media post.