Only as Good as My Next Project

A Posting by Sue Begay, Emerging Artisan

Hi everyone! My name is Sue V. Begay and I am a Navajo Artist from Dennehotso. For those who don’t know about Dennehotso, it is located on the Navajo Nation between Mexican Water and Kayenta. I live here with my husband Ray Y. Begay who is from Narrow Canyon, AZ. I am a mother of five children, including my legally adopted daughter. I enjoy working with people and find it extremely rewarding to give back to the community. This makes my job at Dennehotso Boarding School extremely satisfying for me. And for those interested - My clans are the Hashtl’ishnii clan born for the Kinyaa’aanii, my maternal grandfathers are the Tabaaha and paternal grandfathers are the Kinlichii’nii.

A new design I learned during our cohort weaving class with Ilene Naegle!

A pair of moccasins made by yours truly during our moccasin making cohort class mentored by Harry Walters.

My motto “I’m only as good as my next project” keeps me motivated to create new pieces of art as much as I can. It is one of the reasons why I joined the Navajo Cultural Arts Certificate (NCAC) Program. As an Emerging Artisan in the Moccasin Making and Weaving cohorts, I am taking on the challenge of creating new pieces that are outside of my normal designs. While I enjoy every stitch on my moccasin and every pull of wool through my loom, it doesn’t mean that creating these pieces is always easy. But it has taught me to take my time as to make sure that pieces are woven or stitched with positive vibes and good energies. That perspective helps me to set the tone and mood of my adventures as my moccasin making and weaving skills take me on all sorts of trips where I meet a variety of new people.  

​One trip that our NCAC cohort took recently was to Tuba City, Arizona. Tuba City is on the western portion of the Navajo Nation and is also home to one of the Diné College sites. The trip itself was educational. As part of our NIS 185 - Navajo Cultural Arts Business Systems class, we headed out to Tuba City to learn about the Navajo Shoe Game (keshjéé’), why we play it (which is only during the winter), and how ceremonial games are significant to our professions (hence the trip as part of our NIS185 class). Mr. Thomas Yellowhair, Mr. Avery Denny, and Mr. James McKenzie patiently taught us stories, songs, and rules of the shoe game. All of the teachers were eager to teach so much so that we also learned how to play the Navajo stick game called tsi’ dil’. And unlike keshjéé’, tsi’ dil’ can played anytime of the year.

Here are two of my cohort members, Jerome and Ty, in action during our stick game learning session.

Our trip to Tuba City brought the NCAC students closer with each other and closer to the NCAP mission of intergenerational teachings. For me, the most important part is that we got to know the individuals in our emphasis groups on a more personal basis. While we have class together, it was really nice to travel, eat, and share in another area of the cultural arts together.

Once again – I can always count on my cultural arts to help me meet new people and learn great activities. This is why I take my projects with me everywhere I go whenever possible. I treat my art work like one of my children – talking with them, feeding them, caring for them (never leaving them in a hot vehicle). They will keep you company and you will never feel alone.