Fair poster combines past, present, future
By Noel Lyn Smith
Navajo Times
WINDOW ROCK, Oct. 6, 2011
(Courtesy photos)
"Na'akai," by James King, graces the poster for the 100th Northern Navajo Fair.
BOTTOM: James King
This year's Northern Navajo Nation Fair marks its 100th anniversary so it is fitting that the fair poster reflects that history.
The painting "Na'akai," by Shiprock artist James King, portrays the progression of the fair across a sky that is colored in a combination of blues.
Shiprock is on the right side of the poster then a Navajo family camping. Next to the family is a portrait of Bureau of Indian Affairs agent William Shelton, who is credited with establishing the fair, then a Ferris wheel and tents of the carnival followed by a man and a woman carrying their summer harvest and ending with another image of Shiprock, this time comprised of buildings from the modern town.
The poster's dominant image is the Yé'ii bicheii dancers emerging from the ceremony's final night to greet the morning with corn pollen and the Blue Bird song in a swirl of vibrant colors and joyous emotion.
Reflecting that mixture of the fair's past, present and future was one reason King's painting was selected, said Northern Navajo Nation Fair Board Chairman Russell Begaye.
"It has a mix of how it started and the progression of it," Begaye said.
As for King, being selected as designer of the centennial poster is a career highlight.
"I feel really blessed and fortunate," King said in a Sept. 30 telephone interview from his home in Shiprock. "We are unloading our old transgressions and praying for the Yeis and for the next 100 years."
King, 60, remembers one of his earliest drawings was of a police car in the first grade.
He remembers his teacher was so impressed that he showed it to the second grade teacher.
From there his knack for creating art grew.
While in high school, King started selling his paintings for $15 to $20 at the local trading post.