Navajo artist's design goes bicoastal
By Cindy Yurth
Tséyi' Bureau
CHINLE, Nov. 10, 2011
In that story, Ambrose Peshlakai commented that he would love to see his design, "The Shield," picked up by Native veterans' organizations all over the country.
As Veterans Day approaches, Peshlakai's dream is coming true. Within the past month, both the U.S. Department of Justice and Lewis-McChord Army-Air Force Base in Washington state have asked to use the design as a logo.
"It's really amazing to me how this has all come about," Peshlakai said in a telephone interview. "I was focusing more on my other artwork when I was contacted by these two Native ladies."
Staff Sgt. Misty M. Jackson, the equal opportunity leader at Madigan Army Medical Center (the hospital associated with Lewis-McChord), was trying to come up with a logo for the base's Native American Heritage Month events when she stumbled on The Shield.
"I think I Googled 'Native veterans' or some such thing, and Ambrose's design was like the first five things that came up," she said. "One of the links was to the Navajo Times article about him."
Jackson, who is Ojibwe, loved The Shield the minute she saw it.
"The first thing I noticed was the two eagle feathers," she said. "I'm Eagle Clan, so that jumped out at me. Then I noticed the beadwork around the fan. I thought it was just gorgeous."
Jackson found Peshlakai on Facebook and started communicating with him about using the design - not realizing they had something else in common.
"It turns out he knows my mom," Jackson said. "In fact, they're pretty good friends."
Jackson's mother works for a tribe in Wisconsin that has purchased some of Peshlakai's art.
"Indian Country: It's a small world," laughed Jackson.
Meanwhile, Norena-Ann Henry, a Navajo working in the other Washington - D.C., that is - was also tracking Peshlakai down, or trying.
Henry, an employee of the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs, was planning an event for OJP's Veterans Observation Workgroup.
Henry had read the Times article and wanted to use "The Shield" in her publicity, but didn't know how to get a hold of Peshlakai. Since she had read he lives in Baraga, Mich., she contacted the local tribe there, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community.
Judith Heath, director of social services for the community, had never heard of Peshlakai, and he wasn't in the phone book. She contacted Isabelle Welsh, who was on the board of the local art gallery. Welsh didn't know him either. She called the Navajo Times, who referred her to Peshlakai, and "The Shield" made it to D.C. in time for the Nov. 8 event.
"This is really exciting for me," Peshlakai said. "Now that my artwork has gone national, maybe the next step is international. There are Native veterans all over the world, you know."
It's a small world, after all.
Back to top ^
E-mail this story