The Artisans

Barbara Phillips, a lifelong citizen of the Navajo Nation (Diné), taught herself to bead.  She attended boarding schools in Southeast Utah for all but one year of her education; that year she lived with her sister in northern New Mexico before returning to Utah and staying with friends and relatives until she finished high school. A few decades later, she was encouraged by the office manager of UMC’s Four Corners Native American Ministries (FCNAM) in Shiprock, New Mexico, to develop a necklace using the UMC’s Cross & Flame. She created a design that has changed very little in the twenty-plus years of the necklace’s existence. Barbara also adapted rug patterns of the Tree of Life, Two Grey Hills, Ganado Red, and a few others.*Several years ago, the Navajo brought back their original name, Diné, meaning The People. Most of the older adults still say Navajo but most of the younger generation refer to themselves as Diné (di NEH).

Barbara´s son, Dennison Billy Jr., 33, who goes by JR, learned to bead weave by watching his mother.  He grew up in the Four Corners area, graduating from Whitehorse High School in Montezuma Creek, Utah, on the Navajo Nation.  A few years later, he and a Navajo friend struck out on their own and attended Tulsa [Oklahoma] Welding School.  JR used his artistic gifts to weld horseshoes into life-size horse heads, which he sold to ranchers.  His signature design for necklaces is, of course, horses, which is far removed from beading necklaces! When developing the design for the new logo of United Women in Faith, he sketched it on graph paper and painstakingly transferred the drawing to his oversize, handmade loom that has a traditional hogan compound burned into it.

Carleton Charley of Iyanbitoh, New Mexico, crafts horseshoe nails and artistic wire into cross pendants and heart pendants. Carleton, a friend of JR, is saving to buy a horse for his daughter.  Her older brother already has one. Carleton works a regular 8:00-5:00 job before heading home to his family. He and his wife and their two kids live near Gallup, NM.

The Love In Action logo pins are made by Eugene and Darlene Lansing and their children and grandchildren. Citizens of the Navajo Nation, they live in Aneth, Utah, which is on Nation land. They went to boarding schools in Utah, where they survived traumatic experiences. Eugene didn’t begin beading until asked to make a thousand “give-away” pins UMW/UWF ordered for General Conference. A natural and self-taught engineer, he designed and built a loom that accommodates several pin fronts at a time, making the process more efficient. Eugene's wife Darlene, who is legally blind, sews the pin backs to the fronts. Darlene, their grandaughter, and great-grandaughter are pictured here working at Glenna’s dining table in Grand Junction. “When they stay with us, they do all the work – even the cooking. They are very good cooks! Any fry bread? Oh yeah!”