“Contents,” Liahona, Sept. 1995
Liahona
September 1995
Volume 19, Number 9
On the cover: In the mid-1800s, President Brigham Young opened missionary work among the Hopi and Navajo. Those early contacts resulted in a number of converts. Today, many of their grandchildren and great-grandchildren are Latter-day Saint artists whose creations are purchased by art galleries around the world. (See “Southwest: Latter-day Saint Native American Art,” page 34.)
Among the first converts was Hopi Chief Tuba, who later received his endowment in the St. George Temple. In this 1982 painting by John Jarvis, Chief Tuba meets Latter-day Saint missionary Jacob Hamblin at the Little Colorado River.
Back cover: Above, left: Three Degrees of Glory, 1994, fired clay by Les Namingha. Above, top: Squash Blossom Necklace, 1978, by Wayne Sekaquaptewa. A devoted Latter-day Saint, Wayne Sekaquaptewa perfected the technique where one layer of silver is laid over another that has been textured and oxidized. The bottom layer shows through the upper layer pattern. Above, bottom: Echoes of the Ancient Ones, 1988, fired clay by Lucy Leuppe McKelvey. Using traditional symbols from various Southwest tribes, Sister McKelvey depicts Book of Mormon history. The miniature cliff dwellings on the side of the pot represent the tribal ancestors, the “ancient ones,” or prophets of old. Below, left: Noah and the Ark, 1990, by the Eugene and Isabelle Naranjo family. Three generations of the Naranjo family worked together to create Noah and his family in blackware pottery.
“God has blessed the American Indian with an incredible talent to draw, to paint, to make jewelry, to weave, to be able to express himself or herself artistically.”
—Ray Tracey, Latter-day Saint Navajo artist (See “Southwest: Latter-day Saint Native American Art,” page 34)
Inside back cover: Arizona Temple, wool rug (1990) by Leta Keith. A noted weaver and a convert to the Church, Sister Keith and her husband, Hurley, were sealed in the Arizona Temple in 1971. She regularly attends the temple to participate in temple ordinances spoken in her native Navajo. The stylized rainbow arching over the temple in this rug is a traditional Navajo symbol of blessing. See other examples of Latter-day Saint Native American art in this issue.