1920’s Era Toy Electric Engine, Wood, Sand from Navajo Mountain on the Navajo Reservation

2020

My grandfather was at a sing in Cow Springs in the early 1920’s when it was raided by the police. They separated parents from their children and he was sent to Tuba City Boarding School, beat and humiliated while all his jewelry and personal belongings were sold by the institution. This sculpture represents his youth with the toy scale, while the railroad trellis goes nowhere; however, it references a traditional pattern found in weavings, paintings and jewelry. It’s all grounded by dirt from his home.