Joyce Begay-Foss is a
Diné
The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States.
With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...
weaver, educator, and curator. She is the director of education at the
Museum of Indian Arts & Culture.
For her weavings, she has received more than 20 awards at the
Santa Fe Indian Market
The Santa Fe Indian Market is an annual art market held in Santa Fe, New Mexico on the weekend following the third Thursday in August. The event draws an estimated 150,000 people to the city from around the world. The Southwestern Association for ...
and
Eight Northern Pueblos
The Eight Northern Pueblos of New Mexico are Taos, Picuris, Santa Clara, Ohkay Owingeh (formerly San Juan), San Ildefonso, Nambé, Pojoaque, and Tesuque.
Taos and Picuris are Tiwa-speaking pueblos; the rest speak Tewa. Tiwa and Tewa are c ...
arts and crafts show.
Life and career
Begay-Foss was born in
Shiprock, New Mexico.
Her parents are Helen (née Smith) and
Fred Begay
Fred Begay (July 2, 1932 – April 30, 2013), also Fred Young or Clever Fox, was a Navajo/ Ute nuclear physicist.[Fred Begay. ...](_blank)
, a physicist and traditional healer.
She grew up both in Northern New Mexico and on a Navajo reservation in Arizona.
When she was young, she and her family moved to
Albuquerque, New Mexico.
She began weaving in her 20s, and started the company Walk In Beauty Fiber Arts in her 30s.
She was a curator at the
Poeh Museum
The Poeh Museum (Tewa ''poeh'', "pathway") is a museum in Pojoaque, New Mexico, U.S.A. The museum is located off U.S. Route 84. It is devoted to the arts and culture of the Puebloan peoples, especially the Tewas in the northern part of the state. ...
, leaving the position in the 1990s.
In 1998, she became the curator of education at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (MIAC), and in 2000, she became director of education for their newly opened Living Traditions Center.
In 2008, she was selected as the Chairperson of the
Indian Arts and Crafts Board
The Indian Arts and Crafts Board (IACB) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior whose mission is to "promote the economic development of American Indians and Alaska Natives through the expansion of the Indian arts and craft ...
, which combats counterfeits and promotes economic development of Native American arts and crafts.
In 2011, after the two year exhibit "Spider Woman’s (Na ashje’ii ‘Asdzáá) Gift: Navajo Weaving Traditions" at the MIAC, Begay-Foss was a co-writer of the book "Spider Woman’s Gift: Nineteenth Century Diné Textiles."
The book discusses Diné basket and textile weavings from the 1850s to the 1890s.
In 2019, Begay-Foss curated the exhibition ''Lifeways of the Southern Athabaskans'' at the MIAC, which received an Award of Excellence from the
American Association for State and Local History
The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) is a non-profit association for state and local history, with a primary focus on history professionals, history volunteers, museums, historical societies, and other history-related organi ...
.
Begay-Foss teaches weaving to children and adults. She has won awards for her weavings at the Santa Fe Indian Market and Eight Northern Pueblos arts and crafts show.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Begay-Foss, Joyce
Year of birth unknown
Navajo artists
Native American curators
American weavers
Museum educators
Native American textile artists
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
21st-century Native Americans
American women curators
American curators
21st-century Native American women
People from Shiprock, New Mexico
Educators from New Mexico
Artists from New Mexico