One of our favorite Zuni artists is retiring.

Lena Boone's Zuni carving heritage goes back to the legendary Teddy Weahkee (d.), one of the first Zuni artists to carve fetish creatures, arguably the very first carve them as an art form.

Born in 1946, Lena has worked enough years to decide to stop carving. This is a considerable loss to collectors of Zuni fetish carvings. Lena and her sister, Dinah (Gasper), were daughters of the Teddy's daughter, Edna Leki (d.), who was also a highly collected carver.

Dinah was married to Peter Gasper Sr. (d.). There offspring included carvers, Debra Gasper (Tsethlikai) and Peter Gasper, Jr. All of who carried on the carving tradition.

Lena, who was married to Rignie Boone (d.), has two children, Evalena Boone and Leland Boone. Both continue to carve.

While Lena is retiring, her influence continues in her nephew, Robert Michael Weahkee. Lena has been a major mentor and inspiration for Robert Michael Weahkee. In fact, it was Lena who first introduced ZuniLink.com to Robert Micheal Weahkee's work. It was in Santa Fe, NM, where we had agreed to meet Lena so she could deliver new carvings we were purchasing from her. At the conclusion of that transaction, she excitedly asked us to join her at her car. She opened the trunk and eagerly presented new antler altar carvings  by Robert Michael. This was our first encounter with his carvings and the first time we had even learned about him. We were impressed by their artistry and immediately acquired them,

It was the continuation of a beautiful friendship with the Weahkee family. We continue to visit with Lena, Evalena, Leland and Robert Michael at her Zuni home each year.

What customarily happens when an artist stops creating is a rush to acquire his or her work that is still on the market. This is often followed by a price increase inspired by decreasing supply of new carvings. As a matter of principle, we refuse to engage in this behavior. We will continue offer all of the work we have by Lena,for as long as we have items to sell, at the original prices,

ZuniLink.com encourages you to take advantage what is available. We also encourage you to consider the work of Lena's Weahkee family, all of which is outstanding. Elah kwa.

Lena Boone, Zuni fetish carver, talks about her family and carving.

Lena Boone has long been one of our favorite Zuni carvers. We meet her early in our pursuit of wonderful Zuni fetishes, possibly 20 years ago.

Lena is very productive, very gracious, and very giving of her love, care and attention to others.

She also is very unassuming.

An unfortunate aspect of In this video, during which she talks about her family, both ancestral and current, is my difficulty in arranging a proper video interview venue. Once she agreed, I had to settle for the venue at hand. It was a noisy booth at this year's Indian Market (2010).

The background sound is terrible, and I have not figured out how to filter it out, if that is even possible. If I do, I will re-post the video at a later time.

But for now, please listen carefully and learn about Lena's connection to the legendary Teddy Weahkie, one of the original Zuni fetish carvers, and how she fosters the talent of youngsters who have been in her care.

She is a truly remarkable woman.

You may see many pieces by Lena Boone on her pages at ZuniLink.com - click on one of her pages in the left hand navigation column. Then click on additional pages (there are five) as you go.

You may also use the search box on the Zuni Link home page and enter "Boone" too access carvings by her and Leland Boone, Emery Boone and Evalena Boone.

A fetish carving by Lena Boone not only brings traditional Zuni values of healing and protection but also carries the personal spirit and caring of Lena herself.


Thank you.

Lena Boone Zuni Fetish Bowl to new home

This fabulous (not a word I often use) fetish bowl by Zuni artist lena Boone has been sold to an excited collector as part of our special April Foolishness sale.It is six inches high and includes fetish carvings on four sides, an eagle fetish carving suspended across the top opening and a mole fetish carving within the bowl. Ground corn meal from Zuni was included to nourish the positive spirits of the carvings. It is covered with ground turquoise and includes a hole near the base on one side for the fetish inside to be fed. The faithful believe that an owner who cares for his or her fetish carving will receive good care and protection from the fetish carving in return.
The creatures around, over and in the bowl represent the six protective directional animals of Zuni cosmology: bear, mountain lion, wolf, badger, eagle and mole.

Lena Boone is a very popular and prolific carver. ZuniLink carries a lot of her fetish carvings. We had seen fetish bowls created by her but never owned one until, after a few complimentary comments in conversations with her about the subject, she surprised us with this one.

We were honored to get this bowl. We hope she will have another one for us before too much time goes by.

If you would like to see some of her fetish carving work (without a bowl), just click on the link above, scroll down the left side of the page and click on the link to her page. There's also a picture of Lena there.

If you are interested in other Native American Indian pottery, including other, smaller fetish bowls, keep an eye on Native-PotteryLink.com.

Thank you.