Helen Hardin Original 1960s Modern Western and 50 similar items

Attributed to: HELEN HARDIN (Tsa-sah-wee-eh) (1946-1984) Original 1960s Modern Rare Landscape Impasto Oil on Canvas Excellent Condition Hand Signed Lower Left Verso 25 in. x 21 in. Gilt Hand Craved Hardwood Frame. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Helen Hardin (1943- 1984) was an American painter. She was also known as "Tsa-sah-wee-eh", which means “Little Standing Spruce”. Her parents were Santa Clara Pueblo artist, Pablita Velarde and a Caucasian former police officer and Chief of Public Safety, Herbert Hardin. She started making and selling paintings, participated in University of Arizona’s Southwest Indian Art Project and was featured in Seventeen magazine, all before she was 18 years of age. As her career matured and she gained confidence, Hardin became known for painting complex works that combined colorful images and symbols from her Native American heritage with modern abstract art techniques. Her work frequently incorporated images of women, chiefs, kachinas and designs from pueblo pottery, and integrated modern elements as her career advanced. For instance, the paintings of kachinas and blanketed chiefs integrated geometric patterns made with drafting templates, rulers and protractors. Kachinas, or heavenly messengers, had special spiritual meaning, similar to the saints from her Catholic tradition, connecting between people on earth and heaven. At her death at the age of 41, Hardin was recognized as one of the finest and most innovative Native American artists of her generation. She was among the first to combine her non-Indian art materials and techniques with an Indian sensibility, merging past and present in a new way. Her works are in the collections of: Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona Indian Arts Crafts Board, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C. Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, CA Millicent Rogers Museum, El Prado, New Mexico Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe Southwest Museum, Los Angeles, CA University of Oklahoma Museum of Art, Norman Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Santa Fe, New Mexico. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Email any questions you may have....thank you. Due to special packing necessities for framed art items, shipping times may take a few days longer depending on the item and shipping destination location. Email through for more information.