Elmer Yazzie makes a paintbrush from a yucca leaf

Elmer Yazzie Demonstrates His Art At Erskine College

New Mexico artist Elmer Yazzie made his first trip to the South this week when he and his wife Sharon drove for four days from their home to Erskine College, bringing a truckload of his paintings for display at the Bowie Arts Center on the Due West campus. Yazzie, whose exhibit will run through Oct. 15, spoke to students and others Tuesday, incorporating a demonstration of his watercolor technique into a lecture that linked his Navajo heritage with his faith and art.

Yazzie taught for 25 years in a Christian boarding school and for seven years in off-campus programs for Calvin College, where he majored in art. He has also taught elder hostel classes for 14 years. "I love to demonstrate—that's important for my teaching style—and to have students participate," said Yazzie.

Demonstrating the use of a yucca leaf as a paintbrush, Yazzie showed students how to chew the plant fibers in order to create a brush. "I use the male yucca to do watercolors," he said. "I think maybe I'm the only one who uses these brushes professionally." Some students tried Yazzie's chewing method to make their own brushes.

"When I did this with some elementary school students, I got some very polite notes from the children, telling me, 'No offense, but the yucca tasted yucky,'" Yazzie said with a laugh.

Yazzie, a lifelong Christian, views art as his calling, and cites the biblical example of the artist Bezaleel in Exodus 31. "He made linen cloths, worked with wood and stone — he made art for the tabernacle," he said. "He had skill and understanding, and he was inspired by God."

Christian faith informs Yazzie's approach to his art, and he urged students to find their own calling in life. "The best work of God's art is human life," he said. "During your college years, you should be constantly praying and talking about 'What is my purpose in life?'"

Yazzie noted that when the Israelites crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land, they made an arrangement of stones from the river that stood as a reminder of God's deliverance for future generations. "My job as an artist is to make visual reminders," he said.

"With visual images you don't want to cross the line into idolatry," said Yazzie, whose use of biblical themes is apparent in many of his paintings. "All should be done to the praise of our one creator."

Yazzie's sermon illustrations, which he started doing as a way of taking notes in church, are black and white drawings that he says sometimes become color paintings.

"The sermon illustrations will carry something from New Mexico with me when my wife and I move to Montana next month," said Yazzie. "In New Mexico, the air is clear, the elevation is high. The color just explodes.

"I've prayed a prayer of blessing over each painting here," said Yazzie, looking around at his exhibit. "I don't want these paintings to glorify me, but to glorify God."

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