Navajo Nation

 

Westly Begaye is a full blooded Native American Indian born in 1965 into the the Navajo Nation. Westly married into the Acoma Pueblo and he was inspired to continue the family tradition of working with clay from the late Marie Francis Vallo (wife) from the Acoma Pueblo. Marie taught Westly all the fundamentals of hand coiling Acoma styled pottery. He was also inspired by another fine artist by the name of Jorome Tiger, a Native American artist from Oklahoma, who is a fine painter. Westly has been working with art since the age of 12.

However, he has been working with pottery since 1994.
Westly specializes in the handmade and hand painted Acoma style of pottery. However, he combines a contemporary flare to his pottery. He paints many different traditional designs, kokopelli (god of fertility), animals, and mimbres designs. He works with handmade pottery and ceramic pottery. Westly’s experience with crossing cultures and continuing to invent new ideas has established him as a fine artisan. He signs his pottery as: Westly Begaye, title of pottery, and year when it was constructed.

He is related to Arthur C. Begay who is a Navajo painter.

Awards:
-1999 New Mexico State Fair 1st Place
-New Mexico State Fair various years