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.

, 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