The School of Advanced Research was pleased to welcome Navajo metalsmith Nanibaa Beck as the 2018 Ronald and Susan Dubin Fellow. Having been apprenticed to her father, Victor Beck, Sr. for the majority of her life, and nurtured in a good relationship with her Native community, Beck’s move to North Carolina ignited a plan to be more courageous in her work. Beck is especially interested in learning directly from a diverse group of female Native metalsmiths as well as conducting research to strengthen her knowledge of Dine history and Indigenous female perspective.

Beck comments, “For some time now, I’ve been intrigued by the details of life as a Native metalsmith: how female metalsmiths’ hands look as they create, why they chose metalsmithing, how they feel they’ve grown, connecting to community, and how their studio life has evolved.”

Beck is challenging herself to learn more metalsmithing techniques. She believes that by way of her hands she instills cultural knowledge of being Dine. Her style is personal and characteristic of her culture, giving nods to classic shapes and forms learned from her father. Her creations are traditional as they come from a traditional knowledge base. They are about quality materials, uniqueness and continuity.