Artist Info
Connie Tsosie Gaussoin
The Indian Arts Research Center at the School for Advanced Research announced the Gaussoin family of jewelers—Connie, David, and Wayne—as recipients of the 2006 Rollin and Mary Ella King Native Artist Fellowship.
Connie Tsosie Gaussoin is the matriarch whose Picuris Pueblo and Navajo ancestors were silversmiths, painters, weavers, and sculptors—all talented artists. Inspired by the values of family but encouraged by artistic initiatives outside kinship and culture, Connie redefined her art to include modernistic ideas in metalsmithing, painting, and sculpture. An inveterate traveler, her interactions with artists from other cultural backgrounds exposed her to the expressive and experimental ways that people fashion their art—and, in so doing, fashion their individual identities. Her jewelry, in particular, is embedded in discourses of sensuous beauty, cultural heritage, and family nostalgia. But while Connie staunchly supports the importance of tradition, she also pushes her work beyond what collectors consider ethno-aesthetic ideals. Her pieces intensely reveal a creative energy that slams head-on into cultural formula art, opening up new landscapes of personal expression. Rings, bracelets, and pendants of unique design and crafting reveal much about this quintessential, modern woman. Her work has global appeal and unique artistic vitality, yet there are liminal renderings of her Navajo and Pueblo heritage subtly incorporated within.
Connie believes it is important to share one’s creative knowledge and artistic technique. A teacher in heart and spirit, students in the Eight Northern Indian Pueblo Council Vocation Program, the Poeh Arts Center, and children’s programs at the Wheelwright Museum in Santa Fe have benefited from her expertise. Such community-minded endeavors won Connie the 2005 City of Santa Fe Mayor Award for Arts Education and The Santa Fe New Mexican Award recognizing “10 Who Make a Difference.”
