LaVies & Daisy Natewa Corn Maiden Fetish

Here's an elegant, almost regal corn mother fetish hand carved by married Zuni artists Daisy and Lavies Natewa.

Description: This lovely elongated corn mother is carved of banded serpentine and inlaid with tiny circles of turquoise to form a mouth and a necklace. She's also carefully etched with raincloud motifs and kerneled corn. She's an expectant mother with her round belly and a quiet, knowing strength, one that's shared by women throughout the world.

Significance: Corn mothers like this one have important symbolism. Since corn is life for most Native people and corn mother is female, the corn mother fetish figure (much like her corn maiden counterpart) represents fertility and feminine energy. She also signifies the loving care of a mother as Zuni women are the ones who carefully tend to the venerated corn plants as well as their own children.

How wonderful it is to have this beautiful little token reminding women of their critical importance in a world that can often seem set up unwilling to extend appreciation.

She'd make a loving gift for a caregiver you know, even if that caregiver is yourself.

Dimensions: Corn mother measures 2 3/4" tall x 3/4" deep. She's 1/2" wide and signed on the bottom.

Provenance: She comes from the collection of a beautiful woman who grew up in Germany during World War II. Post war, she moved to the United States and became a model in New York City. She eventually married, left her modeling career, and moved to El Paso with her husband. In El Paso, she first experienced the charm of Native American art and jewelry. 

Many years later, she attended her first of several celebrated Native American art field trips hosted by Martha Struever. During this time, she expanded her collection of Native American art and jewelry. Her collection wasn't vast, but it was extremely meaningful to her.

After a long and full life, this dear woman recently passed away. She knew that her collection which she lovingly called her "treasures" was to be handled by Turquoise & Tufa, and she expressed her wishes that these dear fetishes would bring as much joy to us as they did to her.