Hi Turquoise People, I’m new here but have been reading and enjoying the forum for a while. I came across several pieces of Hopi style overlay; the artist is listed as Anglo Virginia Bradford and the hallmark is a “rabbit stick” [also listed in Barton Wright’s Hallmarks of the Southwest, 2nd Ed., pgs. 40, 235 and 237, 256. Page 40 shows “Angelo(?)", and “From Severne Park, Maryland”]. I’ve attached several photos of some recent listings on eBay (the photos are all from the same seller), and have only found a couple of other pieces with the same hallmark.
Does anyone know more about the artist, who she learned to do Hopi style overlay, and about when these pieces were made? OR, if these pieces were from a different artist? Thank you in advance for your help.
@Kaliko Hi & Welcome! In the seller’s listing, he/she uses the word “Anglo”. This references a Non-Native American person. Sorry, I don’t have any info about Virginia Bradford. Maybe others here are familiar with this jewelry artist.
ETA: V. Bradford is listed in Bille Hougart’s 3rd edition NA/SW Hallmarks book. Her hallmark is listed under the category “Wind & Rain”. It’s not listed as a Rabbit Stick pictograph.
Hi, and welcome! I agree with @Patina. My initial thought was, as you said, these pieces are not what one would expect with Hopi overlay. They appear well made in the Hopi design style. Maybe I’m being overly critical, but it bothers me when an Anglo uses a figural hallmark typical of what is used in NA jewelry. Funny thing is that I feel I’ve seen this hallmark before… Wish I knew more.
Thank you @Bmpdvm and @Patina. It’s interesting that Wright’s and Hougart’s describe the hallmark differently [and when I was looking up what it could be, it took me a while because I thought it was a person’s fingers playing a flute].
I’ve been looking at these and a couple of similar hallmarked pieces for a while (please note: I am not an expert. I do like to learn).
“During the 1940’s she studied music under Herman Maril at the University of Maryland, where she also taught and played piano at University concerts. She married her childhood friend and sweetheart, the late Charles L. Burton, in 1947. Mrs. Burton was an accomplished artist. Over a 50 year period her paintings dealt with florals, seascapes, and western art. In the early years she studied art under Catherine Wilkie Lessner and Leonard Bahr. She later studied with Ted Goerschner at the Scottsdale Artists School in Scottsdale, Arizona; in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and at the Easton Academy of Arts.”
If this is the correct person, I am wondering if she was like a number of artists who traveled from the East Coast to the Southwest in the 1950s-70s to do not only their own art, but was taught some NA jewelry making, and tried it a little (perhaps I’ll write more on this later on).
Separately, I’ve noticed a number of pictograph hallmarks where the artist is listed as “Anglo”. I’m wondering if some of these artists did this as a sign of friendship (especially early on when prices weren’t like they are today).
Yeah, I remember a friend of mine called these folks making NA style items back in the 60’s “hippies artist.” Regardless…some made quite amazing jewelry (others not so amazing😆).
Here’s some more information about Virginia Bradford (1925-2016). [Again, IF she was the artist who made the Hopi style pendants.] She was professionally trained as a musician and painter on the East coast and in the Southwest in the 1940s and 50s by some well-known teachers (those teachers’ art works were sold to collectors for a lot then and much more now). She also taught art and music, and sold her paintings to collectors.
Virginia Bradford was in Phoenix and Santa Fe in the 1950s-70s learning to paint Western Art; this would make her in her 30s to mid-50s during that time. She reminds me of other women artists from the early 1900s such as Natalie Curtis, Carol Bishop Stanley and Alice Klauber who moved to the Southwest to do art and music, and befriended many Native American people.
Here’s a video/documentary (and book) that you may or may not be familiar with; we really like it and think you may also.
“Ladies of the Canyons: A League of Extraordinary Women and Adventures in the American Southwest”
Lesley Poling-Kempes lecture at the Los Alamos Historical Society
“Educated, restless, and inquisitive, Natalie Curtis, Carol Stanley, Alice Klauber, and Mary Cabot Wheelwright were plucky, intrepid women whose lives were transformed in the first decades of the twentieth century by the people and country of the American Southwest. Within the wild, raw beauty of the high desert and mountain landscape these ladies imagined and created a new home territory, a new society, and a new identity for themselves and for the women who would follow them.”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-JD6aAoAjY
Thing is, the artist is not known to be this individual, hence back story or connection to others is only speculation.
Anglo work is a thing, of course, and appreciated on its own terms. It’s just a different realm for people specifically focused on building collections of NA jewelry.
I agree with you! “Thing is, the artist is not known to be this individual, hence back story or connection to others is only speculation.”
I have no idea who the actual artist is, and their background. This is why I posted the item(s)/hallmark and question originally, and remain interested.
What I’ve always found interesting is how people from different backgrounds learn from each other.
@Kaliko I’ve purchased jewelry online for years from a trusted jewelry artist. She is not Native American. She’s Anglo, and doesn’t misrepresent herself. Jewelry like this is commonly referred to as being “Native American Style” or “Southwest” jewelry. Nothing wrong with purchasing this type of jewelry. Bille Hougart has several books available on Native American/Southwest Hallmarks identification, if you’re interested. His books are an invaluable resource.
Older pieces of Native style “Anglo” jewelry [as you mentioned, a number are listed in Hougart’s (and Wright’s books)] seem like an interesting area to learn the backstory of the relationships built between Native and non-Native artists, because it was long before the Internet and today’s rapid travel & communication.
In the link above titled “Ladies of the Canyons: A League of Extraordinary Women and Adventures in the American Southwest”, many of the women from the early 1900s had artist backgrounds. They built close relationships with, and helped, many Native Americans. And while they didn’t become jewelry makers themselves, wore a lot of it, and gave it as gifts. Lesley Polling-Kemps did a great job researching and finding this “lost” history.
