Desert Big Horn Sheep Fetish: Rodney Laiwakete

Rodney is a member of a large interrelated family of excellent carvers: the Mahooty, Lasiloo and Laiwakete families. Rodney has been instrumental in spreading the art of carving fetishes to his immediate family of four brothers. This small piece is signed RL on the bottom and is tied with a “spirit bundle” comprised of a jet arrowhead adorned with sodalite, turquoise and red glass beads. Its eyes are inlayed with two small dots of turquoise. The horns on this piece are well defined in a realistic manner, typical of Navajo fetish carvers, and may represent the influence of his wife, Lucinda Wayne who is Navajo. (JH)