ESTHER BELIN | This artist is a member of SWAIA.org

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Esther G. Belin is a multi-media artist, and a citizen of the Navajo Nation who lives on the Colorado side of the four corners. Her two-dimensional work originates from the effects of the U.S. federal Indian policies of termination and relocation. Both of her parents were taken off the Navajo reservation to attend a federally-run Indian boarding school in Riverside, CA The range of her work examines identity politics, checkerboard land status, and the interplay of words (abstraction) and image (realism). Her jewelry and techniques weave together natural implements as shells, felted wool, and seeds with trade items like glass and brass beads. She prefers to use traditional fastening techniques. She holds degrees from Antioch University, Los Angeles, the Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, and the University of California at Berkeley. She is trained as a writer and has written two poetry books published by the University of Arizona Press.