Roberta Begaye

Diné (Navajo)
I am the Bitterwater clan, To’di’ch’ii’nii. I am born for the Zuni-Edgewater clan, Naasht’e’zhi Ta’baaha’. Maternal grandparents: Towering House clans, Kiyaa’a’anii. Paternal grandparents: Bitterwater clans, To’di’ch’ii’nii.
Roberta is a self-taught artist who hails from the Navajo Nation, born in Fort Defiance, Arizona and raised in Kayenta, Arizona; with a 26 year career in Fire/EMS. She is a descendent of medicine people and traditional rug weavers, both maternal and paternal grand and great-grandparents.
Inspired by her grandmother's Wide Ruins textile patterns, she also creates imagery with that classic geometry to honor her. Woven together, her Diné traditional and cultural upbringing is brought to life with her brushes. Roberta's grandmother continues to weave, as she continues to paint. She has also created an organization, Compassion Uprising, that embodies the spirit of her grandmother’s teachings and love.
Roberta of Bitterwater Galerie houses her brushes and pigments in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
She weaves paintings textured with poetry…
› Listen: Project Antelope Presents Roberta Begaye