Gerald Nailor

From Native American Information Superhighway Alltribes™ Wiki

Gerald Nailor Sr. was born in 1917 in Pinedale, New Mexico – his Diné name being Toh Yah (Walking By the River). After attending Albuquerque Indian School he attended Santa Fe Indian School in 1937. There he studied under Dorothy Dunn and also met his wife, who was working as a nurse at the Santa Fe Indian Hospital. Upon marrying he relocated to Picuris Pueblo, New Mexico and continued to paint and raise 5 children.

After working under Dunn, he spent a year studying with Kenneth Chapman and the Swedish muralist, Olaf Nordmark. In 1937, with his good friend, the artist Allan Houser, he set up a studio in Santa Fe to paint and work on his silkscreen prints.

With fellow-artist and classmate Harrison Begay, Nailor founded "Tewa Enterprises", an art publishing firm specializing in Native American art, especially that of the two founders. Tewa Enterprises became known for the high quality of their silkscreen prints.

In 1939, he was commissioned along with Allan Houser, and Velino Shije Herrera to paint a mural that is to this day still in the Main Interior Building in Washington D.C.

In 1942, Gerald Nailor Sr. applied for the job to paint a mural that would cover the walls of the Navajo Nation Council Chamber in Window Rock, AZ, which would depict the history of the Navajo/Diné people. He was one of thousands who applied for the job that would span 3–5 years. In October 2005, the building was declared a National Historic Landmark, including the mural that graces its walls.

Works by Nailor are now in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Museum of the American Indian and the Denver Art Museum