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Ro Begay | Episode 541

Romaine Begay (Ro) has been a full-time Potter for going on twenty plus years, where he incorporates the traditional Navajo rug weaving designs, traditional stories within his family as well as his experiences as a Native American in today’s age into the ceramic pieces that he creates.

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The name of your business is Nizhoni Pottery. What does Nizhoni mean?

Nizhoni means beautiful, fine, and good all in one. It is a Navojo word. Our grandfather always told us that when he would greet us in the morning. How is the day going to be? Nizhoni, nizhoni, it is going to be a good day, nizhoni. It is a beautiful morning. NIzhoni.  When I started to create my pottery I thought a whole lot about what I wanted to do with it and that popped into my head right away. Nizhoni. You know, it can be used lots of different ways. It can be used to describe the pot itself, the people itself, but the way I envision it is describing the being, the whole, Nizhoni- almost like a blessing.

You mentioned you make pottery to help people. How has it helped you?

Well, you know, growing up a lot of things happened. You know, some bad things, some things I am still struggling with and some of the stuff led to some destructive habits. And having this in my life has saved me, has helped me be, not the best person, but be a better person and it has helped me a whole lot. It has helped me make a life for my family. It has helped me help my son remember and know who he is, where he is and where he is from. Even though he did not grow up on a Navajo reservation, with a lot of Navajo friends, he is still traditional Navajo because of how I brought him up and the pottery is what helped me help him be a more traditional Navajo.

Why is it important to keep our roots alive?

Well, because it is who we are. It’s who we are and if you don’t know who you are then you will have a hard time finding a place in life, finding your path in life. When I do my workshops I tell that to the people that are taking my workshops. You know what? You’ve got to put yourself into your work. And you have to know yourself, know who you are and where you come from and incorporate that into your work. I have a saying before going into my studio all the time. Before I walk into my studio I tell myself, Anyone can make pottery and art, but nobody can make the pottery and art that I can make. I put myself into my work. And to me that separates my work from other potters when I am at a show. It separates me from other native potters when I am at another show. I tell my students, You now, you don’t have to just relate this to art. This is a saying that can be universal. You can use this in another way, Anyone can be a teacher, doctor, policeman, lawyer, but nobody can be those like I can be. Put yourself in your work and you can be successful and that’s what I teach. I try to teach people to incorporate themselves into their work, whether it is pottery, artwork or just life.

 What part of your ceramic life is devoted to teaching?

I actually didn’t know I was going to be teaching. That really wasn’t on the table until I few years ago, I befriended a potter and she broke her wrist and that was her life, she was done and she had a hard time starting over pretty much. That was when I decided to go back to school and work on my Master’s. So when I got my Master’s degree in Education, the school where I did my student teaching, their art teacher was going to retire and they told me, we are going to offer this to you and if you don’t then we might just lose the program. And I said, Okay I’ll take it over. And it’s been good times since. Like I said, I dropped my show schedule a lot because I started doing more one of kind pieces and bigger pieces since I started teaching. I am still in my studio a lot. I am still creating pieces at the clay studio where I teach and my students get to see that and they get to see the process of an artist finishing something and taking it somewhere to go sell. They can see the whole process all in one. So even though I am teaching it hasn’t really slowed me down a whole lot. I think that is because I have learned to be more efficient.

Do you have a class motto?

That is my class motto. What I told you earlier. Anyone can create art, but no one can create the art you can make. I share that with them and they in turn apply that to their artwork and so on in hopes of them applying it to their life. I did a lecture several years ago at a small reservation school  in Arizona and I talked about this and several years later I was in Santa Fe hanging out in a hot tub with my son and I notice a young gentleman looking right across from me for a long time and he asked me, Is your name Romaine Begay? And I said, Yes, it is. And he said, You know what, I saw you speak in Arizona at a college and you spoke about keeping your traditions and about your motto,  and he told me, I apply that every day and  I remember that and I use it all the time and now I am on my way to-He was getting ready to be a big time welder for the Navy somewhere and it was really, really, cool.  He told me he really took that motto to heart. Even if it just one person out there who heard that I am very blessed.

My last question for you is, you mentioned your wife has RA, rheumatoid arthritis , how is she doing now?

She has her ups and downs because she is on a lot of medication and  a lot of medication is heavy duty medication and we have had to trim things down because it just becomes a part of her life, you know. Some days she is pain and some days she isn’t. If she chooses to not be in pain she has to take the heavier meds, which are in turn more harmful to her body than just living with a little bit more of the pain everyday. So she has had to pick and choose her battles and I am just there trying to help her through it.

Book

Man on Fire by Luis Jimenez

Contact

Instagram: @robegay