Navajo Boy & Girl — Mary Lou Peshlakai, Deadstock Sand Painting

A pristine vintage Navajo sand painting titled “Navajo Boy & Girl” by celebrated Diné artist Mary Lou Peshlakai — an extraordinary deadstock find, completely factory sealed in its original vintage gallery shrink-wrap, the delicate sand surface flawlessly intact with zero shedding, oils, or dust. An 8 × 8 inch square composition depicting a young Navajo boy and girl walking through a desert landscape framed by native cacti and red-rock mesa formations — hand-signed by the artist on the reverse, with her handwritten cultural story. A sealed, signed, attributed work of Navajo folk art in museum-quality condition.

About Navajo Sand Painting

Sand painting — iikááh in Diné Bizaad — is one of the most sacred and technically demanding art forms of the Navajo people, traditionally created by medicine men (hataali) as part of healing ceremonies called Sings or Chantways. In the ceremonial tradition, sand paintings are created on the floor of the hogan from pulverized natural minerals — sandstone, charcoal, pollen, cornmeal, and crushed flowers — in precise symbolic compositions that invoke the Holy People (Diyin Diné’é) and channel their healing power. Ceremonial sand paintings are destroyed at the conclusion of the ceremony, their power released and their sacred imagery returned to the earth.

In the mid-20th century, Navajo artists began adapting the sand painting tradition for the collector market — fixing natural mineral sands and pulverized stones to artist board to create permanent works that preserved the visual language and material beauty of the ceremonial tradition in a form that could be collected, displayed, and passed down. The finest of these works, by named and attributed Navajo artists working with authentic natural materials, are significant works of Native American folk art — objects that carry the visual culture of the Diné people into the collector’s home with genuine craft integrity and cultural authenticity.

Mary Lou Peshlakai is among the recognized names in the Navajo sand painting tradition — an artist whose work, signed and accompanied by her handwritten cultural narrative, represents the best of the mid-century Navajo folk art market: authentic materials, attributed authorship, and a genuine connection to the cultural tradition the work represents.

Details

• Artist: Mary Lou Peshlakai (Diné / Navajo)
• Title: “Navajo Boy & Girl”
• Size: 8 × 8 inches
• Materials: Pulverized natural stones, earth minerals, and colored sands fixed to dense artist board
• Signed: Hand-signed on the reverse with the artist’s handwritten cultural story
• Condition: Deadstock / New Old Stock — factory sealed in original vintage gallery shrink-wrap, never unwrapped

Condition

Exceptional. Factory sealed and never unwrapped — the sand surface is flawlessly intact with zero shedding, dust, or handling marks. A museum-quality example of mid-century Navajo sand painting folk art. Please review all high-resolution photos carefully as they form part of the condition description.