Gerald Nailor, Sr. (1917-1952) or Toh Yah was a Diné Studio painter from Picurís, New Mexico.
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 ...
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Gerald Nailor, Sr. (1917-1952) or Toh Yah was a Diné Studio painter from Picurís, New Mexico.
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...
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