Welcome to the Sunshine Studio Cyber-Life Page

Preferred URL - http://www.sunshinestudio.com/life.html

Welcome to the Cyber-Life Page from Sunshine Studio - Santa Fe Indian Traders - with firsthand accounts of adventures on the Internet.

Our friend Johnson Yazzi came to Santa Fe to display his paintings in a gallery for Indian Market in August of 1997. He had several new oil paintings and pastels to show. Some of these are now shown on our Pueblo Paintings web page. But this is only part of the story.

Johnson came to Santa Fe with his roommate, Chee Burnside. Chee, already an attorney with seven years' experience, is working on a premed degree from the University of Northern Arizona at Flagstaff. We spent an interesting evening with Chee and Johnson discussing art, the point of view of the Navajo, and life in general. At one point, Chee noticed a copy of Laura Gilpin's book, "The Enduring Navaho" (University of Texas Press, 1968 (second paperback printing, 1988)). Laura Gilpin's book is still in print. We do not stock this book, but can get you a copy for $35 plus postage on special order. We recommend that you buy a copy, either from us or from your local bookstore, if you are interested in photos of Navajo life in the early 20th century.

Opening the book, Chee showed us a photo, taken circa 1934, of his grandfather, Tom Burnside, one of the most acclaimed silversmiths of the era (Gilpin, page 139). Tom was a good friend of John Adair, and a chapter of Adair's book, "The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths" (University of Oklahoma Press, 1944) is devoted to Tom Burnside's jewelry.

Later, Chee turned to the photos following page 32 of Laura Gilpin's book. He noted with pride, "this photo is my great-grandfather, Sam Yazzie. He was a Medicine Man. He lived until the age of 101, and I knew him." Sam Yazzie died at age 101 of injuries incurred in falling off a horse at age 100.

At this point, I went into our storeroom and returned with the oil painting by Bobby Hicks (1990) that was posted on our Pueblo Paintings page.

Oil by Bobby Hicks from our Paintings II page

Compared with a portion of a

Sam Yazzie Photo from Gilpin's Book

The oil painting by Bobby Hicks is no longer available for sale because we presented it as a gift to Chee Burnside.

Diane Moran was speechless. She had just received the birthday gift of a lifetime. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, second only to her own children. What she received was a bracelet that features two dragonflies and a central cabochon in turquoise, lapis, sugelite, coral, and tiger-eye agate, on a background of sterling silver overlay by Navajo Silversmith Ben Gorman. This work was commissioned through Sunshine Studio. All of this is quite ordinary except for the fact that the whole transaction took place in Cyber space. We believe that this is the first documented example of computer-aided design and construction of Native American Jewelry with feedback by the buyer and sale, all transacted over the Internet.

This story started in November, 1995, when Jim Moran from Boston, Mass. wanted to get a birthday gift for his wife, Diane. Jim is an Electrical Engineer working in the computer networking industry, as well as a part time Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Diane is a marketing expert and dragonfly collector who is presently at home raising their young children. While on line, Jim discovered Sunshine Studio, Santa Fe Indian Traders, buying, selling, and trading fine Native American arts and crafts on the Internet. Sunshine Studio is owned by Arch and Challis Thiessen. Arch is a nuclear physicist who works for Los Alamos National Laboratories. He helps his wife, Challis, with the computer end of the business. Arch operates the World Wide Web (WWW) server that provides an on-line catalog for Sunshine Studio. Jim made a request for a custom design for a dragonfly-design bracelet using e-mail. Sunshine Studio contacted Navajo silversmith Ben Gorman who lives in Chinle, Arizona through America Online. Ben responded by sending back two designs created with the help of computer imaging and illustration software. These were posted on the Sunshine Studio WWW server.

Jim found the two design concepts on the WWW and chose the larger bracelet. The first design concept would not have been precise enough for Diane, an avid dragonfly collector, so Jim responded by providing the address of a World Wide Web site where an accurate dragonfly illustration can be found. After downloading the dragonfly illustration from the WWW site, Ben improved his bracelet design and sent back a full-color illustration complete with silver stamp patterns and a list of materials that could be used to make the bracelet. This was put on the Sunshine Studio WWW page for Jim to see.

Jim Moran agreed to the improved design and the list of materials. Ben constructed the bracelet using patterns for the overlay, stone cutting, and stamp work obtained from the computer drawing and printed them on his laser printer. These he transferred to the silver using a special self-adhesive plastic template material. After the bracelet was completed, it was shipped to Jim by second-day air in time for his wife Diane's birthday party on Sunday, December 17.

On Sunday, Diane was primed and ready for the gift. Earlier, she had seen a note about dragonfly jewelry in a pile of e-mail near Jim's computer. He explained this as the small pin that he had given her a few weeks earlier. Somehow, she had the idea that Jim would be giving her a large stained-glass dragonfly lamp shade, an idea that Jim did not discourage. With videotape rolling and guests watching, Jim handed Diane the small box containing the bracelet. Confused, she asked "This is it?" as she opened it. She was speechless as she looked at the bracelet for the first time. . . . Trying it on, she asked of Jim "It fits! . . . How did you do this?" Speechless again, she looked at it over and over. . . Finally she said "It's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen . . . second only to my own children." If you know Diane, you would know that speechlessness is not one of her traits. This was the gift of a lifetime!

Later, Ben Gorman explained how he learned his technique of silversmithing:

"After deciding to get serious about silversmithing, I began to illustrate abstract designs for silver jewelry on my computer. This was done by first sketching the design on paper and pencil, then scanning the design into Adobe Photoshop (imaging software) where the image is prepared as a template for Adobe Illustrator (Illustration software). The template is used to create a refined illustration of the jewelry piece that can easily be resized or edited. Part of the refining process is to colorize the stones and provide gradient shadings that give the jewelry some 3-D dimension. "

"At the time I did my first jewelry designs I knew very little about silversmithing. I knew only what I had learned back in one semester of silversmithing class in high school. I did have some silversmithing books, tools, and equipment that my family had saved from my deceased aunt who was beginning to learn silversmithing when she died due to an illness to her heart. Anyway, I decided to learn silversmithing. I read the books, bought some silver and began experimenting. I was completely absorbed by it. I spent my mornings creating designs on the computer and the afternoons working in a makeshift shop in my garage".

"As I experimented with creating design I discovered that the computer was the near ultimate tool for the silversmith. With my computer programming experience I was able to write a computer application that cataloged all of my designs. The catalog application contained images and information on labor and material costs. It also linked to my illustration program so that I could easily edit or print my designs and it was also linked to a spread sheet program that helped me to calculate silver prices based on silver gauge and size".

"One problem that was very interesting was how to incorporate silver stamp designs into the computer design process. This was accomplished by scanning a silver stamp print (using ink pad and paper) into the computer and creating an exact illustration of each of my stamp tools. Now I could place silver stamps anywhere I desired in the computer design process. To apply the final design from the computer to the silver required a special type of paper called laser appliqué film. This is a very tough film that can be printed on by a laser printer. It is sticky on one side so that it can be applied to a smooth surface. This is how I apply my designs to sheets of sterling silver".

"After all of this the moment of truth had arrived. To do a show, my first show. I decided to enter the 1995 Navajo Nation Fair in Window Rock. I designed and created three pieces: a pendant, brooch, and pair of earrings for this special occasion. The pendant titled "Silent Eagle" took a first place ribbon, the brooch titled "Hummingbirds" took a second place ribbon and the earrings titled "Sunray" took a third place ribbon. I was very satisfied to say the least.

Now, I needed to market my creations. I asked myself, should I setup a shack on a tourist laden Reservation road or perhaps (God forbid) go to Gallup (where I would have to take an unrealistically low price for my work). No, that does not sound too appealing. How about a virtual shack on the Information superhighway? Yes, that is the place for me. So, I get on-line and check out the classifieds on American Online. Ah, what is this? A Santa Fe Trader looking to trade some Indian jewelry. Lets send some e-mail and some scanned images of my finished jewelry. The rest of the story you have already heard."

Sunshine Studio owner, Arch Thiessen, explained his part of this story:

"I have been a physicist at Los Alamos National Lab for nearly 30 years. Sometime in the foreseeable future, I will be retiring. My wife has run a small business in Indian art out of her stained glass art studio for fifteen or twenty years. As her rheumatoid arthritis worsened, it was natural that the Indian art took over the larger share of the business. She particularly enjoys the search for good pieces and the contact with both the collectors and the artists, and has a small number of customers who come back over and over again. One day, we talked about our retirement plans and agreed to do something to increase her business to the point where it will be big enough to be interesting and financially rewarding during retirement. We feel that if we can make ~30% of my present salary from Sunshine Studio, we will have met our financial goal and my pension can provide the remainder. If we can do better, we can pass the business on to our son who is just starting out in life on his own in Illinois."

"One big problem for us is the cost of doing business in Santa Fe. Stores here have enormous rents. It is not unusual to hear that rent is $30,000 per month or more. There is no way to start a successful small business in a store in Santa Fe and pay this kind of rent. The Santa Fe flea market is better, but it operates only on weekends and the exposure to the elements is too much for Challis' arthritis. We needed another solution."

"In May, 1995, I decided to set up a WWW site for Sunshine Studio, and also improved our classified ads in America On-line and CompuServe. After some missteps, I chose an Internet provider, Santa Fe Trail Internet Services, that is owned by a lady who was once an employee who worked for me at the Lab. Starting only with some computer experience and a book on HTML (hypertext markup language, which is the "simple" language used for creating WWW pages), I got the Sunshine Studio WWW page up and running with about four weekends of hard work. Since then, I have put in 4-5 times this in improving and optimizing the site."

"The problems of creating a WWW site that is an effective sales medium are fourfold. First, there is the problem of getting comfortable enough with HTML that I can create and modify pages without making mistakes. Then, there is the problem of making images of the art. I learned to use a camera with a micro lens for taking close up photos and then scanned the images with a scanner. The trick in this is to trade resolution and picture quality for images that will come up on the tv monitor fast enough to keep the customer's interest. It is easy to spend many hours of my time per image, which means that a "store" for one-of-a-kind artwork is impractical. Eventually, I got this under control, but it is a never-ending battle to get good enough images without using too much of my time. Then there is the problem of providing interesting commentary on each piece of art so that the customer understands what he is buying. For this we use our experience in Indian art and, wherever possible, we reference our remarks to books that are already published. Finally there is the problem of establishing a good contact with the artists. That is where Ben came in. I offered Ben a deal that he cannot beat anywhere else, and we can communicate electronically. With Ben's new art and some old contacts made years ago, we were able to get going."

"This holiday season, we began to reap some of the rewards of the hard work we had put in. Business picked up to the point where our financial goal is within reach. Our Internet connection allows us to transact business quickly to a world market, complete with digital photographs and feedback from the customer, that could not be done without the Internet. The low cost allows us to return a larger fraction of the purchase price to the artist than traditional traders can provide while maintaining both the price that the customer wants and an acceptable profit margin. Many of us do not know how much computer-aided design and the Internet are affecting our daily lives. They have penetrated to the center of the Navajo Indian Reservation and to the heart of the Native American Jewelry business."

"We believe that Sunshine Studio is the first successful Indian Trading service on the Internet. This is no accident. It came about because we work hard and are responsive to the customer. All our images are small and can be quickly browsed by people with slow modem connections. The site is set up so that it is simple to poke around until the customer finds something that he feels is interesting. We intentionally try to humanize our site, with interesting stories and anecdotes. We respond to e-mail quickly, usually within a few hours to a few days. We are always helpful and courteous, whether the correspondent is a student doing a homework assignment, a Native American trying to sell his art, or a big spender."

"The future is now. We are beginning to see a shakeout of WWW sites. It is time to stop giving our attention to stories about how we are going to change the course of business in America in some abstract and undefined way. Rather, we should look at how these changes are taking shape right now. Those who are out there working with their customers, and who are providing a real service will survive. There is an excess of available advertising space out there on the Internet and a real lack of quality services and merchandise to fill up the space. The cost of advertising is low if the amount of labor to keep a site up and running can be minimized. Those who concentrate on trying to extract money with hype and unneeded expensive services and who wait for business on their own terms will dry up and be blown away."

"For those who would start their on WWW site, I offer one piece of advice. 'KISS and check EVERYTHING.' Keep it simple, stupid, and spend your time checking how your site works, how it looks with a browser at the end of a long, noisy line, and how the customer will respond to what you have put out there. Check your work over and over again. I cannot begin to tell you how often some small change I made screwed up something else when there was no way it could have happened. . ."

Challis and I spent Monday, December 18, 1995, with Ben. He had arranged for a videotaped interview to be done by the Navajo Nation TV station, NNTV-5, of Window Rock, Arizona. The subject of this interview was the computer-aided design and fabrication of the Dragonfly Bracelet. The videotaping was great fun and very enlightening. The interview tape will be edited together with the presentation of the bracelet to Diane to make a single, complete record of the event.

We met Ben's family. His father, Guy Gorman, is a former member of the Navajo Tribal Council who recently retired after 15 years of service to the Tribe. I asked Guy to explain how his family is related to that of the famous Navajo Artist, R. C. Gorman. Guy told us the following story:

"Great-Grandfather Gorman decided to enroll his son in a boarding school at Fort Defiance, AZ (near Window Rock). This involved a two-day trip by horseback over the mountains with a small boy and all his possessions.

"He told some neighbors about the plan. The neighbors responded by asking Great-Grandfather Gorman if he would take their son along. He agreed to take the neighbors' son with them to Fort Defiance.

"After the boys were at the school, it was necessary to give the other boy a name. Lacking any other information, the school gave the neighbors' son the last name of 'Gorman' also. Thus was established the surname of the Carl and R. C. Gorman family. ... Of course, the other Gormans have a different version of this story."

The young tv reporter from NNTV-5, Waylon Benally, asked us to explain our view of the conflict with tradition caused by creating Navajo jewelry with the aid of a computer. Ben answered this with the following rhetorical question:

"A long time ago, we painted designs on the walls of canyons. Then somebody got the idea to put designs on pots. Surely somebody asked then, 'Are we destroying our traditions by using our canyon designs on pots?' How did we answer this question back then?"

Sometimes, truth is more interesting than fiction.

After seeing this story, another buyer ordered a custom-designed hummingbird bracelet by Ben Gorman through Sunshine Studio. The illustrated story of the construction of the second hummingbird bracelet is posted on our Ben Gorman Jewelry Page.

Sunshine Studio, a small home-based business located in 3180 Vista Sandia, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87506, has been in business since 1970, on the Internet since 1995, and is a member of ATADA, Antique Tribal Arts Dealers' Association, Inc. Buy, sell, or trade, you will be satisfied with any deal you make with us. Our Guarantee: We will accept the return of any item for full refund within 10 days if returned in its original condition, no questions asked. Shipping and insurance charges are the responsibility of the customer. For more information, check our Ordering Information.

Turquoise*: See http://www.sunshinestudio.com/turquoise.html for statement of Sunshine Studio Policy on Turquoise.

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