Pop Chalee

Pop Chalee (meaning blue flower in Tiwa) was a 20th century Taos Pueblo painter and muralist whose work was influenced by her dreams, culture and history. A favourite subject of her art was the natural world and her famous woodland imagery came from the time she spent in forests as a child and to the oral narratives passed down from her grandfather. In her stylized depictions of forest scenery and wildlife she often used tiny brushstrokes and she achieved this precise line work with a paintbrush made of a single bristle of horsehair. She described her painting style as "flat and simple, leaving things out that are not important but making a beautiful picture". As well as being a pioneering artist she was also involved in activism in the 1930s on the part of the Taos people to help them attain full legal and educational rights. Today her works are in major museum collections all over the world.