Nanibaa Beck
Navajo (Diné)
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Meet Diné (Navajo) artist Nanibaa Beck! Nanibaa Beck’s work embraces the idea of being ‘traditional as innovative’. Her modern designs have deeper meaning. Some are based on Navajo Nation creation stories and others include the dine language in her jewelry line. She has collaborated with artist, J.Silm. Of the Fourth World Emergence earrings (pictured here, and in Nanibaa’s gallery), J. Silm says, “The bottom of the earrings of are waves from the flood in the third world that forced the beings of the Third World to emerge to the Fourth. The center is the female reed that transported the beings to the Fourth World… A world of light, hence the sunshine at the top. The Third World was dark. The earring is shaped like a locust, ’cause it was the first being to emerge into the Fourth World, and it was that being who got acceptance from the beings of the Fourth World to approve of the migration of beings from the Third World.”
May 21, 2025- Virtual Art Talk: Creating Continuity with Jeweler Nanibaa Beck through the Heard Museum — Nanibaa Beck, a second-generation Diné (Navajo) jeweler and founder of NotAbove. Beck blends traditional metalwork and stone inlay techniques with a contemporary minimalist style, creating pieces that honor Native languages and cultural expression. In this talk, she shares insights into her creative process, the evolution of her jewelry practice, and the role of Indigenous design in today’s art world.
Conversations:
May 21, 2025- Virtual Art Talk: Creating Continuity with Jeweler Nanibaa Beck through the Heard Museum — Nanibaa Beck, a second-generation Diné (Navajo) jeweler and founder of NotAbove. Beck blends traditional metalwork and stone inlay techniques with a contemporary minimalist style, creating pieces that honor Native languages and cultural expression. In this talk, she shares insights into her creative process, the evolution of her jewelry practice, and the role of Indigenous design in today’s art world.
November 18th, 2020– Beads, Buffing, and the Becks: A Conversation with Victor and Nanibaa Beck at Diné College — As part of Diné College’s Conversation Series, Nanibaa Beck, the daughter of world renowned silversmith Victor Beck has certainly made a space for herself within the Fine Arts realm of metalwork. With appreciation for her father’s work and teachings, Nanibaa Beck joins us for a conversation about her definition of success and how language, land, stones, and metal have converged for her as she perpetuates the Navajo art of silversmithing.