Background
Helga Kulbe Teiwes was born on January 19, 1930, in Meerbusch, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.
(Striking photographs tell the dramatic story of a living ...)
Striking photographs tell the dramatic story of a living mission, one which belongs today to the same Indians for whom it was originally built in 1797.
https://www.amazon.com/Mission-San-Xavier-Del-Bac/dp/0816504237/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=Helga+Teiwes&qid=1606457511&sr=8-3
1973
(Much has been written about the popular kachina dolls car...)
Much has been written about the popular kachina dolls carved by the Hopi Indians of northern Arizona, but little has been revealed about the artistry behind them. Now Helga Teiwes describes the development of this art form from early traditional styles to the action-style kachina dolls made popular in galleries throughout the world, and on to the kachina sculptures that have evolved in the last half of the 1980s. Teiwes explains the role of the Katsina spirit in Hopi religion and that of the kachina doll - the carved representation of a Katsina - in the ritual and economic life of the Hopis. In tracing the history of the kachina doll in Hopi culture, she shows how these wooden figures have changed since carvers came to be influenced by their marketability among Anglos and how their carving has been characterized by increasingly refined techniques.
https://www.amazon.com/Kachina-Dolls-Art-Hopi-Carvers/dp/0816512647/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=Helga+Teiwes&qid=1606457511&sr=8-2
1992
(Rising dramatically from the desert floor, Arizona's wind...)
Rising dramatically from the desert floor, Arizona's windswept mesas have been home to the Hopis for hundreds of years. A people are known for protecting their privacy, these Native Americans also have a long and less known tradition of weaving baskets and plaques. Generations of Hopi weavers have passed down knowledge of techniques and materials from the plant world around them, from mother to daughter, granddaughter, or niece. This book is filled with photographs and detailed descriptions of their beautiful baskets - the one art, above all others, that creates the strongest social bonds in Hopi life.
https://www.amazon.com/Hopi-Basket-Weaving-Artistry-Natural/dp/0816516154/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Helga+Teiwes&qid=1606457511&sr=8-1
1996
(Just as fiber evidence is often important to the solution...)
Just as fiber evidence is often important to the solution of modern crimes, prehistoric textiles can be used to solve archaeological mysteries. This book examines the ways in which textiles can be interpreted to help archaeologists understand the lives of prehistoric peoples in the Greater Southwest (New Mexico, Arizona, and northern Mexico). The author surveys the mineral, animal, and plant fibers used in the region's archaeological textiles, explains the techniques of prehistoric yarn production and accounts for textile structures, weaving technologies, and the use of color, ornament, and pattern. After examining the economic and social context of textile production and distribution, she shows how the study of textiles can aid in the understanding of specific areas and issues. For example, textile evidence can shed light on the development of agriculture and the question of Mesoamerican influence on Southwestern cultural traditions.
https://www.amazon.com/Textiles-Southwestern-Prehistory-Lynn-Teague/dp/0826319777/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=Helga+Teiwes&qid=1606457511&sr=8-5
1998
Helga Kulbe Teiwes was born on January 19, 1930, in Meerbusch, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.
In 1950 Helga Teiwes began a trade apprenticeship in photography under Master photographer Erna Hehmke-Winterer, a specialist in black and white portraiture, architectural and industrial photography. In 1957 she earned her master's degree in photography and worked as an industrial photographer in Düsseldorf until she emigrated to New York in 1960.
During her four years in New York City, Helga Teiwes worked as a darkroom worker, an assistant photographer for Cartier Jewelers, and as a transparency retoucher. She also continued to build her portfolio through free-lance work.
In 1964, a trip to Mesa Verde inspired Helga Teiwes to seek work in the Southwest. The same year she was hired by Dr. Emil Haury of the University of Arizona to photograph his excavation of Snaketown on the Gila River Indian Reservation. Following Snaketown, Helga Teiwes was hired as a museum photographer for the Arizona State Museum (ASM) at the University of Arizona in Tucson. She was also sought after for other archaeological projects during the 1960s and 1970s to take publication and studio shots.
During this time, Helga Teiwes developed a deep interest in the people and cultures of the Southwest and spent a significant amount of time on reservations building personal relationships among the Hopi, Apache, Tohono O'dham and Diné (Navajo) among others. She took a particular interest in documenting Native artists and the work they produced, including basket weavers, potters, jewelers, and carvers. Helga Teiwes also worked to capture everyday life among the Native people of the Southwest in addition to documenting special events like the Apache coming of age ceremony and the Tohono O'odham Saguaro Cactus harvest.
Helga Teiwes retired from the Arizona State Museum in 1993 but continued to work as a freelance photographer and writer in Tuscon.
Throughout her career, Teiwes's photographs and essays were published nationally and internationally. Her photographic study Navajo was published by the Swiss publisher U. Bar Varlag in 1991 and published in English in 1993. Her books Kachina Dolls: The Art of the Hopi Carvers and Hopi Basket Weaving: Artistry in Natural Fibers were published by the University of Arizona Press in 1991 and 1996. From October 2003 to June 2004, the Arizona State Museum held an exhibition titled "With an Eye on Culture: The Photography of Helga Teiwes" highlighting the broad scope of her career.
In 2013, Helga Teiwes donated her collection of personal photographs, not taken for the Arizona State Museum, to the National Museum of the American Indian, Archive Center. Teiwes's photographs taken for the Arizona State Museum are housed in the ASM's photographic archives.
(Much has been written about the popular kachina dolls car...)
1992(Striking photographs tell the dramatic story of a living ...)
1973(Just as fiber evidence is often important to the solution...)
1998(Rising dramatically from the desert floor, Arizona's wind...)
1996Treva Burton and Bessie Monongye holding large bundles of siváapi (rabbitbrush)
1991A coiled basket with a Snow Kachina (Nuvaktsinmana) by Pauline Quiyo
1992A plaited, green mooho (yucca) mat for a sifter basket
1997Almarie Masayestewa with the beginning of a wicker plaque
1992Annabelle Nequatewa attaches a suuvi (sumac) ring to her plaited basket
1991Evelyn Selestewa weaving a wicker fruit basket
1993Evelyn Seletstewa weaving a wicker fruit basket
1993Joyce Ann Saufkie pulling mooho (yucca) strips with her teeth
1992Leora Kayquoptewa dying siváapi (rabbitbrush) in scarlet aniline dye
1992Madeline Lamson with her granddaughter and two coiled baskets
1991A member of the Professional Photographers of America from 1961 to 1963, and 1976.