Margaret Moses Folk Art Collection
We are proud to present our fine selection of Southwestern Folk Art.  Every piece is hand crafted by a local artist and comes with a 100% authenticity guarantee.

Folk Art is group by category: Mud Toys, Retablo. Click on a category to view the collection. Below each  photo is information on the artist, materials, size and price of the piece.

Mud Toys - Navajo
Elsie Benally is one of two Navajo artists who independently revived the art of making "mud toys" in the early 1980s. The figures were traditionally made to be both play objects and training aids, a way for Navajo parents to teach their young children about Navajo life. Navajo mud toy making died out in the first half of the 20th century as commercially made "Western" toys gradually replaced them.

Mud toy figures are shaped by hand from native clay then dried in the sun. They are then hand painted and often adorned with other features such as cloth and natural sheep wool. Elsie continues the tradition from her remote Reservation home of Sweetwater, Arizona. Her work is included in numerous museum collections, including the Smithsonian. Elsie's two couisins, Jessie Malone and Rose Herbert, began making mud toys as well in the late 1980s and have gone on to develop their own unique styles. This extended family is the only one producing revival mud toys now.