Jane and Lynn Quam
Jayne and Lynn Quam are a dynamic fetish carving duo. Jayne, a Navajo from Monument Valley, is married to Lynn, a Zuni Native, and together they have been creating carvings for over 40 years. They live in Zuni, New Mexico, surrounded by family. Lynn learned his craft from his late mother, Annie Quam Gasper, a highly collected and respected Zuni jewelry maker and stone fetish carver. They, in turn, taught Jayne the art.
Jayne began as a helper to her mother-in-law as the elder’s eyes failed, eventually and confidently creating her own style of fetish carving. Jayne is a recycler, using scraps of stone left over from other carvings as inlay on her fetishes. The family’s trademark inlay adds a sense of contemporary sparkle to this ancient art. She is also famous for her doubled or mated fetishes, as well as the Zuni Six Direction Fetish.
Her desire to discover the spirit within the stone motivates and inspires Jayne’s unique carvings. Lynn’s buffalo are regarded for their strong medicine, and you may be fortunate to have a fetish that the loving couple collaborated on. Both Lynn and Jayne honor the healing properties of the fetishes and take the responsibility of combining the spirit of the animal with the power of the stone very seriously.
For the past forty years Lynn and Jayne traveled, selling their award winning fetishes, which are collected all over the planet. Nowadays you will find them closer to home where they help raise their grandchildren and continue to honor their culture by teaching others their traditions.