My name is Veneron Yazzen. I was born in Gallup New Mexico. Most of my childhood experiences were living all around the four corners region. Me and my siblings went to different schools on the Navajo reservation also. Besides the short enrichment sessions on Navajo culture offered in schools, at home I continued to learn more about my Navajo heritage through my mother. My mom was raised by matrilineal beliefs, and she thought it was important for me to know certain things she learned. The most important virtue taught by her, was that it was okay for me to express my feelings, especially when it came to me becoming a young man in the world. Always encouraging peace and kindness. I learned a lot about First Man and First Woman in Navajo lore. I was taught I had both sacred sides guiding me. I had to manage that masculine and feminine energy. This was to be known as, The Beauty Way. It taught me to always love yourself and respect the elders. Growing up, there was always a balance between the old ancient world and our current world. My family believed in the power of nature taking its course, and who controls all that is Navajo deity, Spider woman. Who watches over us. In our house, daddy long leg spiders were okay, because they are considered our grandmothers and grandfathers. Instead of killing them, Black Widows were usually swirled up with a stick along with the web, and placed outside at a good safe distance. We would ask it to protect the house instead. Spider Woman represents a hero protecting everything, and as a kid I would try and draw her. It was also how I became fascinated with weavers and mythology stories. It drew me to asking a lot of questions about who I am. Thus, my art adventures began. I have many stories of how art saved me and also got me into a lot of trouble. Overtime. We became urbanites and settled in Albuquerque New Mexico. I graduated from Sandia High School in 2004. After school I decided to build up more work experience. Working all over Albuquerque made me see new areas in town, and I became entranced at street art, and the power of graffiti. The next four years. When I wasn’t working at one of my jobs, I practiced my penmanship and making letters more 3d and dynamically hard to read. I also began to create my own graffiti characters. Graffiti art taught me to be defiant in my own work, it trained my eyes to look hard at others work. It made me feel comfortable in being wild. I started taking my mother’s teachings and stories, along with the approaches I do when it comes to the Graffiti concept, I began to roughly sketch out new worlds for myself. Instead of breaking the law and tagging up places, I decided to invest more in sketchbooks and canvases. In the year 2008, I decided to be a student of the arts and attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was where I really expanded my interests in reading and sought to learn more knowledge about my identity. I graduated from IAIA in the fall of 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. In April of 2016, I received my master’s degree in Secondary Education at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix Arizona. For almost ten years of being an educator, I tried to balance the weights of being a teacher and artist. I guess in order to take care of myself, mentally and spiritually, I decided to focus more on art. I continue to work and live in the Santa Fe area as an artist. It was mainly my paintings beginning to pile up and take up space. So, I decided not to be such a dedicated local artist and thought this would be a good way to expand my horizons. I decided to invest more time in marketing my art. Besides painting and drawing scenes of my new found beliefs, I believe in other things too. Culturally and spiritually. I feel that a great artist absorbs everything around them and is not afraid of anything. I am open to new ideas. Some of my favorite past artists are Helen Hardin and Alberto Giacometti. I am interested in getting to know other working artists today, and to learn more about their beliefs as artists. My work is still based around Navajo mythology stories, meshed with ideas about my experiences in surviving in the many worlds we go through in life. I continue to learn more about myself through art. Not only my stories, but to share some of those beautiful teachings from my mother, that are still with me. Today, I am starting to do more art that deals with my ideas of manhood. And, I have made the decision to do more art in a philosophical manner. For example, one day I was contemplating whether I should do my doctorates degree or focus on art. I put them both together. Doctorate ideas with my Art. I thought it would be neat to try and challenge myself by expressing it through painting. Or visually show my ideas through some different media. For beauty and peace, art processes are a sacred thing for us. I say now in today’s world. My first identity is, an Artist. I say that to all four directions. I am an artist. Thank you for reading up to this point. I truly can go on forever about art and identity. Please, enjoy my art. I plan to have a lot of fun working with the website. I also am on a new journey, venturing more towards sculpture. Stone sculpture. Marble to be precise. I want to sculpt hands. I am also very open to other artistic concepts being practiced today. Thanks, and welcome to my world.