Francis Leekya

Sadly, Francis Leekya passed away quietly in his sleep on the night of May 12, 2003.
His spirit and mind were strong till the end. His body, racked by strokes and
 diabetes finally abandoned him 

Francis grew up surrounded by the great Zuni artists of the 40's, 50's, and 60's. 

Francis carved in the old style created many years ago by his father Leekya Deyuse.

Francis began his career working alongside his father for CG Wallace
and later Bernie Vanderwagon.

Francis and I began our collaboration in 1998.

The right side of Francis' body was already paralyzed from a stroke and he had
difficulty speaking.  Francis carved by holding the stone in his left hand (the only hand
 he could control) and gently touched it to the grinding wheel till the fetish he saw emerged.

In the beginning of our collaboration, Francis carved small fetishes as he had most of his life.

In 1999, I asked Francis to try carving larger fetishes and supplied him stone other then Zuni Rock.

He loved it, the larger colorful stones gave Francis the opportunity to explore.

From that point on, everything changed about Francis' carving. The fetishes literally sprung to life.
No two were alike. Each carving had its own unique form, patterns and colors. It was surreal. Here
was this very fragile, gentle man seemingly willing stone to take form and color.

Francis did not make many fetishes. If you own one, treasure it.

 Francis told me that disability also forced his father Leekya to carve with one hand.
It was as if Leekya was guiding Francis.