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

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, working together with CG Wallace and later Bernie
Vanderwagon (prominent dealers of that day).

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.  He carved by holding the stone in his
left hand and gently touching 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 the same. Each carving
 had its own unique form, patterns and colors. It was surreal. Here was
this very fragile, gentle man seemingly willing chunks of stone to take
form and color as he wished

Soon, Francis' sons Hayes and Delvin began experimenting with
new materials. Hayes and Delvin shared the unusual stone they found
 with Francis. It was a wonderful time, full of surprises for me...
and I think them too.

In my opinion, the carvings that Francis Leekya made in the last years
of his life are among the finest traditional fetishes to ever come out
 of Zuni.  Francis did not make many.  If you own one, treasure it. 
If you do not... try to pry one lose from a collector who does.