Helen Hardin (Tsa-Sah-Wee-Eh)

Helen Hardin (May 28, 1943 – June 9, 1984) (also known as Tsa-sah-wee-eh, which means "Little Standing Spruce") was an American painter. Her parents were Santa Clara Pueblo artist, Pablita Velarde and a Caucasian former police officer and Chief of Public Safety, Herbert Hardin. She started making and selling paintings, participated in University of Arizona's Southwest Indian Art Project and was featured in Seventeen magazine, all before she was 18 years of age. Creating art was a means of spiritual expression that developed from her Roman Catholic upbringing and Native American heritage. She created contemporary works of art with geometric patterns based upon Native American symbols and motifs, like corn, kachinas, and chiefs. In 1976 she was featured in the PBS American Indian artists series.

Since Hardin's father was an Anglo and she married a white man, these life factors put her on the edge of Pueblo culture. Living in two worlds was difficult. Because she was denied access to her Native-American culture as a child, she retreated into Indian spirituality as an adult through her paintings.

Mary Stokrocki, School of Arts