Songs are my connection to the spirit world. We are all
ONE VOICE and ONE COLOR, the color inside all of us is RED --- Standing Deer

Featuring the Art of Blue Spruce Standing Deer & Marti White Deer Song

BLUE SPRUCE STANDING DEER
(Pba-Quen-nee-e)

Blue Spruce Standing Deer (Pba-Quen-Nee-e) is a Tiwa Indian artist and Musician. He was born and raised at Taos Pueblo in Northern New Mexico. His father and mother were steeped in the tradition of their Tiwa heritage and passed it onto their oldest son. Standing Deer's father was a rancher and farmer but also a Medicine Man who served his own people but chose to help those outside his tribe and culture as well.

Blue Spruce Standing Deer's father was an adopted grandson of Tony Lujan the Taos Pueblo native who was one of the first tribal members to marry an Anglo American. However, his wife, Mabel Dodge Luhan was a famous patroness of the Arts who brought many of the most famous artists, writers and cultural icons of her day to Taos with the hope that in introducing them to this sacred land they would influence the outside world to preserve and promote its values and unique culture. Because he grew up in this household as well as the Pueblo and small village of Taos, Standing Deer was steeped in both the traditional Tiwa world and the cosmopolitan world of art and literature.

Through his painting and music Blue Spruce Standing Deer seeks to express the living essence of his Tiwa people. Although this tradition is very ancient, Standing Deer brings it to life in a highly individual and contemporary style.

He frequently receives the images for his paintings from the Spirit World as he sings and drums. These spirit messages come in through the songs, and then flow out in the vibrant colors of the rainbow which he renders in acrylic on canvas. In recent years, Pba-Quen-Nee-e has also been trying his hand at stone sculpture with magical results.

Blue Spruce Standing Deer loves the traditional music of his people and often has drumming sessions at his home for friends Standing Deer and his father Joe J. Suazo and family. At these special gatherings he often sang with his father from whom he learned the old songs. These gatherings frequently become spontaneous international events with visitors from various parts of the United States and the world. Tradition is given great honor in his work, and yet Standing Deer is a man who builds cultural and spiritual bridges between worlds; his traditional Tiwa world, and the modern world. He composes songs that have universal appeal and touch the hearts of people from many backgrounds, and cultures. He is an innovative and imaginative composer of Native music richly imbued with tradition and yet as universal as a heartbeat.

Pba-Quen-Nee-e's ancestral home, Taos Pueblo is one of the oldest continuously inhabited villages in North America and may be over a thousand years old. It has also a been designated a World Heritage Site by Unesco.

Although Taos Pueblo is the most Northern and Eastern of all the Pueblos and has a long history of contact and trade with Plains Indian tribes, Spanish settler's, and other European newcomers, it has a reputation for maintaining the purity of its traditions.Pba-Quen-Nee-e

Standing Deer has traveled extensively in Europe and the United States, and is the only Native American invited to do a blessing and drumming within the ancient Neolithic stone circle, Stonehenge, in England. He has visited Italy twice to do drummings and workshops. In addition to being invited to visit Australia and Japan, he was interviewed by a Japanese magazine, and appeared on Italian TV. In the past he has been featured in numerous publications including Catalyst and Awareness magazines, and has been interviewed on radio numerous times.

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