John Boomer Carved Cedar Female Bust Sculpture — Signed, 1983

A large-scale hand-carved female bust by New Mexico sculptor John Boomer (b. 1945), executed from a single solid piece of cedar and signed "J Boomer © 6-83." The face is rendered with quiet anatomical precision — articulated eyelids, a defined nasal bridge, a composed forward gaze beneath a gathered updo — while the chest carries a carved fan of radiating drapery folds evoking the blankets and long dresses of traditional Navajo women. Boomer sculpts with the wood's natural formations rather than against them, and the deliberate tension between the polished portrait face and the raw burl knots, live-edge inclusions, and open voids throughout the base is central to his practice.

For John Boomer, 1983 was a national breakout year, when both Southwest Art Magazine and Artspace Magazine featured his work and reviewed his One Man Show at Dewey Gallery, New Mexico — this piece was made at the precise moment his reputation crossed into national recognition.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY John Boomer was born on October 6, 1945, in California. After graduating from California State University at Chico with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, he moved to the Navajo reservation in 1968 to teach. It was there, living among traditional Navajo families, that he developed a deep interest in sculpture and began teaching himself to carve wood. Claro Walnut, Black Walnut, Cedar-Juniper, and Birds Eye Maple were among the first materials he worked in, later expanding to granite, basalt, and marble.

In 1972, Boomer left teaching to work as a full-time artist, a commitment he has maintained for more than five decades. The women of the Navajo reservation became his defining subject — calm, proud, and enduring figures whose presence he found inseparable from the Cedar-Juniper of the high desert, with its long grain and organic inclusions suggesting their blankets and long dresses naturally. That correspondence between material and subject has remained central to his practice.

His work entered the national conversation in 1983, when Southwest Art Magazine published a feature article on his sculpture and Artspace Magazine reviewed his One Man Show at Dewey Gallery, New Mexico. In 1988, Fine Woodworking Magazine invited him to contribute an article titled "Carvings From the High Desert." In 1993, he was included in Masters of American Sculpture — One Hundred Year Survey, published by the National Sculpture Society through Abbeville Press, New York. His exhibition record includes the Phoenix Art Museum Biennial (1974), the Southwest Biennial at the Museum of Santa Fe (1976), and a 2001 group show alongside Allan Houser and Doug Hyde at Figarelli Fine Art, Scottsdale. In 2003, his bronze Birth of a Dream was dedicated at the Albuquerque Museum. He is represented by Blue Rain Gallery, Santa Fe and Durango.

CONDITION Very Good. The portrait face and carved drapery retain a smooth finish with rich, even color throughout. Two natural checks run vertically across the face — present in the source wood and incorporated by the artist. Exposed burl voids on the chest and shoulders show original bark and splitting consistent with the raw wood inclusions.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Height: 18"
• Width: 12"
• Depth: 8"
• Weight: 15 lbs
• Medium: Single solid piece of carved cedar, natural finish
• Artist: John Boomer (b. October 6, 1945, California; works in New Mexico)
• Signature: "J Boomer © 6-83" (incised, rear lower left)
• Date: June 1983
• Gallery: Blue Rain Gallery, Santa Fe, NM and Durango, CO
• Campbell's Soup Can (4" H) Shown for Scale