Begay, Jerome

Jerome Begay was born into the Reed People clan on the Dineh Nation in 1972. He grew up in the Monticello, Utah area and essentially taught himself to make pottery. He first appeared in the marketplace in the early 1990s.

Jerome partnered with Melissa Johnson of the Kayenta-area Tobacco People clan in the late 1990s. Together they make Dineh brown pottery, often carved with ribs like a melon, sometimes with a biyo’ (a traditional Dineh fillet below the rim) and sometimes with an appliqué design. They make melon jars, vases, wedding vases and seed pots.