Welcome to Releasing the Spirit

We are Back
We are Updated

Originally launched in 2014, bestofzuni.com is now a full-service, e-commerce website (while still offering personal help and guidance)

CLICK HERE to visit bestofzuni.com. Listings will continue to grow to a very large inventory of high-quality Navajo, Zuñi and Kewa items – vintage and current.

Included in the new bestofzuni.com will be all the original art work featured in ReleasingtheSpirit. See the LEGACY fetish collection

A Two-Volume Book that Examines

Native American collectibles with a 900-year recorded history
Zuñi fetishes as an art form
Fetish carving process
Key carving families
Celebrated artists
Zuñi fetish necklaces

“Releasing the Spirit” Features

1,100 full-color photos
450 pages of factual text
Timelines, charts and pronunciation guides
First substantive book on Zuñi fetishes since 2000

Praise for "Releasing the Spirit"

Dr. Finkelstein's many years of personal relationships and interactions with the Zuñi people adds rich layers to this account of Zuñi history, genealogy, customs, and fetishes for all time!

As collector and caretaker, Harold has brought these voices together, not only preserving their artistry but also honoring the ongoing cultural lineage from which they emerged.

With the amount of information contained within these two volumes the reader could spent years absorbing it all. The purpose of this masterful and gripping book is to honor the carvers both past and present who have carved intricate tactile and spiritual pieces.

"Releasing the Spirit" captures the true essence of Zuni fetishes and the carvers themselves. An impressively accurate reference book. The graphics were phenomenal. It gives you everything you would or could want to know.

Zuñi Fetishes

In just the past four decades, an art form steeped in Native American culture and tradition for eons has become a wildly popular collectible. Fetishes are identified primarily with the Zuñi peoples in west central New Mexico.

Zuñi fetish carvings convey spiritual and cultural power and expression that attracts people from all walks of life, drawn to these mostly-animal images as both spiritual and decorative objects.

Zuñi fetish carvers are releasing the spirit residing in natural materials. This spirit is sensed and recognized by collectors who relate to the importance of the animal kingdom in their lives.

Releasing the Spirit analyzes the artistry, meanings and rationales for carving, as well as the creativity that has propelled this art form to new heights and popularity.

Researched and written over the past twenty years, this book is a must-have publication, whether you are a confirmed collector, a seller or just curious about Zuñi fetishes.

Validate what you already know and learn many other aspects of Zuñi fetish culture, lore and carvings.