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Native American Artists & Silversmiths
Despite their inherent love of ornamentation and jewelry, the Indians
of the Southwest did not learn to work with silver until the latter
part of the 19th century. Before that they acquired the few silver
ornaments they owned through trade with Hispanic settlers and neighboring
Plains Indians. The Plains people had acquired their silver in trade
with English, French and American trappers.
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One of the first Native American Indian metal smiths was a Navajo known as Atsidi Sani
who learned, around 1850, to form black metal from a Mexican blacksmith
living in the New Mexico territory. In 1853, he was introduced to silversmithing and began creating Native American Jewelry from silver.
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Henry Dodge moved to a house near Fort Defiance and married a Navajo
woman. Dodge brought with him a blacksmith and a Mexican silversmith.
Years later, after the Navajos were released from their five-year
confinement at Fort Sumner, (Bosque Redondo), Atsidi Sani came to
the Indian agency to observe the two smiths at work and refine his
primitive metalworking skills.
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Atsidi Sani taught his four sons to craft silver and they, in turn,
taught others. Later, in the 1880s, J.L. Hubbell hired several Mexican
silversmiths to teach the craft to Navajos at his trading post in
Ganado, Arizona. The Navajos learned to cast silver in sandstone or
tufa as well as produce hand-hammered work. Turquoise, a traditional
favorite of the Navajos, began to be combined with silverwork in the
1880s.
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J.L. Hubbell capitalized on its popularity by importing Persian turquoise
for trade to the Navajos. Eventually, the local supply of turquoise
increased as more mines were opened in america.
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Originally, Navajo Native American Silversmiths made silver jewelry for themselves or for other
Indians. After 1900, they began to create native american jewelry for commercial consumption
as well. The availability of turquoise and silver, together with better
silver working tools, enabled craftsmen to supply the growing market
among Indian traders and tourists who were arriving in droves by railroad
to visit the Southwest. The entry of women into the craft was another
measure of its rapid commercialization. Although silversmithing had
been practiced only by men, Navajo women had begun working the metal
by 1918 and began to make beautiful native american jewelry.
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American coins were the primary source of silver for jewelry until
1890, after which defacing a U.S. coin was outlawed. Mexican pesos
were substituted until 1930 when their export to the American Southwest
was forbidden. Sterling silver ingots with a slightly purer silver
content replaced the coins. In the 1930s, sterling silver in convenient
sheets and wire forms became increasingly available from Indian traders.
Today, the majority of Indian jewelry is still made using sheet and
wire.
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Metalworking had a different history among the Zuni. In about 1830,
the Zuni learned to work with copper and brass salvaged from old kettles.
They did not begin silver crafting until four decades later. Around
1872, the Navajo smith Atsidi Chon, who traded frequently with the
Zuni for livestock, taught a Zuni blacksmith named Lanyade the skill
of silversmithing. Much of the earliest Zuni silver jewelry was essentially
identical to Navajo work.
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Early Zuni pieces were plain, hand-wrought silver occasionally decorated
with simple die-stamping or rocker engraving. Around 1890 they began
to include turquoise in their work, as had their Navajo neighbors.
Until about 1920, the Zuni fashioned jewelry primarily for themselves
and other native peoples. By 1930, the Zuni were creating much of
their jewelry for tourists. Within ten years, jewelry making had become
a major source or revenue.
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The emphasis on small stone work and inlay work began to emerge in
the 1920s, developing partly from a revival of prehistoric designs.
Today, this style of jewelry, needlepoint, petit point, and inlay
is most strongly associated with the Zuni jewelry making tradition.
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Hopi silverwork is of a more recent vintage than Navajo or Zuni. Early
Hopi jewelry was made from natural materials, turquoise, shell, wood,
and seeds. Silver working was introduced to the Hopi around 1890 when
the Zuni smith Lanyard began to trade some of his silver jewelry among
the Hopi, apparently in return for hand-woven native cotton textiles.
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Lanyade eventually taught his craft to a Hopi named Sikyatala. Early
hand wrought silver beads, rings, and bracelets made by the Hopi are
virtually indistinguishable from those made by Zuni and Navajo smiths.
Some Hopi created cast silverwork, as well. But it was not until the
1930s that a distinctive Hopi style emerged, and it developed only
with non-native encouragement.
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In 1938 Dr. Harold Colton and his wife Mary Russell Colton of the
Museum of Northern Arizona initiated a project encouraging Hopi silversmiths
to create a unique type of jewelry that would be instantly recognized
as Hopi.
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The result, silver overlay, is today the most widely recognized type
of Hopi silverwork. Using designs drawn from traditional pottery,
textiles and baskets, Hopi smiths soldered together two sheets of
silver after cutting out designs in the top layer so that the under
layer is visible. The under layer is blackened or oxidized and usually
textured with chisel marks or stamp work. Turquoise, coral, and other
materials occasionally have been set in Hopi overlay jewelry, but
for the most part, the elegant silver overlay has stood alone.
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Through the 20th century, Southwestern Indian jewelry gradually diverged
into clearly recognizable styles associated with Navajo, Zuni, Hopi
and Rio Grande pueblos. Today, these distinctions have again begun
to blur as native artisans, inspired by pioneering artists like Charles
Loloma, James Little, Lee Yazzie and Preston Monongye, redefine the
tradition and move toward a contemporary, more universal style of
'new Indian' jewelry.
Also See: Vintage-turquoise-jewelry.com
Also See: The Fort Defiance Story
Also See: The Chilchimbito Story
Also See: IndianVillage.com
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