Historical Southwestern Jewelry Artists

Atsidi Sani (Old Smith) is generally recognized as the first Navajo to have mastered silversmithing. He first learned metalworking from a Mexican blacksmith known as Nakai Tsosi (Slender Mexican). At first Atsidi Sani worked only with iron, in the traditional blacksmith's craft. During the time the Navajo were confined in the Bosque Redondo reservation in the middle of the 19 th century, Atsidi Sani continued to develop his skill, since Navajo men were blacksmithing tools by the US Army. He was among several Navajo blacksmiths who worked forges on the reservation and he taught several others.

During the Bosque Redondo period, small amounts of brass, copper, and silver jewelry were also made by Atsidi Sani. After the Navajo were released from Bosque Redondo, Atsidi Sani began working in silver, creating jewelry, and teaching the craft to others.

One of his students was Atsidi Chon (Ugly Smith). He may have been the first Navajo to create a horse bridle of silver (ca. 1870) and also may have fashioned the first concha belt. In 1880, Atsidi Chon or one of his apprentices, Peshlakai Atsidi (Slender Smith) was the first Native American artist to set a turquoise stone in silver jewelry.

One of Atsidi Chon's students was the Zuni artist Lanyade. As Lanyade told the story:

"We became good friends and so he let me watch him make silver. I was the only one that ever saw him at work, because he used to shut himself up in my house when he worked. He didn't want any of the Zuni men to see him make silver, because if they watched him they would learn how, and then he wouldn't be able to sell them the silver that he made. I told him that I would give him a good horse if he would teach me how to work with the silver. So he taught me how, and I was the only Zuni to learn from him."

At first, Lanyade wouldn't allow anyone to know how silversmithing was done, being just as secretive as Atsidi Chon had been. Later, however, he taught a friend named Balawade to work silver, and Balawade spread that knowledge to others among the Zuni. Later, Lanyade also taught a Hopi craftsman, who, in turn, spread the art among the Hopi, as well.

Eventually, Balawade created a small "colony" of artisans, who all worked together to produce jewelry of high craftsmanship. Among these artisans was Juan Dedios . He was one of the finest jewelry artists of the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries. His silver casting skills were particularly fine. He was also one of the first artists to create the distinctive Zuni "knife-wing" figures. Dedios was a long-time associate of the trader C.G. Wallace, and Wallace kept many of Dedios' pieces for his private collection.

Wallace cultivated relationships with a number of highly skilled Zuni artisans, including Teddy Weahkee . In the 1920s, Weahkee was the first native silversmith to produce intricately inlaid mosaics of turquoise, coral, mother of pearl, and onyx, to create pendants, bracelets, and other silver jewelry. Today, intricate mosaic figures of native ceremonial and religious figures cast in jewelry are a characteristic Zuni art form. A number of Weahkee's creations still survive, but they are extremely rare. The surviving pieces are all museum quality, and are almost never available to private collectors.

In 1938, the Museum of Northern Arizona sought out Hopi silversmiths Paul Saufki and Fred Kabote . Together, the museum and the silversmiths began to work on the development of a silver jewelry craft that would be distinctively Hopi. While this work was interrupted by World War II, after the war, Saufki and Kabote worked out a new design technique for Hopi silver work. This became known as the "overlay technique, which consisted of cutting designs out of a silver sheet. The designs reflected pottery decorations from 15 th century Hopi ceramics, kachina figures, and Hopi clan symbols. The cut sheet was then soldered, or overlaid, on a second sheet of silver. In his overlay jewelry, Kabote also incorporated 14 th - to 16 th -century Kiva murals from the ancient Hopi village of Awat'ovi .

Since then, the designs particular to each tribe have melded into a wildly creative fusion. Native artists no longer confine themselves to a style of art associated with their own tribe. Tribal and cultural symbols of the Southwestern Native artists now cross tribal boundaries with ease, and these artists may incorporate any tribal style—and their own, non-traditional creative vision—in their designs. This makes Southwestern jewelry-making an extraordinarily rich and creative artistic medium.