I need several sources for Native American Jewelry, mainly
Southwestern. The man whose store I bought only gave me 2 sources.
Both are now out of business. I have orders for work by Peterson
Johnson, a Navajo. The store has been here 18 years; I’ve owned it
for almost four. I realize a lot of work dried up with the horrific
rise of silver and supplies, but Native American jewelers do not
seem to be coming back. Cathe Linton
Try SunWest in Albuquerque, Ask for links and artists from the staff
at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, lastly contact the Native American
art school in Santa Fe. If you are looking for one particular person,
and can’t find them on the internet, try Cameron Trading in Cameron
AZ. The last is not a wholesale place.
There are a lot of artists still making jewelry. My foster daughter
is one and she does OK supplementing her regular job. Her sister is a
award winning bead artist living and working at the Sitting Bull
monument in South Dakota.
You don’t know what heat is until you have lived a summer in
Florida.
Death
Valley was nicer. Aggie wishing the cold would hit central Fl.
I live in NM and can give you several contacts. Just email me what
you are looking for.
As anative American I can tell you we all get tired of making the
same old jewelry. Also many are no longer teaching as we once did, I
learned as a kid from a family member. This tradition is dieing out.
There are still many out there. go to a few pow wows and you will
get all the sources you want. I will see if any relatives are still
doing traditional jewelry.
Best wishes
Jen lane
For those of us Natives still producing jewelry, besides myself
(Comanche heritage, Cherokee enrolled) (I still need tomaster
camera/computer, etc), Jerome Poyer is a friend in same DFW area I
live in. He’s Navajo & can be found on facebook. Bruce Caesar is out
of Anadarko, OK, also Facebook, was recognized by Pres. Clinton about
16 yrs ago as a living treasure for his work. Depends on what part of
the country you live in, there are still some Indian Markets out
there, juried, where you have to have Indian (Native American)
paperwork. The last official one in Dallas stopped about 9 or 10 yrs
ago. There’s one in Arlington, TX where some Natives still show up, I
don’t do it any more. Red Earth in Oklahoma City in June. Go to some
of these where you can meet the artist, see their work. Not
everybody is into online sales, Facebook stuff. Good luck.
A friend of mine who was in India for about a year became friends
with a jewelry manufacturer there. He was quite shocked when one day
he stopped in for a chat and they were packing up several boxes of
Native American style jewelry for delivery to a retailer in
Colorado. I guess you could call it “handmade Indian jewelry”, but if
you are selling it in Colorado, it is still a lie.
I am not all that surprised since quite a lot, maybe even most,
“Celtic” jewelry is made in Asia. When you are dealing with an ethnic
style the issues of honesty and authenticity against free trade and
public domain can involve some pretty tricky math. “Celtic” jewelers
in the 19th century were outsourcing production to England and
Germany. How much different is it if a Scottish or Irish designer
today has manufacturing done in India or China?
Stephen Walker
I suggest you check out the Heard Indian Show. March 1-2, 2014.
It is a Juried show with several hundreds of the best Native
American artists in the country.
It would be a great place to contact artists.
I attended the Pueblo Grande Indian Market last weekend. Most
artists there were a little hesitant to be involver with people they
have not met.
There were many young artists with great talent. Many will be at the
Heard Show.
If you contact me off site I can give you some contacts.
Lee Epperson