Contemporary Southwestern Jewelry reveals the captivating history of the art of American Indian jewelry making, uncovering the ancient techniques, tools, and materials that have shaped contemporary southwestern jewelry. As you explore Contemporary Southwestern Jewelry's stunning photography, let the art speak to you of how it came to be and what it represents, echoing a similar message still told by traditional Native American jewelry.

Challenging the traditional look of Native American turquoise and polished silver, a group of contemporary Southwest artists are creating stunning jewelry using rough metals and stones of all kinds. Abstract configurations twist through wristbands, weave through necklaces, and transform the art of jewelry making. Beginning in the early 1950s, Hopi artist Charles Loloma, Navajo silversmith Kenneth Begay, Mexican/Mission jeweler Preston Monongye, and others emerged with a new style of Native American jewelry. Contemporary Southwestern Jewelry delves into their lives, allowing us to better understand their revolutionary motives, methods, and sources of inspiration. Native American jewelry of today, though carved, cast, and stamped much differently from its predecessors, still celebrates the freedom and beauty found in nature that have been interpreted by American Indians for thousands of years.

Diana Pardue is author of Shared Images: The Innovative Jewelry of Yazzie Johnson and Gail Bird (2007) and The Cutting Edge: Southwest Jewelry and Metalwork (1997). She has written articles about jewelry for Ornament, American Indian Art, and Frontdoors magazines. She is curator of collections at the Heard Museum, where she has worked since 1978.

 

Hardcover. 184 pages.