How about that? According to a story in the Wall Street Journal, turquoise is having a jewelry resurgence! I did not realize it had gone out of style, but I guess that’s from living in the Desert Southwest!
It is a short, fun, mostly accurate story about current jewelry trends.
They show photos and recommend the work of six artists, some American Indian and some not, but the piece that stands out the most is one of Santo Domingo artist Ray Lovato’s necklaces.
Ray is the only man in the village today who hand grinds natural turquoise into traditional necklaces that look as good in this century as they did three hundred years ago. He is one of our best friends, and I consider him a National Treasure! It is pretty darn neat that the Wall Street Journal has recognized him!
It’s a nice article, but it does contain some information that isn’t exactly correct. The writer, probably from New York City, had to depend on sources, and your facts are only as good as your sources. True, turquoise is enjoying a growth in interest in the fashion world. But it is fair to say that quality Indian jewelry has never gone out of style.
She says you can support these Native jewelers as most of them show their work on Facebook. That’s stretching it. Most top artists are not using social media to sell their best work. She refers to Frank Patania Sr. as an accomplished Native artist. He was not. He immigrated from Sicily in 1908, worked in New York for several years, and later moved to Santa Fe, where his work was influenced by Navajo and Pueblo silversmiths. Patania was a great Southwestern silversmith and designer who inspired many Native jewelers.
The woman who wrote the article in the WSJ refers to Indian jewelers as designers, which is a little misleading. Patania was known for designing pieces and having Native people make them. He also made his own jewelry. Rather than refer to silver and gold smiths as designers, I prefer the term artisans because, unlike most of the jewelry sold at Tiffany’s, most Indian jewelry is a one-of-a-kind piece of art.
Ray, is not a silversmith. His skill is working with the raw stone mined from the ground and carefully shaped, ground into beads to be strung as necklaces or cut into slabs to be drilled for earrings.
So, even if it is not a great article, I subscribe to the sentiments of bronze artist Harry Jackson who said, “It doesn’t matter what they say about you as long as they get your name right!”
Seeing Ray Lovato represented in such a prestigious publication is exciting.
