A Beginner's Guide to Zuni Inlaid Jewelry

Zuni artists have been perfecting the art of inlay for decades.  Inlay involves precisely cutting stones to fit together, typically in a mosaic pattern.  Stone to stone inlay is a technique in which the artist fits stones directly against each other.  It requires great precision of cutting and design to avoid gaps.  Channel inlay is a technique where the stones are set into channels or shapes that were pre-molded from silver.  The best channel inlay is also very precise, with the stone exactly matching the border of the silver with no filler.  The old time inlayers in the 30s and 40s worked mostly with hand tools, but their inlay is anything but primitive.  The masters created inlay so precise and beautiful you can hardly believe it was all cut with simple tools.  Old does not mean sloppy or crude looking!  Contemporary artists often use modern powered tools, but the difficulty of their art is not diminished. Their inlay is usually beautifully precise with the added bonus that they have a wider color range.  The traditional stones are  black jet, red coral,  white mother of pearl, and blue turquoise.  Old pieces often used Blue Gem turquoise, which is uncommon now.  Many of the jewelry makers also were superb fetish carvers (see my Guide ZUNI FETISHES: OLD MASTERS AND CONTEMPORARY VITRUOSOS).  Modern inlayers have a wider color range using stones like green gaspeite, orange melon shell, and purple sugilite.

THE OLD

C. G. Wallace is probably the most famous trader name from Zuni jewelry history.  He is credited with popularizing, promoting, and helping Zuni artists close to the turn of the century.  Some of the most famous Zuni inlayers worked for him and with him, and his collection that sold at Sothebys in 1975 is world-renowned.  Zuni inlayers developed their craft to its high level during that time from about the 1920s to 1940s.  I wish I had more pictures to share, but pieces by these artists are rare and very expensive.  Some of the famous artists are:

Lambert Homer who did beautiful precision inlay, both stone-to-stone and channel.  He was multi-talented designing intricate inlaid shells, figurals like knifewings, and butterflies.

Leo Poblano, who was also a fetish carver (and whose fetishes command high prices these days), was a superb inlayer.  He crafted a number of jewelry masterpieces including unbelievable, detailed figurals of snake dancers, shalakos and kachina figures.



Teddy Weahkee, another fetish carver, also produced gorgeous jewelry with innovative designs.  He developed a fire bird or thunderbird design as well as the Indian chief’s head that I have seen as a bolo and earrings.  He also did many figurals.


Leekya Deyuse was not so much known as a jewelry maker, yet he designed all sorts of animal and leaf fetishes to be inlaid into jewelry.  He is the Rembrandt of fetish carvers and his pieces today command the highest prices on the fetish market!  He is also famous for his fetish necklaces.


Mary Kallistewa designed a number of squash necklaces.  I have seen sunface and rainbow man designs by her, and there are likely many other pieces in private collections.

John Gordon Leak used simple styling to achieve his classic designs.  Among his pieces are figurals, particularly knifewings, and dragonflies.

Frank Vacit is one of the better known jewelry artists of that era.  He did amazing precision channel inlay of many subjects, from horses to eagle dancers.

Mingos House is less well known but developed many of the styles of figurals, particularly rainbowmen and knifewings, that many Zuni artists emulate today.  

Dan Simplicio is probably most famous for his branch coral and turquoise jewelry, but also did superb intricate inlay including butterflies.

Of course I can’t list every fantastic artist that was creating jewelry at that time.  If you’d like to see more, I urge you to look for a copy of the C. G. Wallace auction catalog.  It is hard to find but well worth it if you can find it.  It is titled The C. G. Wallace Collection of American Indian Art published by Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc.  The auction was Nov. 14-16, 1975.

THE NEW

There are so many amazing Zuni inlayers today; I can’t possibly go through them all.  I will just name a few that are my absolute favorites, which doesn’t mean the others aren’t fantastic.  I happen to like birds and animals and these artists specialize in them.

Virgil and Shirley Benn make unique inlaid animal pieces, mostly pins but sometimes necklaces or pendants.  They work mostly in shell and have very realistic forms to their animals.  They do all sorts of animals, birds, bears, wolves (one of the few Zuni inlayers that do wolves), you name it. They also carve the inlay into fur or feather textures.  They are probably close to the most expensive artists out there, but well worth the money to buy one of their pieces of you can find one.



Dennis and Nancy Edaakie are an incredibly famous Zuni couple that do mostly bird inlay, but I have also seen figurals by them.  They were featured in the Totems to Turquoise exhibit that showed at the American Museum of Natural History and is currently (2006) traveling.  They do everything, bracelets, squash blossoms, pins etc. in intricate realistic inlay.  I have had a very hard time getting anything by them in the past year.  Apparently one of them is ill and there has been a run on their artwork.  Gallup was practically cleaned out of all DN Edaakie pieces in the summer of 2006.  I don't know if the situation will improve or not.



Albert and Dolly Banteah also do exceptional bird inlay. They have been working for decades and their style has changed some, mostly they have gotten even better.  Cardinals and other songbirds are favorite subjects and they have a precise style.  Their work is also somewhat hard to find, I don't think they do as many pieces as some of the other artists.



Rudell and Nancy Laconsello have a unique style.  Very modern and bold, their bird inlay has a contempory flair.  They also use some non-traditional stones like gaspeite and sugilite.  I have seen mostly birds from them, but also a medicine bear design.
    


Harlan Coonsis has been inlaying for a long time.  I think he took a break from inlaying for awhile and is now back creating jewelry.  He also does birds, as concho belts, rings, and beautiful (expensive) bird pins. All of his birds are so realistic they could be taken right from a guide book.  His rings are usually a good deal.
 


Sammy and Ester Guardian have also been inlaying for a long time.  Their work tends to be a little more affordably priced.  They do many types of birds but also I have seen very realistic inlaid elk and bison.  Their inlay is precise and lovely.  They often use stylized flowers in their borders.  They do most every type of jewelry, pendants, cuffs, belt buckles etc.
 


I could go on and on but thought I would end with a list of useful books on Zuni Jewelry.  Some of these are listed in my other guide. You can find in these books the work of myriad other Zuni inlay artists. Enjoy your explorations into Zuni art!!

BOOKS

Zuni the Art and the People by Ed and Barbara Bell.  This is a 3 Volume set that is out of print but easy to find.  Lots of pictures of Zuni jewelry and fetishes from the 1970s era.

Who’s Who in Zuni Jewelry by Gordon Levy.  Also out of print and also full of pictures of Zuni jewelry and artists from around the 1970s or so.

Zuni A Village of Silversmiths by James Ostler, Marian Rodee and Milford Nahohai.  Finally a book that is in print!  This one has a lot of nice photos but doesn’t try to be exhaustive about the artists.

Zuni Jewelry by Theda and Michael Bassman.  This is chock full of photos of mostly contemporary pieces (1980s and later) but has an index which makes it extra useful.

Zuni Fetish Carvers the Mid-Century Masters by Kent McManis.  This book though technically not about jewelry has many of the master fetish carvers in it, and also shows pictures of their fetish jewelry.  A must have if you love Teddy Weahkee, Leo Poblano, or Leekya Deyuse!