Sandra Parkett & Ernest Clark,
Navajo jewelry makers
My name is Sandra Parkett. I was born in Delta, Colorado. I was raised in Smith Lake, New Mexico, which is just south of Crownpoint. My partner, Ernest Clark, was born in Gallup, New Mexico and raised in Tohatchi. My clans are Towering House and Water Edge. Ernest's clans are Zia and Towering House. We have two children.
I learned the art of jewelry making from my mother. She has made jewelry all her life. I have been making jewelry for over ten years. Ernest has been making jewelry for about six years. We make contempory style inlay sterling silver jewelry. We make pendants, earrings, bracelets and link bracelets. Each art piece is inlayed with the finest and natural semi-precious stones i.e., lapis, turquoise, coral, mother of pearl, opal and other natural stones. We both have been making a special style of jewelry for over a year that incorporates the male and female Yei forms. Yeis are healing dancers that appear during the last two nights of a nine-day Night Chant or Yei-bi-chai Dance. Yeis are the masked representations of supernatural beings that possess great powers.
Ernest and I work as a team and we each have special skills. Ernest makes the silver pieces that hold the stones. My work is primarily to cut and inlay the stones. We work together in selecting quality stones, cutting, measuring, soldering and polishing. To complete a simple pendant takes us about one and a half hours. The male and female Yei pendants usually take about two hours to complete. A male and female Yei bracelets often take over five hours.
I know Ernest and I both enjoy working as a team in making jewelry. We constantly exchange art design ideas and set our own work schedules. Each piece of jewelry that we make is unique and we enjoy seeing the finished piece. We also enjoy traveling to sell where we get to meet many people and make new friends.
Click on any image below to view an enlargement, more information or place an order.
|
