I started polishing rocks as a hobby over 40 years ago, in the late 60's.  I had a connection to a small turquoise mine called Blue June close to Fallon, Nevada and worked at polishing turquoise professionally for about ten years, also I stamped buttons of sterling silver which I sold to Navajo women for their velveteen blouses.  I stopped doing this in 1976 because of the price drop due to treated turquoise and  the silver price increases.  By 1990, I started again but with more emphasis on silver work.  Buttons fascinate me because they may be of the simpler items to fabricate, but in terms of the actual manipulation of the metal they can also be difficult to successfully do.  By choosing repousse I have collected many different dies as well as having them made to my specifications so I have contemporary as well as more traditional styles.  I have been self-employed over 10 years.

After years of simple fabrication and lapidary work, my first metalsmithing class was in 1980 with Peter Jagoda at Arizona Western College in Yuma, AZ.  Peter was into synclastic and anticlastic forming.  I have also studied with Richard Tsosie, (contemporary Navajo), and Mike Kabotie, (traditional Hopi), at Idylwild School of Music And The Arts, (Idylwild, CA).  Living in Chinle, AZ over four years, I learned a lot working with Navajo silversmiths.  Edison Smith, for many years the demonstrator at the Museum of Northern Arizona for their annual Navajo show, was a major influence as well as Tom Woody, jewelry instructor at UNM-Gallup.  The Bench Tricks class from the Gemological Institute of America helped with goldsmithing.  In the summer of 1998, I studied with Harold O'Connor, (Salida, CO), learning more fabrication and finishing techniques.  In 1999-2000, I studied casting for two semesters with Constance DeJong at UNM-Albuquerque.

I sponsored an Indian Market in Yuma, AZ for 2 years in the early 90's before moving to Chinle, AZ.  I judged jewelry during the Navajo Nation Fair's Indian Market and Showcase in 1994.  I served as an evaluator for SWAIA's Indian Market of 1997 in Santa Fe, NM,

As a Cherokee, (#C0129852), I try to make my work unique with stylized suns as a major part of my production.  I also do many one of a kind custom pieces for clients.  I am known for textures on sheet used in construction.  Bola ties with large stones are a favorite of mine as well as gold dragonflies with gold wings and amber or stone tails.

Currently, my work is at the Museum of Northern Arizona, (Flagstaff, AZ); and Tsakurshovi, (Second Mesa, AZ)

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