Bracelet c. 1920s

This bracelet was made by a Navajo artist, with silver and turquoise. I can imagine the Diné artist carefully selecting each piece of turquoise. They’re not uniform in color, are they? The central stone is cracked, split right down the middle. You can see the earth in it: brown blemishes, which show us where the stone has come from. The silversmith has carefully crafted the metal around it, framing the stone but also letting it speak for itself. The turquoise colors remind me of Helen Frankenthaler, a painter who poured thinned paint directly onto canvas. Both artists are interested in the inherent qualities of their materials, and the way a surface can absorb and reflect. They also share an interest in landscape, and I wonder if this artist was thinking about the desert when they made this piece. Maybe they were thinking about water, too, something precious.