Bracelet c. 1930

This bracelet was made by a Navajo artist, we don't know when exactly, but you can see it there in front of you at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Isn't it something? The way the metal wraps around your wrist, the cool weight of it, like wearing a secret. And that turquoise stone, a little pool of sky trapped in silver. I imagine the artist, years ago, maybe sitting outside, the desert stretching out before them. The metal is coaxed and shaped, the stone carefully chosen, each detail a whisper of intention. Look closely, and you can almost feel the hand that made it, the steady pressure, the love poured into every curve and line. It reminds me of Eva Hesse, the way she made her sculptures, so attentive to the material, pushing it, testing its limits. Like the Navajo artist with this bracelet, she was listening to the material, letting it speak.