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A Field Guide to Southwest Jewelry · by Mateo James

The Modernists: Loloma, Kabotie, and the Transformation of Southwest Jewelry

← Field Guide

Beginning in the late 1950s, a cluster of Hopi and Navajo jewelers redefined what Southwest silver could be. Charles Loloma introduced gold and precious stones. Fred Kabotie and Paul Saufkie built the Hopi overlay technique into a defined artistic tradition. Kenneth Begay held the modernist-traditionalist synthesis at the White Hogan. The movement they launched freed a generation of younger smiths from the expectation that "Indian jewelry" meant a specific, fixed thing.

Mateo's Field Notes

Bedinger (1973) identified the chain clearly: "In the late 1950s Hopi Charles Loloma began to use gold and precious stones. Formal study in the eastern United States and exposure to white man's jewelry combined to lead this creative and versatile craftsman into untraditional paths. He was followed by another Hopi, Preston Monongye; a Zuni, Eddie Beyuka; Kenneth Begay … and the Plateros." (Bedinger 1973, ~pp. 9278–9284)

Loloma's path to jewelry was unconventional. He studied ceramics at Alfred University in New York, painted murals for the 1939 San Francisco Exposition under René d'Harnoncourt, taught at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe from 1962 to 1964. His silver mentors were not guild instructors but Anglo modernists in Phoenix: Fred Sharp, Bob Winston, and Morris Robinson, then Fred Skaggs in Scottsdale. (Wright, Hopi Silver, ~pp. 3634–3638; Hougart 5e, ~pp. 19462–19470) He did not identify himself primarily as a "Hopi artist" — in his own words, recorded by Rosnek and Stacey: "I consider myself an artist and I am Charles Loloma." (Rosnek & Stacey 1976, ~p. 33468)

Wright captured his significance precisely: "His skill in design was unparalleled, and along with Preston Monongye, set an example of 'new Indian' or 'new Hopi' jewelry that freed younger smiths from the strictures of a traditional craft while still remaining inherently Hopi." (Wright, Hopi Silver, ~pp. 3680–3688)

Loloma's family workshop produced the next generation: his nieces Verma Nequatewa and Sherian Honhongva assisted him through his active years, shared the corporate mark SONWAI (Hopi for "beauty") from 1972–73, and continued the work after his death in 1991 under their own marks. (Wright, Hopi Silver, ~pp. 3747–3768; Hougart 5e, ~pp. 21909–21915)

The Hopi overlay tradition took a different path. Fred Kabotie and Paul Saufkie developed the technique at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff beginning in 1938. World War II interrupted the program; returning Hopi veterans trained under the GI Bill revived it in the late 1940s. (Rosnek & Stacey 1976, ~pp. 17787–17808) The Hopi Silvercraft Guild, formed 1949, institutionalized overlay as the defining Hopi technique and provided a commercial infrastructure for its sale. Hopicrafts was a separate guild organization founded in 1961–62.

Fred Kabotie is documented in Hougart 5e and Wright as the principal teacher of the overlay revival, training the cohort of GI Bill veterans who built the craft into its modern form. His son Michael Kabotie continued the tradition. The lineage — Kabotie → veterans → Hopi Silvercraft Guild smiths → contemporary overlay makers — is the parallel structure to the Loloma → Sonwai continuity on the jewelry side.

Rosnek and Stacey (1976) called Loloma "the most creative American jewelry designer today" and "foremost" among contemporary Southwest jewelers at the time of their writing. (Rosnek & Stacey 1976, ~pp. 982–998) His fake-mark problem was real: Hougart 5e shows three documented fake Loloma mark variants, and Loloma himself warned visitors: "'People always imitate my stuff.'" (Rosnek & Stacey 1976, ~p. 38646) The highest-status pieces in any tradition attract the most counterfeit pressure.

Collector's Handbook: Modernist Era Pieces

  • Loloma fake marks: Three documented fake variants appear in Hougart 5e. The authentic LOLOMA mark is in stylized letters created by multiple chisel strikes (11 strikes). The 14K gold pieces carry a separate mark. Scrutinize carefully — Loloma is among the most faked marks in the directory. (Hougart 5e, ~pp. 19476–19493)
  • Preston Monongye note: Bedinger and Rosnek both place Monongye alongside Loloma as a parallel modernist figure. His biography and marks are in the main directory.
  • Sonwai marks: SONWAI was a corporate mark shared by Verma Nequatewa and Sherian Honhongva from 1972–73 through 1993. After 1993, each used separate marks. Works marked SONWAI after 1993 are attributable to Verma Nequatewa alone.
  • Overlay authentication: Genuine Hopi overlay involves two layers of silver — a top sheet cut with negative space revealing an oxidized base layer. The technique is specific and difficult to fake convincingly at the craft level, though the mark can be copied. See smith entries for individual Hopi overlay artists.

References

  • Bedinger, Margery. Indian Silver: Navajo and Pueblo Jewelers. University of New Mexico Press, 1973. ~pp. 9278–9285.
  • Hougart, Bille. Native American and Southwestern Silver Hallmarks, 5th ed. (2022). ~pp. 19462–19496.
  • Rosnek, Carl, and Joseph Stacey. Skystone and Silver: The Collector's Book of Southwest Indian Jewelry. Prentice-Hall, 1976. ~pp. 982–998, 17787–17808, 33364–33470.
  • Wright, Margaret Nickelson. Hopi Silver: The History and Hallmarks of Hopi Silversmithing. Northland Press, (edition consulted). ~pp. 3634–3688, 3747–3768.

Related Entries

Biographies: Charles Loloma, Fred Kabotie, Verma Nequatewa, Sherian Honhongva. For the White Hogan context: The White Hogan Era. For the Guild that shaped the earlier generation: The Guild Story. For Hopi silvercraft organization: Hopicrafts.