b. June 28, 1980. Tł'ááshchí'í and Tsénjíkiní. From Navajo, New Mexico; working in Farmington. He casts for "Treasure Chest quality."
Kevin Yazzie came to silver the long way — through paint and ink. He was an artist first, a painter and a tattoo artist since childhood, and silversmithing arrived as, in his words, "a new gateway to create another form of art. It's cool, because it's art you can wear." What he makes now is tufa-cast jewelry with a story carved into it, and he holds it to a standard he named himself: he imagines a lost treasure chest thrown open, and his bracelet or ring "stands out from all the rest, shining the brightest," someone picking it up and saying Wow. "I go for 'Treasure Chest quality,'" he says. That's the bar.
He was born in 1980, of the Tł'ááshchí'í and Tsénjíkiní clans, and he'll tell you his roots are a small town called Navajo, New Mexico — even though he moved a lot, that's where he grew up "knowing the adventures of reservation life. From fishing, camping, to herding sheep for my great-grandparents in Newcomb." Today he works out of Farmington.
He's a first-generation silversmith — the craft came into his family through his wife, Joann. Her father was a silversmith out of Gallup, a tufa and sandcast artist, and though he was gone, his knowledge wasn't: "Joann, remembering his knowledge, guided me through the tools, showing me casting techniques. I was fully engaged in learning." What followed was the grind every honest maker knows. "I worked hours on hours into late nights just to get the basics down," he says. "The trials and errors along the way were very tough. Many times, working a full day, then catastrophic failure — then taking note of what not to do next time." And then, characteristically: "I love it. I'm still learning and growing."
Yazzie works tufa casting — carving his design into soft volcanic stone and pouring the silver — and he treats each piece as a piece of art with something to say. "I like to tell a story or a theme," he says, "taking note it's gotta look good at the same time." He'll sketch a design on paper or draw it freehand right on the tufa, then judge whether it's practical to carve. His subjects run to landscapes, traditional themes, and "powerful animals in nature — bears, cougars, eagles, down to hummingbirds and butterflies," and his years as a tattoo artist feed the drawing. People tell him his work reads "modern to slight traditional," and that suits him: "I like to explore things people don't usually see. I strive to make each carved design the centerpiece" — and to push "the limits on what the tufa stone can do." He cuts his own cabochons, too, and buys top-grade stone when a piece deserves it, "to do justice to the art piece." His favorite is spiderweb Kingman turquoise. He signs his work "KY."
You can meet Kevin himself on his own Saturday Guest Artist show on T.Skies, where he walks through his tufa-cast work on camera.
Know more about Kevin? Contact T.Skies.