“I wish to create a relationship between the earth and myself. Sometimes we do not realize what we are kicking over. I want to make the soul come out.”

Charles Loloma was an artist’s artist- he was a master with pottery, painting, print making, and of course jewelry design. Even though originally dismissed as traditional Native American art by his fellow tribesmen, he is arguably one of the most influential jewelry designers in the Native American style, and helped bring American Indian style of jewelry into the mainstream during the mid-20^th century.

Turquoise has always been one of my favorite stones. It has been popular for centuries among indigenous people across the globe- from the Southwestern United States, to the desert plains of the Middle East, and has a huge range of colors and textures, which make it fantastic for jewelry designing.

Turquoise was originally found in New Mexico and Colorado by primitive Native Americans who mined them with hand fashioned stone tools. Mines in New Mexico are considered the oldest turquoise mines in the USA, and today Arizona and Nevada are the biggest producers of turquoise by value, with more than 150 mines. Colorado has some of the most unique forms of turquoise,