Description
Tommy Jackson Navajo Sterling turquoise bolo tie. Nice large bolo from a well<br>respected artist. Tommy's bolo's tend to retail 2-4k each new. Bolo measures<br>2.5" x 1 5/8" tips are thick and heavy Cord is thick and very well made with no<br>issues. 46" long with a total weight of 108.1 grams.<br><br>Tommy Jackson was born in Phoenix, Arizona on January20, 1958 but grew up in the<br>heart of Navajo land in Chinle, Arizona. He went to high school in Chinle, the<br>town at the mouth of the legendary Canyon de Chelly—a stronghold for 19th<br>century Navajo, known then as the “Lords of the Land”. Steeped in mythology,<br>this landscape echoes the strength and beauty in the Navajo bedrock of<br>beliefs—foremost of those is responsibility to family and clan. A husband,<br>father, and grandfather, Tommy is also a world-renowned gold and silversmith,<br>his award-winning pieces on exhibit in museums and treasured in collections<br>around the world. As a premier Navajo Silversmith he counted amongst those few<br>known as “The Supersmiths.”<br><br>Jackson started silversmithing in 1973, learning at the bench of his parents,<br>renowned silversmiths Gene and Martha Jackson. (He is also the nephew of Dan<br>Jackson, another well-known silversmith.) However, it was his mother who urged<br>him to pursue a degree, and he followed her footsteps into education, eventually<br>teaching elementary school at Wide Ruins on the Reservation. But jewelry-making<br>called to him in his spare time, in the after-hours, in the late night, and by<br>1988 he was winning prestigious awards, and has continued winning nearly every<br>year since at the big shows, including Santa Fe Indian Market and the Heard. He<br>was also chosen as Navajo Tribal representative for the Salt Lake City Winter<br>Olympics.<br><br>A striking example of Tommy’s pieces is the motif of Navajo rug designs. He<br>sometimes works these patterns directly into the gold or silver; or he inlays<br>stones in visually stunning creations that reflect the complexity of Navajo<br>tapestries. Other pieces are a declaration of his passion for high-grade<br>American turquoise. These pieces are all about the great stone. He will use<br>heavy-gauge silver, and in keeping with the old style tradition then chisel or<br>hand-stamp, all with an eye of showcasing a great old American turquoise stone<br>such as Bisbee, Morenci, Lander Blue or Candelaria. He is known for integrating<br>traditional Navajo designs with a modern flair, working with gold and silver and<br>a variety of precious and semi-precious stones.<br><br>He has won numerous awards for his beautiful and unique jewelry from the Heard<br>Museum Show in Phoenix, Santa Fe Indian Market and The Museum of Northern<br>Arizona, to name a few including First at Indian Market, as recently as 2014. He<br>and his wife, Marie, who does much of the stone-cutting for his pieces, have<br>pieces featured in national publications.
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