Description
Navajo Ray Tracey Knifewing Sugilite/Onyx sterling channel inlay earrings 1"<br>square 11 grams, no issues.<br><br>The Creative Process Fueled by Inspiration<br><br>“God blesses everyone with a variety of gifts and talents.” The Creator blessed<br>Ray with the spirit of Creativity. Inspiration is the basis for his creative<br>spirit. Inspiration arrives in many forms and disguises when least expected.<br>Hiking the canyons of the Southwest, where his ancestors did the same, gives Ray<br>a feeling of reverence. Walking in peace with gratitude and thanksgiving opens<br>up the senses to receive ideas. Petroglyphs carved on canyon walls turns into<br>wearable art. Stories from an ancient past are re-lived on the faces of Yei<br>pendants. The evening sky’s transformation of color inspired the Earth and Sky<br>jewelry line. Once while golfing, a white butterfly landed on Ray’s golf bag and<br>accompanied him down the fairway. This incident brought the Butterfly and<br>Dragonfly design concept to reality. Having awareness of this special gift, he<br>aspires to know the origin.<br><br>Artist Ray Tracey has had a life-long love of jewelry. As a child growing up in<br>Sawmill, AZ, Asa Tracey, his Grandfather, influenced him with his stories of<br>working the goat bellows for his uncle. Asa would pump the goat bellows all day<br>long to fuel the fire in the forge that would melt silver in a small cast iron<br>crucible. This process was very labor intensive and his grandfather hated it.<br>The molten silver would then be poured into a tufa stone mold to form an ingot.<br>The jeweler would then execute his craft and a new piece of jewelry would be<br>created.<br><br>“I wanted to see finished jewelry and wanted to learn everything I could.<br>Whenever we would go to Gallup, NM, I would visit curio stores to see creations<br>in silver.” Ray spent time viewing jewelry designs at the Gallup Intertribal<br>Indian Ceremonial and at the Navajo Nation Fair. Anywhere, there was jewelry on<br>display; Ray could be seen viewing the works of art.<br><br>Ray’s family moved to Ganado, AZ when he was six years old. One summer day when<br>he was nine years old, he complained to his mother of how bored he was. The next<br>day his mother enrolled him into summer school and changed his life forever. He<br>went straight to art class and found a silver smithing table in the corner. He<br>remembered his grandfather’s stories and the rest is history. <br><br>“In class I fabricated my first ring out of silver for my Mother. I found an<br>unknown stone and made a cabochon. I tried to copy an old style ring design that<br>I had seen at Hubbells Trading Post. One teardrop flanked the sides of the<br>stone. It was a very simple design but it took me a week to finish. I kept<br>melting the silver. I made my next silver and stone creation at the age of 21<br>and gave it to my mother. It was another ring, but this time it was a split<br>shank with three ribs and three tear drops on the side of the stone.” I told my<br>father, I want to make jewelry for the rest of my life.”<br><br>Ray continued making jewelry while attending Brigham Young University. Studying<br>chemistry and physics by day and making jewelry at night. “The designs were<br>simple, my first love was Old Style Navajo jewelry. Weekends were spent<br>traveling to Gallup, NM, to sell his work. While at BYU another opportunity<br>arose to express his creativity—acting. “I wasn’t a very good student so<br>Hollywood had an instant appeal. My gift of creativity carried over into acting.<br>Acting was just another outlet of creative expression.” His adventurous nature<br>allowed Ray to spend several years as an actor in feature films and television.<br>This acting detour never made him lose interest in jewelry design. Eventually,<br>Ray’s love of jewelry brought him back to New Mexico to permanently pursue this<br>art form.<br><br>“One time while traveling to Albuquerque from Gallup, I noticed the horizon over<br>Laa Pueblo. I saw steps on a mesa. I incorporated this imagery of tiered steps<br>into a bracelet design.”<br><br>“Another time, while golfing at Hobble Creek Golf Course, I saw pebbles aligned<br>in a row on the river bottom. Those pebbles became my inspiration to place them<br>on the sides of an inlaid bracelet.”<br><br>“Sometimes my creativity comes to a screeching halt. When this happens I go to<br>my roots; Old Style jewelry. That is the place of fascination. The Old Ones<br>utilized rudimentary tools to create their simple, yet perfected, pieces of<br>craftsmanship. From this point I am able to create from an inspiring idea. On<br>the flip side, sometimes my mind becomes flooded with more designs than I can<br>remember. Ideas come so quickly I can’t draw them fast enough.”<br><br>“When I see someone wearing one of my designs, it takes me back to the time when<br>the piece was created. Sometimes I can recall what I was eating or even the<br>music I was listening to. I will remember the inspiration that helped create<br>that design.”<br><br>Ray has found his path or gift of self-expression that has blessed, enlightened,<br>and influenced his life and others. Awareness of this special gift, fuels his<br>energy and creativity. Inspiration helps to translate his creativity into<br>artistic-visual expression. His creations stand as transitional figures from<br>traditional to contemporary. He creates something good as he is drawn toward<br>untouched fields of yet-to-be-discovered imagery. Unknowingly he is creating a<br>legacy from which generations can learn and grow. Ray has learned to appreciate<br>and embrace the journey of life and its gifts.
