Next, Nequatewa engages in a process of selecting the stones. She will select a stone, polish a bit off the top to see the true color,
and then start comparing and relating it to the
shape and color of other stones. Patiently,
working through the process over time, the look
starts to reveal itself. Then the process of
cutting and grinding takes place..Only when the stones have been glued and put in place, does Verma use a rubber Dremel wheel to remove any rough edges. A buffer wheel is used at the last instance to polish the piece.
By contrast, tufa casting involves a very different approach. This technique involves
splitting pieces of tufa stone in half, upon which Nequatewa carves her design and into which she pours molten gold or silver. Excess metal is then filed off and buffing compounds are used in conjunction with the buffer wheel to bring the piece to the level of polish desired.
Each method yields equally elegant pieces, ones that may seem simple to the untrained eye. This is, again, because of Verma’s skill and her commitment to using only the very best materials and to respecting the stone’s essence. This thoughtful engagement with material requires time. She also acknowledges that the goal is not to “fill up spaces,” but to “breathe life” into the piece. And at the very end of the process, the polish must be just right if the colors are truly to be expressed.
The Influence of Her Uncle, Charles Loloma
Verma cannot say enough about the influence of her uncle, Charles Loloma. She notes that he
gave her the opportunity to learn, taught her not
only about making jewelry but life lessons more
generally, pushed her to become better, and continued to support her personal and
professional development – even when she
would move beyond him to establish herself as
an individual artist with her own voice and skill
set.
Loloma had come to jewelry late. He began his artistic career as a teenage boy while he was attending Phoenix Indian High school, when he was asked by the painter Fred Kabotie to assist in the reproduction of murals from the Awatovi site on the Hopi reservation at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. At the age of eighteen, he worked with the late Renen d´Harnoncourt
and Kabotie executing murals for the Federal Building in the 1939 Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco.
After the war, Charles attended Alfred University’s School for American Craftsman in
New York, where he and his wife, Otellie, both earned a Certificate in Pottery from the school. In 1954 they opened a shop in Scottsdale, Arizona, selling their clay works in the Lloyd Kiva New Craft Center under the brand ‘Lolomaware’. While their work was well received, it was not long before Loloma realized he wanted to find his own voice. Jewelry would provide that opportunity.
Loloma learned jewelry making from H. Fred Skaggs in Scottsdale and from Lloyd Kiva New in Santa Fe. When Lloyd Kiva New took over as director of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, he recruited Otellie (Charles’
wife) and Charles to become some of the first
instructors. Quickly, Charles established
Each type of finished piece may seem simple to the untrained eye. This is, again, because of Verma’s skill and her commitment to using only the very best materials and to respecting the stone’s essence.
(continued on page 86)
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