With Carl and Irene Clark Jewelry, You Can Add Colors to Your Jewelry Box

Most Native American artists like Carl and Irene Clark make unique pieces that can never be replicated. Many of their works are available online, including bolo ties that tell a story, colorful bracelets that let you make a unique style statement, and precious turquoise rings that can become a valuable heirloom piece in your family.

Carl and Irene Clark’s jewelry are known for being colorful. Carl is a Navajo jeweler from the Manygoat-Redhouse clan, and he is known for innovating inlay jewelry making techniques reminiscent of the 1930s art deco school (because of the micro-fine inlay method). Each piece holds a special meaning with its unique background or story. Using micro-inlay, designs are colorfully blended into depictions of certain images that are significant to the Native American culture. Carl and Irene Clark’s micro-inlay Monument Valley bolo tie is a good example of this.

Carl inlaid more than 3500 stones into a tufa cast sterling silver frame to create a stunning starry night scene with a full moon over Monument Valley, the Navajo nation’s home. The stones are a blend of lapis lazuli, jet, mother of pearl, pink and red coral, sugilite, jasper, and natural turquoise. The main face is a hexagon with four angles. The tips and sliders are micro-inlaid, too. Carl and Irene Clark take a lot of time making each piece of colorful jewelry, so their output is typically limited to only a few pieces per year. This makes their jewelry even more special to own and wear.

When shopping for Carl and Irene Clark jewelry, make sure that you are buying from an online store that is known for selling authentic and handmade Native American jewelry in the US. The piece must come with a certificate of authenticity, which assures you of the names of the artists, their tribal affiliations, the retail value of the bracelet, ring, or bolo tie, and the materials they used to create the piece.

Kirk Smith Jewelry and Accessory Collections

Kirk Smith came from a well-known family of jewelers and silversmiths. As a youngster, he was a regular sight at his grandfather’s workshop, and thus began working with silver at a very young age in the 1960s. He made pieces off and on until he returned to silver smithy full time in 1980, during which he worked with and learned from his brother-in-law and another well-known jewelry artist, Harry Morgan.

Kirk made a name for himself and became an acclaimed artist by dedicating his time in creating high-quality old pawn style jewelry. He used heavy silver and beautiful stones in his works and with his attention to detail and superb craftsmanship, created award-winning pieces throughout his career. Like many artists of and before his time, Kirk’s style changed through the years, although he remained true to his traditional heavy silver work, as influenced by his Navajo roots. At the time of his death, he had surpassed the legacy of his one-time mentor, Harry Morgan and become one of the greatest practitioners of the classic revivalist Navajo style.

Kirk is known to be one who always wanted to give back to his community. Before his untimely death by a drunk driver, he taught his craft to several well-known silversmiths, like some of the Martinizes, Dean and Fred Brown and even Anthony Skeet. One of the most respected Navajo silversmiths of modern times, his work is known for its top notch quality and use of the best raw materials.

Distinct to Kirk Smith’s jewelry and accessory collections is his beautiful pawn finish designs into which he set high-quality brilliantly colored natural turquoise stones.  Although he was a prolific artist, his pieces will never be replicated and will, over time, become difficult to collect. Kirk Smith is one of the most celebrated Navajo jewelers of his time.