Phillip Sekaquaptewa

[1] He gained interest in the field of jewelry from his father Wayne and from his uncle Emory Sekaquaptewa, the linguist and silversmith as well, who co-founded the Hopi Gallery on the Third Mesa, Arizona.

[1] In the early 1970s he trained in the art of traditional silver overlay jewelry at Hopicrafts, a business owned by his father and uncle Emory.

Combined, his jewelry comprises stylized or preserved traditional Hopi pottery motifs, as well as lapidary texture and color inserted through the use of semi-precious stones and abalone shell.

Using stone and shell is unusual for Hopi silversmiths, and is more typical of the Zuni and other Pueblo people, as well as the ethnographically disjoint Diné (Navajo) silversmiths—usually turquoise.

In sum, the main features are sterling silver, stones, and contemporary design of his authorship, all applied in a synthetic blend as new Hopi jewelry.