Jessica Crabtree

It’s finished! My latest portrait, Zuni, 14×14 pastel on suede.

JESSICA CRABTREE NATIVE AMERICAN PORTRAITS & WILDLIFE: Zuni

Now I can add the signature and it will be ready for my Gallery. You can see the painting in various stages by clicking the “Latest” tag below, or “Sneak Peek” on the menu.

This portrait is based on a 1903 photograph from the Edward Curtis collection. A huge portion of this work is dedicated to images of the Southwest, particularly the Pueblo regions where this man is from.

One of the most interesting features of this picture, I think, is the fairly inconspicuous heishi necklace he is wearing. Heishi is a Pueblo word meaning “shell jewelry” which refers to a type of jewelry manufactured only by the Pueblo Indians. It is possibly the oldest form of jewelry in the Americas, and examples of this ancient art form dating back as far as 8,000 years have been unearthed throughout the ancestral Pueblo homelands in the Four Corners area.

(Click to enlarge)

Heishi making is an extremely fine and painstaking craft that involves the grinding, piercing, and threading of tiny pieces of shell and semi-precious stones into uniformly shaped beads. The materials best suited to heishi jewelry were usually imported via trade network from the Pacific and Gulf Coasts, and sometimes from as far away as South America. A single necklace composed of several strands could contain thousands of beads. Pueblo craftsmen still produce these exquisite necklaces today.

The Collector’s Guide – New Mexico Native Arts: Heishi Jewelry