NORBERT PESHLAKAI
(Navajo b. 1953 – present)
Throughout his artistic career, Peshlakai has been a wellspring of ingenuity. “I like experimenting with metal,” Peshlakai says. “A lot of things I learn by mistake.”
Navajo silversmith Norbert Peshlakai was born May 6, 1953 in Fort Defiance, Arizona and is a member of the Towering House Clan. He is a fourth-generation silversmith whose ancestors include Slender Maker of Silver, one of the earliest noted Navajo silversmiths. Norbert was educated on the Navajo reservation through the eighth grade and attended high school in Albuquerque, where he took a number of art classes and achieved prominence as a cross-country runner. After graduation he enrolled at Haskell Junior College for Native Americans in Kansas.
Despite his legacy, and the fact that Peshlakai is the Navajo word for “silversmith”, it was by accident that Norbert discovered he loved working with silver. After a painting course he enrolled in at Haskell Junior College turned out to be house painting instead of fine art, jewelry was the only other art course available to meet the course criteria, so he signed up and discovered his natural talent for working with metal. In order to pass the class, Norbert's instructor assigned him six pieces of jewelry to complete. Norbert found his hidden jewelry talent fulfilling this class requirement. The rest, as they say, is history. Norbert has been creating silver pots, bracelets, buckles, and pendants since the 1970's. Norbert is now considered a Master Silversmith and Goldsmith even though Peshlakai's keen sense of humor is apparent in his work.
Norbert is credited with creating a new form: silver pots and jars shaped like pottery pots. And it is with these small pots that Norbert really transformed traditional stamp work into works of modern art. In all his pots he hollows out the shape with a hammer (in much the same way that silver beads are made), and then he textures the surface with the hammer and applies designs with various dies and stamps that he makes himself. He has developed miniature stamps and dies that he also uses to create patterns on his jewelry.
When it comes to Indian Jewelry, his name is among the list of the finest silversmiths producing today. Norbert is always sought out at the large shows such as Santa Fe Indian Market and the Heard Museum Show where he is happy to discuss his available jewelry as well as his inspiration for creating a particular piece.
