Description
This pendant, “Westward,” celebrates our ancient inter-tribal trade across Turtle Island.
It's hand-sawn into the shape of a Mississippian-era head ornament, seen on carved shells and pottery.
It features six polished pieces of Wampum Quahog shell gathered on the beaches of Rhode Island, one hand-cut arrow of genuine Number Eight Mine turquoise of Nevada. The gems are bezel-set in solid sterling silver with silver pearl accents.
Materials
Sterling Silver, wampum, turquoise.
Dimensions
0.5" x 3" x 2"
Aleah Jones
Cherokee Nation
About the Artist
Aleah Jones is a lapidary and silversmith from Coweta, Oklahoma and is an enrolled Cherokee Nation citizen. She loves to play in the intersection of art and science. After over a decade of working as a professional hair colorist, she switched gears during COVID to learning traditional arts. Lapidary work filled her need to cut things and make them shine, metalwork supplied the heat and compulsion to mix chemicals together. She loves to garden and learn traditional crafts and lifeways and has a passion for language revitalization.
