Southwest Cuisine Presents Art, Jewelry and Historical items from the southwest United States.

Contemporary art created by talented Native American and Local artist. Historical items shown, generally are from southwestern tribes unless other wise stated on particular item page.

Southwestern style gifts with quality, provenance and availability.

Southwest style jewelery is a uniquely north American craft. Once a medium for for trade and spiritual endowment, the style has lived on throughout the years. Progressing to modern tools and technique the quality and imagination has exploded. Silver is highly refined making a perfect background or encapsulating vessel for turquoise, coral, peridote, jet, obsidian and some other semi precious stones. Liquid silver strands is one way to show off this magnificent metal, a necklace with many strand can be truly decadent and classy. The Stones traditionally used n this style where original mined as surface minerals with primitive tools, imagine the desired material just peaking out of the surface of the earth, beckoning a passing person to investigate the color. there are many stories of gold, copper silver, turquoise and other materials just being right on the surface making it easy for the early modern day miners as well as the native Americans to locate and start mining the ore. Deep Blue turquoise placed in jewelry becomes a lucent green with many years of age making it desirable to some collectors. Quiet soft this material was easy for the early people to manipulate into their many styles, from carving a solid piece into a figure or shaping a small piece to into a custom jewelry style. Small beads produced using only bone, leather and stone where created by expert individuals, utilizing many hours of the day.

 Shell of different types was traded in return for high grade pottery vessels (water containers), stone goods (arrow and spear tips) as they are small and easy to transport these type of items. This shell was coveted due to its rarity and many of the early craftsman incorporated the colorful bits into their jewelry. In more modern times we can get high grade coral from overseas that is a red that is very desirable and can really make the jewelry jump with color. This coral is becoming very rare due to the fact the Europe's seas are being overtaken by the new aquatic invasive species released into the open sea by quote professionals at a renowned aquatic institute. By adding silver and obsidian or jet to the coral jewelry it creates a bold look with traditional materials.