HAMMERING STEREOTYPES
Native Treasures featured artist shatters stereotypes with contemporary jewelry
“I wanted to do something totally different,” says Taos Pueblo jewelry artist who is known for her meticulously clean lines and minimalist designs.
Maria Samora slices jewelry into petals and leaves with the precision of a knife blade.
The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture has named the Taos artist its 2018 Living Treasure and featured artist for its Memorial Day weekend Native Treasures Market in Santa Fe.
Known for her meticulously clean lines and minimalist designs, Samora works from a constellation of techniques and traditions, be they Etruscan, Egyptian, Greek, Syrian or Native American. Her work shatters stereotypes of Indian jewelry. Diamonds glitter from pendants and bracelets. Her stones include guava moonstone and African opal. Her textured surfaces scrub 18-24-karat gold and silver.
“I think subconsciously I wanted to do something totally different,” she said in a telephone interview from Taos. “My style was totally contemporary.”
Samora apprenticed with Taos goldsmith Phil Poirier for 15 years, a schooling that would cement her career. By 2009, she was the Santa Fe Indian Market poster artist, the youngest ever to receive such recognition.
Samora’s journey to jewelry took a circuitous route. Originally intending to become a photographer, she attended Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif., before
dropping out to travel to South America with some girlfriends. Then a friend asked her to take a jewelry class at the University of New Mexico’s new Taos branch.
“It was fun, but I didn’t really feel like it was going to go anywhere,” Samora said.
It wasn’t until she finally enrolled in a weeklong intensive jewelry course with Poirier that everything clicked.
“I definitely had an epiphany,” she said. It was “the ability to take something so raw and turn it into something beautiful.”
She based a signature series on the shapes of lily pads; another, called “Strata,” features geometric forms and parallel lines. Another was inspired by latticework.
“Now I’m using a lot more turquoise and it’s definitely got more of a Native American feel to it,” she said.
A close inspection of her metal work reveals the hammer marks of texturing.
Samora perfected the ancient Korean method of keumboo, where she applies thin sheets of gold to silver in a signature mix of metals bringing a depth of color and sophistication.
“I don’t do anything with a high polish,” she said. “It gives it more dimension. The texturing gives it a really earthy feel.”
Samora test runs each piece for comfort and wearability; she says no one likes a heavy earring.
“I definitely have a sort of less-ismore approach,” she said. “To keep something so minimal and so simple is way more challenging than embellishing something. The placement has to be perfect.”
Samora created a 24-karat gold clutch when she was pregnant with her daughter. It took first place at the 2010 Heard Museum’s Indian Fair.
“I came up with this crazy idea to do a purse,” she said. “It’s these little squares that are shaped like a little cross.”
She fused gold onto silver using the Korean technique, then textured each square with her hammer. She lined the interior with pink silk in honor of her baby, adding citrine stones to the end caps.
Samora will commemorate Native Treasures with a new series of sunflower pendants in 18-karat gold and diamonds. This year marks her 20th making jewelry.
“The center is going to be all diamonds,” she said. “Sunflower is my Indian name.”