Jason Takala — Hopi Silversmith & His Mark
b. 1955, Shungopavi, Second Mesa. The overlay master who works without a pattern.
Jason Takala doesn't draw the design onto the silver and follow the line. He cuts it freehand, from his head, no template — every curve of a Man in the Maze sawn out by eye. "I take my direction from the silver," he says. "In a sense, it talks to me." That's the thing that sets his overlay apart in a tradition where most artists work from a set pattern: Takala's pieces are one-offs by method, not just by hand.
The Smith
He was born in 1955 in Shungopavi, on Second Mesa — the same village where Hopi overlay itself was born — into the Snow Clan (Wright 2003, p. 83). The art showed early and stubbornly. Sent to high school in Woodstock, Vermont, he found the dorm walls bare and painted a mural across one: a landscape cut by a waterfall, framed. The school was impressed enough to add art classes to his schedule. It was, he'd later say, his first real attempt at painting.
His way into silver ran through family. He started by designing for his maternal uncle, Bernard Dawahoya — a leading Hopi Silvercraft Cooperative Guild silversmith, and himself an artist in this directory — and learned the overlay craft through the Hopi Arts Guild. That places Takala one step down a direct line from the Guild that Fred Kabotie and Paul Saufkie founded in 1949 to teach the cut-and-solder overlay technique. In the 1980s he moved to Old Oraibi, where his wife Margie grew up. "After that I really started creating," he says. "Everything is so calm there, your mind goes to a different level. It all came to me then."
The Work
Takala works double overlay — a design hand-cut from a top sheet of sterling or gold and soldered over a second sheet oxidized dark, so the pattern stands out bright against a black ground — but the cutting is entirely freehand, without a predetermined pattern. His best-known motif is the Man in the Maze, the Hopi migration symbol of man emerging from the center of the earth and moving out in four directions, and his vocabulary runs through the traditional Hopi overlay imagery of whirlwind, rain, cloud, lightning, and prayer feather — symbols of migration, weather, and renewal. Once he had the foundation mastered he pushed into more abstract designs drawn from ancient pottery and textiles, and he keeps a distinctive sideline going: silver "pottery" — overlay bowls, lidded vessels, and seed jars raised in metal in the shape of Hopi ceramics.
The Standing
Takala works in both sterling and 14k gold, and dealers who've carried his work for decades regard him as one of the most sought-after Hopi overlay jewelers — several call him, plainly, a master (specific competition honors aren't itemized in the public record, so we let the standing speak for itself). His jewelry has been shown in "Jewels of the Southwest" at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe. And the line continues: his son, Jason Takala Jr., is a working Hopi overlay silversmith carrying the family name into a second generation.
Know more about Jason? Contact T.Skies.
- Bahti, Mark. Silver + Stone: Profiles of American Indian Jewelers.
- Jason Takala — Adobe Gallery
- Jason Takala — Garland's
- Jason Takala — King Galleries
- Jason Takala — Southwest Traditions
- Hopi Silversmithing & the Story of Kópavi (guild history) — Garland's
From the Library: Bahti, Silver + Stone: Profiles of American Indian Jewelers (2007)
2007 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 2007, not today.
According to Bahti (2007, p. 169), Takala began learning silverwork at sixteen: after designing for his uncle Bernard Dawahoya during summers and watching his uncle's workers, he went to the Hopi Guild shop without knowing how to cut, and said he pretty much taught himself. [1]
According to Bahti (2007, p. 170), Takala started cutting mazes in the mid-1980s; his first maze was a buckle, which the Heard Museum sold the same day, and the museum shop then ordered six more. [1]
According to Bahti (2007, p. 170), when sheet silver hit $60 an ounce Takala began making stud earrings only 1/8 inch in diameter, cut with bear paws, flute players and hummingbirds, and he credited that work as the source of his intricate cutting. [1]
According to Bahti (2007, p. 170), Takala's first small complete maze came about 1997; he cut from both directions with 0000 saw blades, and all of his designs are executed freehand, starting only with width measurements for the overall piece. [1]
As Jason Takala told Bahti (2007):
“I am well known for the maze, so most everything I do has to have the maze in it.”
— Bahti (2007), p. 170 [1]
From the Library: Wright, Hopi Silver (2003)
2003 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 2003, not today.
According to Wright (2003, p. 98), Jason Takala's daughter Jaylene Takala began silverwork in 1986, learning from her father, and started when she was eight years old. [2]
Wright (2003, p. 102) lists another daughter, Jayme Takala, as learning from her father from 1989, the year she entered the Juvenile Show at the Heard Museum; her mark is labelled 'Snow Flake'. [2]
According to Wright (2003, p. 104), his brother Kevin Takala began silverwork in 1990 after learning from Jason. [2]
According to Wright (2003, p. 83), Jason Takala, of the Snow clan at Shungopavi, began silverwork in 1976, working at first with his maternal uncle, Bernard Dawahoya, and also with Pierre Touraine; the listing shows a mark labelled 'Snow Cloud' and later marks dated 1990. [2]
From the Library: Bassman, The Beauty of Hopi Jewelry (1993)
1993 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1993, not today.
On a page headed '14-Carat Gold on Silver,' Bassman (1993, p. 51) pictured an oval ring with a maze design made in 1991 by Jason Takala. [3]
From the Library: Schaaf, American Indian Jewelry I (2003)
2003 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 2003, not today.
Schaaf (2003) entered him as
“Jason Takala (Takalla), (hallmark - 3 different snow clouds)”
— Schaaf (2003), p. 298 [4]
Schaaf (2003, p. 298) recorded Jason Takala as Hopi of Shungopavi, active from about 1966 or 1976 in gold, silver and contemporary jewelry, miniatures and seed pots, a nephew of Bernard Dawahoya and student of Dawahoya and Pierre Tourraine, the teacher of his brother Kevin and his children Jaylene and Jayme, with second and third prizes for miniatures at Indian Market in 2000. [4]
Schaaf (2003, p. 298) listed the man-in-the-maze, lightning, bear paws and village scenes among his favorite designs, and McGees Indian Art in Keams Canyon among his galleries. [4]
Field Notes by Mateo James
Field Notes by Mateo James: Bahti records Jason beginning at sixteen, which with his 1955 birth year points to the early 1970s. Wright's listing gives 1976 as the year he began silver work. I show both as the books give them.
I notice the books disagree about Jayme Takala. Wright lists Jayme as Jason's daughter, while Schaaf's 2003 register calls Jayme his son. I show both as printed.
Sources
- Bahti, Mark. Silver + Stone: Profiles of American Indian Jewelers. Tucson: Rio Nuevo Publishers, 2007. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2007.
- Wright, Margaret Nickelson. Hopi Silver: The History and Hallmarks of Hopi Silversmithing. Revised edition. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2003. Originally published by Northland Publishing. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2003.
- Bassman, Theda. The Beauty of Hopi Jewelry. Photography by Gene Balzer. Walnut, California: Kiva Publishing, 1993. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1993.
- Schaaf, Gregory, with Angie Yan Schaaf. American Indian Jewelry I: 1,200 Artist Biographies, ca. 1800-present. American Indian Art Series, Vol. 5. Santa Fe: CIAC Press, 2003. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2003.
This profile is maintained in support of Native American silversmiths and compiled from published references. See something inaccurate, or want to add to it? Contact us.