Talkin’ Trade Beads with Ben McPherson

Photo of Ben McPherson painting a picture of an Apache indian
Ben McPherson painting in his studio Ben McPherson is a marvelous young artist who just happens to be Owen’s nephew by marriage to his niece, Kristina.  Ben is an exquisite painter having won some prestigious awards, plus he’s prolific in his chosen art form. On our recent trip to UT we stopped by his home-studio to ...

Raven and the Orb of Light

01.31.2012 · Posted in Uncategorized
Photo of Sterling Silver Tag called Raven and the Orb of Light
Raven and the Orb of Light This hand engraved tag featuring Raven and the Orb of Light is one of the new hand engraved tags being carved by Adam Mills in Sterling Silver at Walker Goldsmiths. Adam has been learning and working at hand engraving with the assistance of Owen Walker, Master Engraver, for over a year. ...

Sterling Silver Thunderbird Tag

01.27.2012 · Posted in Adam Mills, Walker Goldsmiths
Photo of Sterling Silver Thunderbird Tag
What is a Thunderbird? A Thunderbird is a huge bird of power and strength, capable of creating storms and thunder as it flaps its wings. Lightening even flashes from its eyes when it blinks! It is typically depicted as larger than Eagle and with two curling horns protruding from its head and sometimes with teeth. ...

On The Road In Ohio

01.27.2012 · Posted in Chris Nowicki, Uncategorized
Maumee River
Ohio farmhouse Jacek Szewczyk and I were guests of Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana where I gave a lecture to demonstrate the ‘mezzotint’ printing technique, you can find more about it here on my site.  My friend Mel from Toledo, Ohio drove to Muncie to pick us up and take us to Toledo, Ohio.  It ...

Did Captain Jack have Trade Beads?

Photo of Dentalium Shell, Hudson's Bay White Hearts and Padre Trade Beads
Visiting my brother, Jim Hertel in Alturas, CA is always fun.  He has Coastwide Contractors and knows the area pretty well, so we get stories, directions to places of interest and bits of history.  The whole county is spectacularly beautiful with vistas and High Sierra pine forests. Tules and wild grasses in the wetlands that ...

Saraswati Shop Open

11.21.2011 · Posted in Active Artist
Saraswati Crafts
Saraswati Crafts Hello Friends, Greetings of the Season! I wanted to let you know that Saraswati Crafts will be open for the holiday season beginning Friday, November 25 until mid-January. The manager of the Sycamore Square building is letting me use the same space where the shop used to be for about 6 weeks. We’ll be open on ...

Searching for trade beads in NE Nevada

10.21.2011 · Posted in Janet Walker, Janet Walker Tradebeads
Shoshone Moccasins from 1922 with quill work and seed beads
Shoshone Moccasins, 1878, with seed beads decoration While traveling anywhere, but this time west through the state of Nevada, Owen and I like to check out local museums and I’m always on the search for trade bead collections whenever there’s a display about the Indians native to that area.  The Shoshone Indians ranged down into eastern ...

Celilo Falls Salmon

10.02.2011 · Posted in Janet Walker
Fishing Platforms
Fishing Platforms After our trip to Celilo Falls in search of Trade Bead paths Owen picked up the October edition of Cowboys & Indians Magazine and there was a wonderful article about Celilo Falls! It’s called “On the Rocks”, written by Bryson Liberty, an 83 yr. old Umatilla Indian who knows personally the story of Celilo ...