Collection: Curtis Pete

Curtis Pete is an artist of Navajo and Hopi descent, known for his sugar skull rings. After graduating from Arizona State University, he learned silverwork at age 27 from his uncle, Robert Yellowhair. As he refined his skills, he combined stampwork and overlay work and established a jewelry style of his own that reflects his roots in two tribes. He won numerous awards at art shows in the 1990s with his traditional-style work.

He then stepped back for a time and traveled across the U.S. by motorcycle, searching for his own style. He is an artist who deliberately took on the skull design, normally taboo in Indian jewelry, and established a style all his own.