Collection: Ernie Lister

Born in 1953, Ernie Lister began silverwork in 1972, and is one of the artists who faithfully continue to make jewelry in the traditional Navajo styles of the 1870s to 1910s.

The person who taught him jewelry making was a medicine man named John Burnsides, who died at the age of 89. The technique is said to have been passed down as follows.

Slender Silver Maker (the first person to begin making Navajo jewelry in the late 1800s, said to be an uncle of Fred Peshlakai) → Red Left Hand → Hosteen Badway → John Burnsides → Ernie Lister

In this way, the tradition has been handed down through the generations. The first Slender Silver Maker and John Burnsides are both featured with photographs in books on Navajo jewelry as representative silversmiths. Ernie's techniques are those devised by the first maker and handed down through the generations, and he makes his jewelry based on those original methods.