Gail Bird and Yazzie Johnson have been friends since childhood and collaborated to design distinct pieces of jewelry for over forty years. Their Pueblo and Navajo descent, respectively, informs their work, as do prehistoric petroglyphs and pictograph sites. Bird and Johnson have firmly rooted themselves as leading Native American jewelry artists in today's market who create work that is always wearable and stylish. They gravitate toward unconventional stones, often resembling landscapes, and showcase their natural geological beauty. Likewise, they have a gift for composing unexpected material combinations, like pearls, opals, and dinosaur bone.
Martha Hopkins Lanman Struever, a Southwest Native American art dealer and author, hosted Bird and Johnson's debut gallery exhibition in Chicago in 1978. She praised their distinctive creations, noting their drama and wearability. The following year, Bird and Johnson began crafting thematic belts annually for the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA) Santa Fe Indian Market. In 1981, they earned the prestigious "Best of Show" award for one of their belts, exemplifying their dedication to honoring cultural traditions while exploring contemporary themes. However, their portfolio also includes elegant earrings, bracelets, rings, and necklaces displayed in galleries and museums nationwide. Their work is distinguished by expertise in materials, technical skill, and a keen design sensibility.
Bird and Johnson emphasize the traditional nature of their jewelry while expanding upon it with a wide range of stones and innovative symbols. In recent years, they have been celebrated for their necklaces, which often feature personalized symbols on the reverse side of bezel-set stones. These pieces employ an "underlay" overlay technique inspired by Charles Loloma's designs. In 2007, Shared Images: The Innovative Jewelry of Yazzie Johnson and Gail Bird was published, offering a comprehensive exploration of Johnson and Bird's exceptional jewelry work.
Residing and working today in northern New Mexico, the jewelry of Gail Bird and Yazzie Johnson is now included in the permanent collections of renowned museums worldwide, such as the Albuquerque Museum, the Heard Museum in Phoenix, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, and the British Museum in London.
We see our jewelry as being very traditional in nature. But we carry the traditions further. The stones we use are of a wider variety than those usually associated with Indian jewelry. The symbols and narrative on our pieces are expansions of traditional symbols and stories.
Gail Bird and Yazzie Johnson
Auction Results Gail Bird and Yazzie Johnson
