Rago Auctions

Navajo/Hopi jeweler Preston Monongya is the son of famous Hopi jewelry maker Preston Monongya, and a revered master of intricate stone-to-stone inlay, or lapidary. He turned to a career in jewelry after a dream in which his mother (whom he never knew) appeared and presented him with tools, telling him he would become a world-renowned artist. Monongya apprenticed with his father for four years before striking out on his own. His sumptuous and detailed designs are influenced by Navajo teachings of discipline and beauty and of the starry skies, russet hills, and gorgeous landscape which surround him. Of particular importance to his work, he notes in this Craft of America special, is his spirituality and the many stories his grandmother told him when he was a child growing up on the Two Gray Hills reservation in New Mexico.

Monongya has received many awards including Best of Show in 1986 at O’odham Tash in Casa Grande, Arizona; Best of Show in 1993 at the Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial in Gallup, New Mexico; and Best of Division in 1992, 1993, and 1994, as well as Best of Jewelry in 1995 at the renowned Santa Fe Indian Market.