Turquoise, White Shell & Jet Traditional Shell Healing by Priscilla Nieto
Shell mosaic inlay jewelry is a signature style of Kewa Pueblo jewelers. These pieces consists of a shell pendant which is inlaid with turquoise, white shell and either onyx or jet.
Priscilla Nieto is an extraordinarily talented jeweler from Kewa Pueblo in New Mexico. Artists like her create shell mosaic inlay by attaching tiny gemstone tiles to a shell base, forming colorful and unique patterns. The technique can be traced back to early forms of jewelry unearthed at Anasazi sites throughout the Southwest, and many artists model their inlay designs after these early artifacts.
Used as an adornment by the Ancestral Puebloan people, shells with inlaid stone have been found at prehistoric sites across the Southwest, traded with tribes that were closer to the sea and were considered a valuable trade item long before the introduction of silver by the Europeans. Angie Reano Owen is credited with reviving the tradition of inlaid jewelry in Santo Domingo (Kewa) Pueblo in the 1970s.
