Honoring Master Silversmith Orville Tsinnie

     It is with a heavy heart that I write this post to say that one of my favorite artists, Orville Tsinnie, passed away on May 23, 2017. Orville was a extraordinarily talented silversmith and a wonderful big-hearted man as well. The Navajo world has lost one of its greatest and most treasured artists. He will be dearly missed.

    Orville Tsinnie was a master Navajo silversmith who had been making jewelry since the 1970s and had won numerous awards, including a Lifetime Achievement award from the Indian Arts and Crafts Association (IACA), an honor that brought well-deserved recognition to this fine American Indian artist. Orville was a perfectionist, hand picking and polishing only the highest quality natural stones. He cut, polished and set the stones by hand. The level of craftsmanship in Orville's work is superior. His designs were flawlessly executed, his soldering technique very clean, and his finishing and polishing meticulous. This careful attention to detail set Orville's jewelry apart from many others, and revealed the pride he took in his work. A steady presence in the world of American Indian art for over forty years, Orville Tsinnie's work created some of the finest and unique Native American hand made jewelry on the market today.  His works are highly collectible.

     We had the opportunity to meet with and purchase jewelry from Orville many times over the years and it was always a pleasure to visit with him, his wife Darlene, and his children and grandchildren. We saw him often at various Native American Jewelry markets and also visited him at his studio in Shiprock, New Mexico. 

All the Orville Tsinnie jewelry that we sell on our website was purchased directly from the artist or from his family. We last placed an order from Orville a week before he passed away. His family contacted us several weeks after his death to tell us that he had finished our order before he died and that everything was complete except for some polishing. The photo below shows that jewelry.  

Please visit our website https://www.tumbleweedsjewelry.com  to add a piece of Orville Tsinnie's jewelry to your Native American jewelry collection.

You can also visit Orville's facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/orvilletsinnie/