Arnold Blackgoat

Pretty good, a store on the Plaza in Santa Fe has put my work in it’s own showcase.

My great grandfather is Moses Blackgoat, he was the first in my family to make silver jewelry. He was from the Lupton area and started around the early 1900s. He passed on the trade to my grandparents, Ben & Helen Blackgoat. They taught my father Harrison, and my mother Jennie also picked up the trade. Now I am the fourth generation in my family to make silver.

Susie is my mother’s sister. My mom and dad taught her and other family how to make jewelry so they could have a living.

Yes, he’s my uncle, my father’s brother, and Irene Lee is my aunt. Irene explained to me how to do shadow box work and I will sometimes make pieces in this style.

I was with my grandma at the Shiprock Fair. I wanted some money for something at the fair. She tossed me a piece of nickel and told me to make something, that is how I could earn the money to buy what I wanted. I made a stamped buckle and bolo that I sold at the fair.

I was around 10 years old, that would have been around 1980.

Yes, the next week at the Tuba City Fair and then through mid school and high school. My grandma taught me the value of making my own money and that is what I did.

I don’t know. My parents wanted to buy a new truck and I was able to buy their old truck for $1000 cash during high school, that is when I knew I was making some money.

I had a buyer that would pay me $400 for a concho belt, it was a big one. That would last me a month or so, and then I would make another. He always bought the belt. Also, silver was around $4 an ounce then, so it is not like now. Today that belt would be over $1000.

Yes, it was until about 8 years ago. That is when I started to change my style.

My mother’s work as always has been my inspiration. She always used lots of stamp work and would make each piece a little different. That was my foundation and I just made small changes to the work. I would add extra beads, wire work, homemade bezel, and use better turquoise. Concentrating on making one of a kind pieces.

I always enjoy looking at Calvin Martinez, Irene Lee, and Carson Blackgoat’s work.

My grandma always told me that I would be a nice artist, I remember that. When I show my mom, aunts, and uncles my work they always tell me how much better it is when they were my age.

At the Shiprock and Tuba City Fairs.