Delbert Gordon
ARTISAN DETAILS
HALLMARK
Delbert Gordon
1982 to Present
TRIBE:
Navajo
STYLE:
Heavy stampwork, big turquoise
FIRST YEAR MAKING ART:
1982
ARTISAN INTERVIEW
In the Navajo culture when a man marries his wife he goes to live with her and her family. So where are you originally from?
I am originally from Houck, Arizona.
Did you attend school in that area?
When I first started school it was at the Pine Springs Boarding School. I did not have to stay in the dorms, but would come home each day because we lived close. After that I attended Hunters Point and then went to the Tohatchi High School Boarding School.
Were you an athlete in High School?
I participated in track the 100 yard dash and 220 yard dash. I was pretty good at those events. Did it more for myself.
When you were in high school did you start making jewelry or take jewelry making classes.
They had classes for jewelry making but I never took them. I was not interested in jewelry at that time.
When did you start making jewelry?
After high school my brother in-law and I started to make jewelry. I didn’t know anything about it and had to teach my self everything. We only made one ring and sold it to a shop on 66 in Gallup, he would pay us $85 for the ring.
How long did that last for?
He bought them for a long time. I finally started to make other types of pieces and would take them around town to the different buyers. That was when I started to get pretty good at making jewelry. My brother in-law did not have the patience for jewelry making so he went to work in construction.