Orville Tsinnie

Orville Tsinnie, born September 30, 1943 in Tuba City, Arizona, never believed he was particularly artistic; in fact he'd never studied silversmithing and was very happy with the job he'd had as Assistant Director of Personnel for the Navajo Nation when fate stepped in.

He was 27 when he happened to be visiting his sister Roselyn who was married to Hopi silversmith Horace Emerson. When he left, he'd created his first piece, a pin fashioned in the shape of a squaw, which he inlaid with stones. And he was fully equipped with a set of silversmithing tools.

Orville soon pursued a purely traditional Navajo style and left the inlay work and Hopi style behind. At first, turquoise was his primary stone with incredible silverwork borders, but he now also works in sugilite, dinosaur bone and lapis for the "knockout" stone in what he describes as "...pure Navajo, simple 1900's style, bold, clean, solid." "The designs I make are those that flow with me, with my energy. It's very fulfilling", he says.