Strong Traditions
One of the largest and most prosperous of the Rio Grande Pueblos, Santo Domingo is admired for clinging strongly to its traditions. Its pride, conservatism and relatively large size (3200 people) are strongly committed to maintaining traditional ceremonies and beliefs.
This longstanding adherence to tradition can also be seen in its jewelry. The Santo Domingo people do little metalworking. For centuries, they have fashioned necklaces of stone, shell and wood. Its jewelry artists are famous for inlaid pieces, often featuring turquoise on seashell bases. 
Turquoise, Coral, Lapis, Mother of Pearl, and Jet
Inlay Pendants on Freshwater Pearl Necklace
By Angie Reano Owen, Santo Domingo
Mosaic Inlay
Shell mosaic is a trademark style of Santo Domingo jewelry, drawing on knowledge dating back many centuries. Many modern Pueblo artists consciously style their inlaid jewelry after styles and patterns unearthed by archaeological research, found in rock art or on display in museums. Modern inlay artists break from the past by using nontraditional colors such as green and purple and contemporary materials.
Angie Reano Owen is credited with reviving the tradition of inlaid jewelry in the 1970s, when the market had shifted to heishi beads and silver-and-turquoise jewelry. She was fascinated by her mother's inlay work. In her twenties, she studied Ancestral Pueblo jewelry in museums and private collections, consciously modeling her work after ancient styles.
I told my dad I wanted to do something different because everyone was doing heishi. I began doing the actual traditional patterns of the prehistoric things. Later on, the more I refined it, I decided I should have my own style. I shouldn't just be copying what the ancestors did.
Shell and Turquoise Inlay Necklace
By Lupita Calabaza, Santo Domingo
The purple shell is a natural color from the Gulf of Mexico. Inlaid with natural Chinese turquoise.
Heishi Beads
Santo Domingo today is the leading producer of the tiny handmade beads known as heishi. These are handmade disks or tubes with a hole in the center, made from turquoise, coral, and shell. They are strung together to form a flexible strand and are often of graduated size. Some heishi necklaces contain over 10,000 miniscule beads and look like strands of hair.
The husband-and-wife team of Joe B. and Terry Reano are among the few Pueblo artists who still make beads completely by hand, without using power tools. Both learned these techniques from their parents and have passed the tradition on to their children. They start by rubbing a piece of shell or turquoise against a large, course slab of sandstone. The circular beads are smoothed with finer and finer sandstone, and then finally polished with buckskin. It can take two or three months to finish one strand, and in the process, roughly half of the original bead material is ground away into dust.
Two-sided Shell Inlay Pendant on Heishi Bead Necklace
By Joe and Angie Reano, Santo Domingo
Three strands of handmade turquoise and spiny oyster beads
Charles Lovato
Charles Lovato (1937-1987) revolutionized Santo Domingo beadwork. By arranging strands of beads with slight variations in color, he created necklaces that gradually shift from one color to another. Lovato also departed from tradition by adding bright splashes of gold, purple (sugilite), red (coral) and blue (lapis lazuli) as well as the traditional olivella shell. He could create heishi beads so fine that his necklaces were likened to strands of silk. To string his tiniest beads, he explained, "I take a nylon strand and split it into four to string beads on."
Also one of Santo Domingo's most highly regarded painters, Lovato was a multitalented artist who often paired his paintings with original poems. "I resent wasting time sleeping," Lovato once said. "I feel as though I am always near the boiling point, needing to release something."
Charles Lovato Painting and Poem
Yes, I have taken from the earth its promise,
tasted its fruit, and eaten its life giving corn,
and I repay her by not abusing her
so that the fruit and the corn
will be waiting when my children are born.
It's important to me to be at the Pueblo, because the creative spirit is easier to capture if you live and work within the village, neighbor to neighbor, house to house.
—Charles Lovato, Santo Domingo artist
