Trinidad Lucas & Tim Mowa
Please meet the husband and wife team of Tim Mowa and Trini Lucas. We have included with their photos an enlarged image of their hallmarks that you will find stamped into the reverse side of each of the pieces they make. Tim's hallmark, an inverted triangle, represents the Sun's Mouth. Trini, has used her initials but more recently uses a new hallmark, her initials contained inside the silhouette of a bear. Both Tim and Trini have begun stamping the work with "sterling" alongside their marks to help distinguish their work from fraudulent copies.
In Tim and Trini's own words...
My name is Timothy Mowa of the Sun Clan from Shungopovi Village.
My wife is Trinidad Lucas of the Bear Clan from Mishongovi village.
We have 5 children; Willard, Freddie, Timerra, Timmette, and Keenan. We have been self employed as Hopi silversmiths for about 16 years. Tim started at the Co-operative Guild around 1984 under Mark Lomaystewa, who was the manager, training silversmiths. Trini started at home watching and learning from her dad, Glenn B. Lucas, who himself was a well known silversmith. We have both enjoyed making jewelry and have shared our own techniques. Helping and encouraging each other is always there. The love of art also plays an important part in making jewelry. We enjoy what we do and also, thank you for appreciating our jewelry.
In a 2005 edition of Thirst for Survival, a publication of the Hopi Tribe of Arizona, Tim and Trini added the following information: "I (Tim) started making jewelry 22 years ago, I knew very little about it. My first attempts at being a silversmith were on pieces of tin. I used tools loaned to me by the manager of the guild to create patterns and designs. Within two weeks, I had graduated to making those same designs on 4 by 6 pieces of silver. In Hopi overlay jewelry you will find that each artist has their own style of cutting and designing. But we all find inspiration in daily life, nature, pottery and even petroglyphs. Overlay silverwork is simply a transfer of traditional artistic expressions to the silver. The design on a piece of jewelry revolves around the culture."
(Trini) "Growing up watching my father, Glen Lucas, who was a very famous artist and silversmith, I never thought that I would one day be making jewelry too. I watched him work then and I look at his pieces now and I am amazed at the things he was able to create. Like may husband, I have been making jewelry for 22 years. Inspiration comes from just about anything. Sometimes I might start with paper and then draw my designs on silver. But we rarely use patterns in this way. What I have found is you will never know how the finished product will look until you experiment. Sometimes just looking at each other's work, we get inspired. Inspiration just comes to you naturally if you have an interest in art. Sometimes I am asked, "Why is Hopi jewelry so popular?" I think it is because of the meaning of the pieces. People are able to identify with the images in the piece. It speaks to them. They may be searching for something and they see the right answer in the piece that means something to them."
