Phillip Sekaquaptewa, Date of Birth, Date of Death

Phillip Sekaquaptewa

Hopi jeweler

Date of Birth: 05-May-1948

Date of Death: 21-Jan-2003

Profession: businessperson, jeweller, artist, silversmith

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Taurus

Phillip Sekaquaptewa (May 5, 1948 – January 21, 2003) was a Hopi artist and silversmith in Hopi silver overlay and stone inlay, featuring the lapidary genres of commesso and intarsia.
Sekaquaptewa used colorful stones and shell for his Hopi silver overlay, not only plain silver decorated with chisel strokes on black oxide surfaces, a Hopi-signature technique known as matting.He was born in 1948 in a traditional Hopi village on Second Mesa on the Hopi Reservation, located in Northern Arizona.
He learned his cultural heritage as a resident Hopi and then began silversmithing, taking up the tools after his uncle, Emory.
Sekaquaptewa is internationally known for his contemporary and idiosyncratic designs which incorporate traditional Hopi pottery designs with contemporary flush stonework and inlay of bone and shell in blocky, masculine style.
He does other styles as well, but the rectangular-themed composite rugged silver/stonework is his artistic signature and makes his work instantly recognizable to anyone who has encountered it before, not only experts.
Sekaquaptewa lost his battle with cancer on January 21, 2003.