MEET THE ARTIST:

Tawney was blessed to born into a large family of well known & highly reputable Navajo silversmiths, who have all seemed to have made a name in the jewelry industry..And she's double blessed to have "Lonnie Willie" for a father.(Who is now retired) Lonnie happens to be the brother to Ronnie, Juan & Rudy Willie and for those that follow the industry, Ronnie is probably one of the most well known out of the brothers. It was Lonnie however that taught Ronnie all he knows, including everybody in his immediate family,like Tawney's brother Cooper Willie AND he also taught his own mother & father what there is to know in regards to making jewelry!! You might say Lonnie is the "Maestro" of the family & what a blessing it is for Tawney to have someone that's so highly skilled as Lonnie, to have mentored her!

It was Lonnie who gave Tawney her start where he started Tawney working with copper since it's a less expensive metal, so if there were mistakes(Which there always is!) it wouldn't be so costly, as well as having her working with nickel silver so she could learn the art of stampwork.

It's her leaning on Lonnie's wealth of knowledge & her repetitious work that has helped her to become the artist she is today & continually gets artistically inspired from her surroundings, where she'll then turn those ideas into pieces of art.Her work will always be traditional Navajo, but with a really artsy type vibe that leans toward being on the contemporary side of Navajo jewelry.