Heard Mentality

Indian jewelry is one of the Southwest’s signature art forms, and one of the loveliest. Unfortunately, even the best of it’s often lumped in with the Native dreck hawked at roadside stands and retail stores.

Discerning jewelry-philes haunt the Heard Museum, both as a place to shop for genuine, topflight pieces and to goggle over museum-quality works of the sort found in the Heard exhibit “Young Jewelers: Forging a Future.” Held in conjunction with “Young Jewelers” and the museum’s free Sizzlin’ Summer Saturdays promo, “Bejeweled! American Indian Jewelry” event features hands-on activities, a demo by Navajo silversmith Marvin Slim, a performance by Aztec storyteller Michael Heralda, and a book signing by “Crafty Chica” Kathy Cano-Murillo.