For half his life, award winning artist Craig Dziadus (pronounced die-dus)
has been making jewelry for many reasons. The most important of these is keeping a wonderful and powerful art form alive.
Starting with beads and string of every sort, Craig made necklaces for friends and family for many years. Then one day, after a conversation with some family members, he realized that a move in a more traditional direction, would be the best one. Concentrating his efforts on his own Cherokee back ground and by studying the ancient people of the Southeastern U.S., Craig began to teach himself the art of carving in shell.This type of jewelry is called a gorget.It was a type of pendant worn by people of the Mississippian Period (1000 to 1600 A.D.).
These pendants (gorgets) where worn as a sign of status depending on a position held within a tribe or clan, as a spiritual or symbolic reason, or at certain ceremonies.
Ranging from Eastern Oklahoma, all the way down to Florida, the shell gorget was worn by many ancient people. Keeping these traditions alive is something that the young mixed-blood Cherokee artist is proud to do. Making contemporary and recreating traditional designs is something that has always been a challenge. Craig has always said, “I have never been more humbled, in any way, then when I sit down and study, draw and carve this most powerful of things.”
Craig Dziadus was born in Edgewater Florida, where he still lives and works. Not only does he carve beautiful shell, but he also makes Native American flutes and does custom wampum bead work. His jewelry can be found in places all over the United States, as far as Alaska and even in New Zealand.
Starting with beads and string of every sort, Craig made necklaces for friends and family for many years. Then one day, after a conversation with some family members, he realized that a move in a more traditional direction, would be the best one. Concentrating his efforts on his own Cherokee back ground and by studying the ancient people of the Southeastern U.S., Craig began to teach himself the art of carving in shell.This type of jewelry is called a gorget.It was a type of pendant worn by people of the Mississippian Period (1000 to 1600 A.D.).
These pendants (gorgets) where worn as a sign of status depending on a position held within a tribe or clan, as a spiritual or symbolic reason, or at certain ceremonies.
Ranging from Eastern Oklahoma, all the way down to Florida, the shell gorget was worn by many ancient people. Keeping these traditions alive is something that the young mixed-blood Cherokee artist is proud to do. Making contemporary and recreating traditional designs is something that has always been a challenge. Craig has always said, “I have never been more humbled, in any way, then when I sit down and study, draw and carve this most powerful of things.”
Craig Dziadus was born in Edgewater Florida, where he still lives and works. Not only does he carve beautiful shell, but he also makes Native American flutes and does custom wampum bead work. His jewelry can be found in places all over the United States, as far as Alaska and even in New Zealand.
