Native American Jewlery Comes to the Arcade

Gayle Gertler first fell in love with the American Southwest while on holiday there nearly 20 years back. “I just loved it!” she says, standing behind the counter in her Southwest Passage store, surrounded by earthy jewelry. After repeat visits to the area, Gayle had amassed quite a personal collection of turquoise and silver rings, earrings and necklaces when - tragically - her home was burglarized.

“I went crazy on my next trip, buying up everything I had lost. I eventually developed a business selling the jewelry at craft fairs,” she says. “The opportunity to open my Wayland Square store fell in my lap and we opened almost seven years ago, in October of 2006.” Recently, the business expanded into a second location in the newly renovated Arcade, providing space to sell a wider variety of items.

One hundred percent of the items in stock are handcrafted by four Native American groups residing in the Southwest: the Navajo, the Zuni, the Hopi and the Santo Domingo Pueblo.

The first items that strike my eye are bangle bracelets that are displayed beneath the glass. I notice that several are oval shaped rather than the typical round design – perfect for women like myself with smaller wrists. I settle on two simple and delicate copper bangles, etched in part and perfectly suited to my summer tan.

My favorite items - besides the copper bangles – are the fun yet dainty 16-inch necklaces made of bright aqua heishi beads, crafted by the Santo Domingo people. “They use these heishi beads, which means ‘shell’ in their native language, and string them up. These are very light and great for everyday wear.”

I ask Gayle how she’s amassed so much knowledge; it seems that she knows everything about the Southwest Native Americans. “I just learned as I went,” she said. “I learned as I began buying and selling and talking to artists and traders while hanging at the trading posts. There’s so much to it – so many techniques and so many stones.” Currently, she makes at least two trips per year, bringing back the latest and greatest to share with her customers.

Her store is one where a mother and teenage daughter can both leave happy: Gayle’s trendy silver feather earrings will please the younger crowd while slide necklace pendants will be a hit with a more sophisticated woman.

“Now that I have this second store I can sell so much more,” she says. “Check out these dreamcatchers, this beautiful pottery, these wine glasses, drums...” Gayle motions for me to follow her across the room. She hands me a heavy coffee mug. Beside it sit several more like it, each painted on the inside with a different bright color and stamped on the outside with a unique Native American symbol. “These are my absolute favorite!” I smile and agree that they’re beautiful, like many of the things in her store.