THE STARKEEPER
Alex Sanchez “Wise Woman” Waterweb Kingman Pendant — Made for Hespera
Okay, this woman has seen some shit.
When I asked Alex Sanchez to make pieces for Hespera, this is exactly the kind of thing I hoped would come out of it: not merely a giant turquoise pendant, but an actual character.
Alex’s Wise Woman arrives wearing what can only reasonably be described as an absolutely fucking spectacular crown of Waterweb Kingman turquoise. Five large stones radiate around her face, surrounded by stamped silver details and dangling raindrop forms. Below, her enormous oxidized silver robe becomes its own little universe—spirals, stars, a bear, a hand, abstract figures and symbols scattered across the surface like somebody unearthed a map from a civilization we haven’t discovered yet.
And then you turn her over.
Stars. Everywhere.
The entire reverse of her headdress is hand-stamped with stars, while the robe carries a repeating spiral motif. Alex didn’t treat the back as an afterthought. He finished the entire object.
At 5.25 inches long and nearly 100 grams, she is enormous, strange, joyful, unmistakably Alex Sanchez—and she was made specifically for Hespera.
WHY THIS PIECE MATTERS
Alex Sanchez is known for a visual language that combines contemporary Navajo silversmithing with petroglyph-inspired imagery, bold figuration and symbolic storytelling.
The Wise Woman is particularly suited to that language because she isn’t simply a setting for stones. The jewelry becomes the character.
Her five Waterweb Kingman turquoise stones form an extravagant ceremonial headdress while the oxidized robe creates a field for Alex’s silver pictographs. Bright polished appliqué sits dramatically against the darkened background, allowing every spiral, hand and figure to read almost like marks on an ancient wall.
The scale matters too. At 97.7 grams, this isn’t a little figural charm pretending to be important. It’s a substantial piece of wearable sculpture.
And this particular Wise Woman carries another distinction:
Alex Sanchez made her for Hespera.
ARTIFACT REGISTRY
Artist: Alex Sanchez
Tribe / Origin: Navajo (Diné), Southwest United States
Work: The Starkeeper — Wise Woman
Materials: Sterling silver; natural Waterweb Kingman turquoise
Turquoise: Kingman, Arizona — high-character blue Waterweb material with dense matrix
Stone Count: Five substantial turquoise cabochons forming the crown
Length: 5.25 inches
Weight: 97.7 grams
Construction: Figural sterling-silver pendant with multiple bezel-set turquoise cabochons, applied silver pictographic elements, oxidized ground, stampwork and articulated silver drops
Signature: Alex Sanchez / Sterling
Commission: Made specifically for Hespera
Era: Contemporary
CURATOR’S FIELD OBSERVATION
What makes this one work for me is the tension between serious craftsmanship and complete visual weirdness.
Look closely at the turquoise. Alex didn’t use five stones that disappear into one another. Each Waterweb Kingman cabochon has its own matrix map, so the headdress almost looks assembled from five tiny pieces of landscape.
Then there’s the robe.
Instead of filling the surface with conventional decorative stampwork, Alex essentially gives us an archaeological wall: raised spirals, humanoid forms, a bear, a hand and scattered geometric marks floating over a heavily oxidized ground.
The polished silver imagery jumps forward while the background recedes.
And the reverse may actually be one of my favorite details. The stars behind the headdress and repeating spirals behind the robe mean this piece was conceived in the round. Even the part nobody sees while you’re wearing it participates in the story.
That is the difference between decoration and an object with a world inside it.
ARTIFACT CHARACTER RECORD
Identity: The Wise Woman
Character Type: The Starkeeper
Disposition: Ancient intelligence with absolutely no interest in explaining herself.
Domain: Memory • Wisdom • Story • Stars • The extremely suspicious amount of information your grandmother somehow knows
Distinguishing Features:
A crown of five Waterweb Kingman stones; ceremonial silver drops; pictographic robe; spiral imagery; bear and hand motifs; star-covered reverse.
Probable Agenda:
She already knows what you’re going to do. She’s just waiting to see how long it takes you to figure it the fuck out.
Artifact Energy:
The Keeper of Things Worth Remembering.
She doesn’t predict the future.
She remembers enough of the past that the future isn’t particularly surprising.
ERIC’S NOTES FROM THE FIELD
This is one of those pieces where my first response is basically:
WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT? Give it to me.
Which, frankly, is one of my highest compliments.
I love jewelry that rewards curiosity. From ten feet away she’s this enormous turquoise woman. Then you get closer and discover the robe. Then the symbols. Then the bear. Then the hand. Then you flip the whole ridiculous thing over and Alex has hidden an entire fucking sky back there.
That’s my kind of object.
I don’t want jewelry where you’ve understood everything in three seconds.
I want the thing you pick up again six months later and suddenly notice something you somehow missed.
That’s the Wise Woman.
THE STARKEEPER
Alex Sanchez “Wise Woman” Waterweb Kingman Pendant — Made for Hespera
Okay, this woman has seen some shit.
When I asked Alex Sanchez to make pieces for Hespera, this is exactly the kind of thing I hoped would come out of it: not merely a giant turquoise pendant, but an actual character.
Alex’s Wise Woman arrives wearing what can only reasonably be described as an absolutely fucking spectacular crown of Waterweb Kingman turquoise. Five large stones radiate around her face, surrounded by stamped silver details and dangling raindrop forms. Below, her enormous oxidized silver robe becomes its own little universe—spirals, stars, a bear, a hand, abstract figures and symbols scattered across the surface like somebody unearthed a map from a civilization we haven’t discovered yet.
And then you turn her over.
Stars. Everywhere.
The entire reverse of her headdress is hand-stamped with stars, while the robe carries a repeating spiral motif. Alex didn’t treat the back as an afterthought. He finished the entire object.
At 5.25 inches long and nearly 100 grams, she is enormous, strange, joyful, unmistakably Alex Sanchez—and she was made specifically for Hespera.
WHY THIS PIECE MATTERS
Alex Sanchez is known for a visual language that combines contemporary Navajo silversmithing with petroglyph-inspired imagery, bold figuration and symbolic storytelling.
The Wise Woman is particularly suited to that language because she isn’t simply a setting for stones. The jewelry becomes the character.
Her five Waterweb Kingman turquoise stones form an extravagant ceremonial headdress while the oxidized robe creates a field for Alex’s silver pictographs. Bright polished appliqué sits dramatically against the darkened background, allowing every spiral, hand and figure to read almost like marks on an ancient wall.
The scale matters too. At 97.7 grams, this isn’t a little figural charm pretending to be important. It’s a substantial piece of wearable sculpture.
And this particular Wise Woman carries another distinction:
Alex Sanchez made her for Hespera.
ARTIFACT REGISTRY
Artist: Alex Sanchez
Tribe / Origin: Navajo (Diné), Southwest United States
Work: The Starkeeper — Wise Woman
Materials: Sterling silver; natural Waterweb Kingman turquoise
Turquoise: Kingman, Arizona — high-character blue Waterweb material with dense matrix
Stone Count: Five substantial turquoise cabochons forming the crown
Length: 5.25 inches
Weight: 97.7 grams
Construction: Figural sterling-silver pendant with multiple bezel-set turquoise cabochons, applied silver pictographic elements, oxidized ground, stampwork and articulated silver drops
Signature: Alex Sanchez / Sterling
Commission: Made specifically for Hespera
Era: Contemporary
CURATOR’S FIELD OBSERVATION
What makes this one work for me is the tension between serious craftsmanship and complete visual weirdness.
Look closely at the turquoise. Alex didn’t use five stones that disappear into one another. Each Waterweb Kingman cabochon has its own matrix map, so the headdress almost looks assembled from five tiny pieces of landscape.
Then there’s the robe.
Instead of filling the surface with conventional decorative stampwork, Alex essentially gives us an archaeological wall: raised spirals, humanoid forms, a bear, a hand and scattered geometric marks floating over a heavily oxidized ground.
The polished silver imagery jumps forward while the background recedes.
And the reverse may actually be one of my favorite details. The stars behind the headdress and repeating spirals behind the robe mean this piece was conceived in the round. Even the part nobody sees while you’re wearing it participates in the story.
That is the difference between decoration and an object with a world inside it.
ARTIFACT CHARACTER RECORD
Identity: The Wise Woman
Character Type: The Starkeeper
Disposition: Ancient intelligence with absolutely no interest in explaining herself.
Domain: Memory • Wisdom • Story • Stars • The extremely suspicious amount of information your grandmother somehow knows
Distinguishing Features:
A crown of five Waterweb Kingman stones; ceremonial silver drops; pictographic robe; spiral imagery; bear and hand motifs; star-covered reverse.
Probable Agenda:
She already knows what you’re going to do. She’s just waiting to see how long it takes you to figure it the fuck out.
Artifact Energy:
The Keeper of Things Worth Remembering.
She doesn’t predict the future.
She remembers enough of the past that the future isn’t particularly surprising.
ERIC’S NOTES FROM THE FIELD
This is one of those pieces where my first response is basically:
WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT? Give it to me.
Which, frankly, is one of my highest compliments.
I love jewelry that rewards curiosity. From ten feet away she’s this enormous turquoise woman. Then you get closer and discover the robe. Then the symbols. Then the bear. Then the hand. Then you flip the whole ridiculous thing over and Alex has hidden an entire fucking sky back there.
That’s my kind of object.
I don’t want jewelry where you’ve understood everything in three seconds.
I want the thing you pick up again six months later and suddenly notice something you somehow missed.
That’s the Wise Woman.
