MEET LYNDON
INTRO TO
LYNDON TSOSIE’S CAREER
Written by Ronson Page
A chance encounter can set you on a path that forever changes the course of your life.
Another human being, an animal … even a book.
In the early 1990s, a young Lyndon Tsosie and his young daughter Jasmine were passing time at an Albuquerque shopping mall in one of his favorite escapes: Waldenbooks. At the time, Lyndon’s silversmithing was what he thought of as “tourist stuff”, simple stamp work lacking color and complexity that he created in his apartment bedroom. Like many young Native men, he was not thriving, but simply surviving.
But as luck would have it, the week he walked into that bookstore, a gorgeous new book had just been released, and that book was on display, front and center.
The book was “Southwestern Indian Jewelry” by Dexter Cirillo.
And from the moment Lyndon opened this beautiful book, so did a world of opportunities and possibilities. If a desire for success was a furnace inside him, the door to that opened up, as well. Embers began to glow. He was mesmerized by the extraordinary designs, the colors, the layers the details created by true Native artisans, master silversmiths who were doing work the likes of which Lyndon had never seen.
A few years earlier, with a young man’s arrogance, he had defiantly told his high school counselor that he would “be famous” one day… and now Lyndon could see a path to making that declaration a reality.
Lyndon wanted that book badly, but the book was $65. Plus tax. He left the bookstore, hands and heart both empty. Maybe next week, or next month. He got as far as four or five shops down, then sat on a
bench with his little girl, opened his fanny pack (!) and counted his money.
He had $75 to his name. Lyndon’s wife attended the University of New Mexico, but right then, there was no food at the UNM family housing unit where they lived; that $75 was earmarked for groceries for the week.
Lyndon looked at his daughter, all of maybe two years old at the time. He scooped her up and walked back into Waldenbooks and bought the book.
Immediately afterward, Lyndon swallowed his pride and visited the local food pantry… a trip with a unique pain which only those raised in an inner city neighborhood or on a reservation are familiar.
Every day for the next six months, Lyndon lost himself in the pages of that book, and in the process, found himself, as an artist and silversmith. At the same time, he knew he needed to make a big change of a different sort, because “If I didn’t leave Albuquerque, I would be dead.” due to his drinking habits.
And so, roughly a year after purchasing the book, with $25 cash in his pocket and $30 worth of silver, Lyndon & Jasmine left Albuquerque. It was time to start thriving.
He attended the big jewelry markets and sought out the artists in the book, silversmiths who were, in his eyes, rock stars. And he got to work in his new shop, a storage closet that measured just 4’ by 5’ at his father’s home in Many Farms, Arizona, on the Navajo reservation.
But despite that move and then another move to Chinle, Arizona, the miles were still not far enough away to escape addiction. Lyndon continued to drink himself towards an early grave.
And once again, a chance encounter would redirect his life. A series of introductions to new friends led Lyndon to a friendship with Gerald Spigel, the owner of Indians On Columbus art gallery in New York.
In April of 1995, Spigel loaded up his car for a cross-country road trip, and set out from New York for Arizona.
His friend Lyndon needed an intervention, whether the young silversmith knew it or not.
Spigel picked Lyndon up from his home in Many Farms and drove him 15 miles to meet famed Navajo pastel artist and jeweler, Teddy Draper Jr., whom Lyndon knew of by reputation, but had never met. The son of a US Marine Corps Navajo Code-Talker, Draper immediately saw something in Lyndon and offered him a bit of inlay work.
A short time later, his pockets flush, Lyndon drove to Albuquerque for the biggest pow-wow in the country… and spent the next five days drinking. When Lyndon drove back to Chinle, instead of returning to do more work for Draper, Lyndon spent yet another week drinking the rest of the beer he brought back with him from Albuquerque.
But now he was broke again.
Despite being seven days late and feeling uncertain, even afraid of what Teddy might say to him, Lyndon walked back into Draper’s office. And while Teddy was less than happy with the extreme tardiness, he
still gave Lyndon a feather pendant to inlay.
Once Lyndon finished the piece, Draper waved him into his office and began to talk.
And in a single afternoon, a one-man intervention presented itself; a gentle sharing of Navajo history, of those who came before, of culture and tradition, of pride, of the potential to be more.
What it would mean to be whole, again. By the end of the afternoon, Lyndon had not been just reassured by Draper, but fully transformed. “Within those five hours, my whole life changed. Everything he talked about, something solidified in me, and I didn’t want my old life anymore.” Money and drinking were no longer going to be his focus. He wanted to learn.
Lyndon went home to his five-year-old daughter, gave her a big hug, and told her that everything was going to change. For the next decade, he manifested his sobriety. He also began his food drive, which started with serving ten families in 1995; in 2022, his food drive served over 300 families.
In 1997, he incorporated Jasmine Inc. — named for his daughter — in Delaware, and still maintains his corporation.
In 2004, Lyndon opened his first shop, the Jasmine Inc Gallery. One day, the bell over the front door jingled, and Lyndon was stunned to recognize Dexter Cirillo walking into his gallery. Cirillo, the author of the very book Lyndon could not walk away from in 1992, a book that was now held together by packing tape, so many times had he gazed at the pages.
As he was a stranger to her, it was pure happenstance that she walked into his gallery. But by the time she left, she knew who Lyndon Tsosie was.
Lyndon is in Cirillo’s second book: “Southwest Indian Jewelry – Crafting New Traditions”.
Today, Lyndon Tsosie is an award winning, internationally known silversmith, with 32 years in the business, who produces his own shows abroad. He is the President of James & Tsosie, Inc. and the owner of The House of Stamps, where traditional Navajo made stamps are sold and seasonal Navajo stamping workshops are held, as well as Navajo stamping workshops for Senior Living communities.
Lyndon is an Adjunct Instructor for the Bachelors of Arts in Silversmithing at Diné College, and the founder of the Coyote Canyon Rehabilitation Center’s Art Program for mentally challenged adults on the Navajo Reservation.
He has 23 years of dedication to his annual Food Drive, which raised $15,000 during COVID in conjunction with the Gallup Food Pantry in dispensing food vouchers. In 2015, Lyndon’s company awarded ten high school graduating students $1000 scholarships each.
Lyndon openly shares his knowledge and experiences when working in instruction setting. He is committed to maximizing student artistic achievements by facilitating and encouraging a rich learning experience. Lyndon has a recognized talent to instill art appreciation and creativity to motivate.
His strong interpersonal skills cultivate and sustains strong relations with peers, students, and community. Lyndon aims to utilize this teaching experience to make a lasting difference to improve student’s ability, creativity, appreciation, perception, awareness, confidence, and motivation in realizing their potential and in developing their artistic skills.
Lyndon’s strong determination to take on challenges and risks rests on his firm belief that through focused efforts and persistence, positive results will follow.
Not every young Native person gets to experience the good fortune to be in the right place at the right time. Not every young Native person has the opportunity or the resources to be able to work hard and make their own good fortune.
But every young Native person should be able to have those resources, and should be able to have those opportunities, so that they might get to work making their futures.
And that is what the Lyndon Foundation will achieve:
Enabling foundation students to become self-sufficient, hard working men and women who will not need to ask for handouts from tribal governments or anyone else.
Foundation students who will thrive with their own confidence, motivation and determination.
We invite you to join us in making this foundation a success.
