Born 1957
Navajo (Arizona)
Medium: Jewelry
Son of a rancher, silversmith Wes Willie grew up on the Navajo Reservation in Northern Arizona. He came to working with jewelry after a career in industrial welding and much of his education, especially inlay work, came from famed Navajo jeweler Jesse Monongye. He is inspired by both Monongye and the late Charles Loloma, that his work is frequently compared and mistaken for Loloma’s.