Columnist Susan Snyder: Taking pride in American artistry

Friday, May 31, 2002 | 2:17 a.m.

Spent a little time in my favorite Boulder City haunt last week.

From time to time, I visit Begay's Indian Jewelry to admire the rugs and pots and practically drool as I breathe over the glass cases packed with jewelry.

It's shiny and silver and, most importantly, handmade.

These are not the kind of items you can pick up at Nieman Marcus. Every piece is one of a kind. They may look similar in design, but each one is a little different.

And that's important to remember if you're an up-to-the-minute accessory hound. American Indian-style jewelry featuring turquoise is supposedly the hottest fashion trend this season, and plenty of places will be hawking knockoffs.

A USA Today report from Los Angeles last week says celebrities from first lady Laura Bush to Cher are sporting Western-style baubles with the pale blue stones this summer.

An especially hot commodity has been a seashell-shaped purse that sold for $900 at New York's Chloe boutique. It was so popular that it sold out and has a waiting list.

"Turquoise is hot this season because everyone is in a very spiritual and nostalgic mood, and what better way to show your American pride than to wear something that actually comes from our country, like American Indian jewelry," said Danna Weiss, a New York celebrity stylist who has been dressing her clients in turquoise. (How come rich people can't dress themselves?)

Now, Begay's has a stunning turquoise necklace that sells for $132. Val Tsosi, who designs and makes jewelry in the shop, told me she recently saw one exactly like it listed for $800 in a catalog from back East.

I shouldn't say exactly like it. The one in the catalog is mass-produced. The one at Begay's is the only one. The artist's initials are on it somewhere.

Somebody will order the $800 one. Yet, I have watched pinch-faced tourists dicker over a $25 ring while standing face-to-face with the guy who made it and is selling it on a reservation his people were forced to live on. This is "American pride"?

I'm sure the people who make this stuff for real know who appreciates it and don't worry about the others. But our cities have become a tapestry of one chain restaurant and label store after another. We are in danger of losing our art and ourselves.

We should invest in the real thing wherever we can find it. And for us it's right here. Besides, it's no fun buying department store fakes.

It has taken 10 years, but my jewelry case is full of the real thing. I can't possibly wear it all, but it all means something. Along with each artisan who created it, each piece also has a personal story for me -- a hike across the Grand Canyon, an afternoon spent with a Utah Shoshone bead worker.

Southwest silver. Northwest bead work. There are a pair of Navajo bracelets my mother bought in Colorado in 1946, and another bracelet I bought when I took her to see the Grand Canyon for the first time. She was 75.

It is hard to imagine what kind of American pride people think they're buying from a catalog. It seems to represent the kind of America that took what it wanted from indigenous people, stripped away the identity and sold it back.

We can do better. Follow the fad. Buy American. Real American.