Monday, February 13, 2012

By Jack Shea
Published: June 11 2009

Ten summers ago a small boy with a mop of black hair walked alone under the Gay Head Cliffs, studying the shoreline. As he collected his prizes - deeply colored pieces of shell, smoothed by sand and tide - he put them in his pocket. They would become the centerpieces of the key chains he fashioned for sale at Stony Creek Gifts, his mother Berta Welch's shop, atop the Cliffs.

The wampum jewelry of Giles Welch, shown here at his home studio in Aquinnah, will soon be for sale in the gift shop of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Photos by Ralph Stewart

Now 23, Giles Welch smiles at the memory. "That's the only thing I knew how to make then. It was good money for a 12-year-old kid," he said with a grin.

With fingertips scored with old cuts, the skin thinned by hours spent cutting, shaping and polishing each shell by hand, he has perfected his artist's eye over a decade, to create Native American pendants, earrings and bracelets. His jewelry has become so notable that the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C., has requested pieces, now being crafted, for the Smithsonian and its companion museum, the Hays Center in New York City. The jewelry will also be sold in the Smithsonian's online store.

Mr. Welch creates wampum bracelets, earrings, and pendants out of quahog shells.

He credits his parents, Berta (chairperson of the Aquinnah Cultural Center) and Vernon Welch, and their immersion in their Wampanoag heritage, for his prestigious commission.

"In 2003, my parents were asked to create tile inlay for the American Indian mall at the Smithsonian. They took me to work on it with them," he said. "We did 1,200 feet of tile inlay along the walkways, using wood and Wampanoag wampum," he recalled.

The Smithsonian's museum staff noticed the teenager's work and bought a few pieces for their shop, but little came of it until last month when he learned the gift shop had buyers for his work.

Mr. Welch went to Washington to show his collection to the Smithsonian in May. "I'm making 40 pendants and 40 earrings for the first order. Then I'll make bracelets for them," Mr. Welch, said over dinner last Friday night at the Chilmark Tavern.

Mr. Welch said that his father, who also makes jewelry, has been an important mentor for him. "He taught me some stuff, gave me a shop and the tools to make jewelry, but he also let me find my own way," he said. "I have my own style, it's unique to me just like everyone else's is to them," he said.

The aspect of his work that caught the Smithsonian's eye, Mr. Welch believes, was, "the simplicity of the work. Clean. Rich colors. You need to be able to match colors in a natural way that reflects the traditional Wampanoag look. I look for deep, rich colors in shells that are clean - no barnacles or wormholes - with a girth and size appropriate to what I'm making." His pieces retail between about $40 for pendants to $400 for bracelets.

Mr. Welch spreads quahog shells to dry before he begins work.

Today, Mr. Welch does not have to rely solely on finding shells that have been smoothed and finished by sand and water. Since scalloping is his livelihood, he has an ample source of material. "I harvest the quahogs and clams, remove and save the meat, then select the best shells for jewelry making," he says. "I takes a couple of hours to make a piece, more I guess, if you figure in the time on the water gathering the shells."

In addition to the Smithsonian and Stony Creek, Mr. Welch's work is for sale at Claudia's jewelry store on Main Street in Edgartown. "She's been great," he said. "I love seeing my pieces on people in the street. It validates the work, and makes me feel like I'm making a contribution. It's a cool feeling.

A 2003 graduate of Martha's Vineyard Regional High School, Mr. Welch's art has been a constant during years that included a stint in college, waiting tables at The Aquinnah restaurant, landscaping, mason tending, and house painting with Richard Conover.

With a journey that has taken him to Miami to Salt Lake City and stops in between, Mr. Welch has discovered his place where the journey began - on the water and the beaches in and around Aquinnah.

"This is what I want to do." Mr. Welch said. " I'm fortunate. People work for decades for an opportunity like this. It was given to me by my parents and by our tribal culture."

Jack Shea is a regular contributor to The Times.