Noah Pajarito

Hello, my name is Triston Noah Pajarito, but I go by Noah, not only because that's what everyone calls me but because it's easier to carve onto my work. Growing up, art was always around me and a part of my life. Both my grandmas from my mom and dad's side of the family made jewelry, one made inlay work (Mary Coriz Lovato) and the other did bead stringing work. I remember watching my brothers and father, Anthony Lovato in the workshop working with the torch melting and soldering silver. I was fascinated by the flame and thought it was pretty cool, so I thought to myself that someday I also want to work with silver.  We were always traveling to different places selling the jewelry with our dad. Even when my siblings and I had no artwork yet, we would still tag along just to go somewhere other than home. That might be another reason I'd like to pursue jewelry as a career because who doesn’t like to travel, am I right? Drawing was always one of my favorite things to do growing up so being an artist was always in my blood. 

My main mentor was my father, but my brothers (including Cordell Pajarito and Joel Pajarito) also taught me a few things, not only with jewelry but also life lessons. Valentino Coriz was my great great grandpa, and he was a jeweler that would travel on foot to trade his jewelry for sheep and other goods. Tufa sand cast is the type of artwork my family mainly specializes in, but my brothers also do inlay work here and there. The tufa cast technique was learned by my great grandpa Santiago Leo Coriz. Leo learned from a Hopi man he had met in the Navy during World War II. All these men are my idols; they are not only teachers, but they are also hard workers.

I graduated from Bernalillo High School in 2019. I was already making jewelry in my school years whenever I would have time and was free from homework. I also had other jobs like taking care of my animals and tending to our plants in the fields. Once I graduated high school I attended the Institute of American Indian Arts, so I could learn a little more than what my family had already taught me. I especially enjoy learning the business side of it, like creating websites and other ways of selling our art work and handling the finances correctly.