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Earlier this week, leading Indigenous artist Jeffrey Gibson (Choctaw/Cherokee) unveiled his new outdoor façade at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The interdisciplinary artist, best known for his paintings and sculptures, debuted four large-scale bronze sculptures—a coyote, a bird, a deer, and a squirrel—adorned with painted embellishments and titled The Animal That Therefore I Am. The sculptures, which are on view through June 2026, examine the Indigenous relationship to animals and the natural world, and how animals can often embody narrative, memory, and presence. “I wanted to look at the representation of spirits and animals, and where the two forms cross over,” says Gibson.
To go along with the façade, Gibson marked another career milestone in the process—a foray into fashion. Accompanying his sculptures, Gibson created 10 special-edition necklaces made in collaboration with fine jewelry label Sidney Garber, and brought to life by Sharon Coplan, the curator and producer of the project. “It was a dream project to invite Jeffrey to create a piece of artist s jewelry that he would want to wear,” says Coplan. “Using precious materials and found pieces, Jeffrey created a bespoke project that can be worn and cherished.”
Naturally, Gibson’s approach to jewelry-making is also centered in storytelling, just like his art. Each of the 10 luxurious necklaces he created—priced at $100,000 each—features nature-inspired elements that are depicted in his Met sculptures. The artist says he wanted to take natural, organic materials that are often utilized in Indigenous design, and make them extremely luxurious from a contemporary point-of-view. “When it comes to things that I wear or that I imagine somebody wearing, I often think of the beauty of the natural things that are around us,” Gibson says. “As a Native person, I’ve always been aware of the huge spectrum of the materials that we use. The goal was always to bring Indigenous aesthetics, materials, and conversations into a broader mix of fashion, art, and design.”
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Each handmade necklace features an 18-karat yellow gold chain, and was crafted to resemble twisted vines. “We took the little stems off of maple leaves, tied them into a link, and casted those to make the links for the necklace,” says Gibson. The style also features—and get ready for this—three pieces of dentalium shells, sourced from the artist’s studio; an acorn made of wood and 18-karat gold; blueberries, strawberries, and maple seeds made of gold and enamel; a blackberry made of gold and dark blue sapphires; a raspberry made of gold and cabochon rubies; and a pussy willow branch made of gold and keshi pearls. “We strung fresh strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries, and then digitally scanned them,” says Gibson, to get the shapes just right.
The extremely-precious piece also features nods to Gibson’s own longtime love of jewelry. Since he was a teenager, Gibson has been collecting vintage jewelry, so he completed each of his 10 necklace designs with three found silver heart charms, as well as a vintage bee broach, all personally sourced by the artist. “I’ve been collecting vintage charms for years now, especially when I travel,” says Gibson. “Charms are a form of memory.” Even the necklace packaging can be considered art. Gibson enlisted the Anishinabe birchbark artist Patrick William Kruse to create a special birch box for the necklaces.
With every detail heavily considered, it was an ambitious approach to creating wearable art—and one that proved fruitful (pun intended). “It was a challenge, but a completely joyous challenge,” says Brooke Garber, the owner of Sidney Garber, who crafted the pieces in New York. “There was lots of back and forth, and I wanted to make sure we realized Jeffrey’s vision. In the end, it was like making 17 separate pieces of jewelry, because the necklace has so many different components, materials, and colors.”
For Gibson, the creative process served as more than a new way to reflect his viewpoint of the world; it was also a way to create a tangible product that someone can wear to present themselves to the world. “Jewelry is a way to adorn and collect ourselves, and to place ourselves in the world,” says Gibson. “If you look at Indigenous history, there were these incredible men in flamboyant jewelry—it was a form of acculturation to take all of that away.” As for the question of whether Gibson will create more valuable jewels in the future? “I’ll always design something for myself,” he says. “But this was very much a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
