Turtle Mountain Chippewa jewelry artist Samuel Greatwalker LaFountain took home two awards this past weekend at the annual Heard Indian Fair & Market for his Black Jade Bracelet.
He won First Place in his Division, Personal Adornment, and he also won the Best of Class award for Classification I: Jewelry and Lapidary, beating out all other jewelry artists.
LaFountain also took home an Honorable Mention award at the 2011 SWAIA Indian Market in Santa Fe. LaFountain comes from a family of artists and is an up and coming Native artist and silversmith. Before focusing full time on his jewelry, he also painted and sculpted. He is currently based out of Santa Fe.