Roger Wilbur

In the tradition of Zuni artisans and Arizona’s Hohokam people before them, Roger Wilbur is a master of the channel inlay craft, the process of creating negative space in metal and filling the cavity artistically with gemstones.Raised in Minnesota, Roger came to the southwest in 1960 where he worked in a copper mine. It was there he first learned about rocks. He attributes his design sensibility to his Scandinavian upbringing as seen in the simple designs of furniture and wood- working. He says he thinks of his work as a hybrid of sculpture, painting and jewelry.

“Inlay is a field of color, very much like painting. I’m always thinking empty and full space. You have to fill the space with something beautiful and once it is made, it can’t be adjusted, like Cinderella’s slipper.”