When Orlando Dugi was growing up in northern Arizona, he would intently watch his Navajo grandmother doing traditional beadwork.

Before long he picked up the craft, and she’d give him lids from tubs of butter for him to sew beads onto, transforming them into traditional Native hairpieces or necklace medallions. When he didn’t get it quite right, she’d have him start over.

“I’m very visual,” says Dugi. “I can watch someone do something and then copy it, emulate it. I used to dance at powwows a lot to express myself; then I started to express myself through beadwork.”

After he got better at it, he began using beads the size of a grain of sugar, creating exquisitely detailed work.