The “bird hanging from sky band” design on plate 2024-08 has at least a 600-year-old tradition at Hopi and was probably Nampeyo’s favorite design. Her bowl 1993-04 is an early rendition and is both the linchpin of this collection and the training ground of her greatness (Appendix B) . The collection has three other pots by Nampeyo with variations of this design (2010-11, 2014-07 and 2015-11). Overall the collection has 21 pots with the “Sky Band” decoration; obviously it’s a favorite of both potters at Hopi and mine. Note particularly bowl 2010-23 by Steve Lucas, a contemporary of Les Namingha. Steve’s bowl is beautiful, with an elegant design that is entirely traditional. In contrast the design on plate 2024-08 is modern and abstract. The power of this image over centuries and across different expressive traditions is remarkable. Plate 2024-08 is the most flashy rendition of the “bird hanging from sky band” design I have seen, but it vibrates with the same visual power as the ancient, the Nampeyo and the Steve Lucas examples.
Form:
Like tile 2022-07 made the same year by Les, this plate is roughly cut from a thin sheet of clay. All surfaces were left with this rough texture. In in pencil on the back is
- Les Namingha [printed]
- “From Awatovi. Bird Design”
- C 2000
- Acrylic on clay
- Les C Namingha [signature]
Design:
The edges and front of the plate were painted with black acrylic which serves as the undercoat for the rest of the design. The format follows the convention for this design: a lunette toped by avian figures. [See “bird hanging from sky band” in the Category listing.] The lower 30% of the design is a lunette with a two types of design. The first design is a set of about 7 bands of pointillism made up of white, red and yellow dots. Overlay on this pattern is are12 white linear designs compose of thin lines, The lines are bent single lines or two crossed lines or have both features. At least 1 and a many as 3 of the ends of the lines in each rendition are caped with a small circles.
In the Nampeyo version of this design (1993-04), the two curved avian forms emerged from a large feathered base. Les has largely eliminated this base from his rendition. In Nampeyo’s version an unpainted minor form curves above the dominate avian form. On plate 2024-08, Les also shows two avian forms, one dominate and one subordinate, but he has reversed their location and repositioned their orientation.
The dominate image on Les’ plate is a large brown swirl highlighted by two stripes of blue and outlined by an edge of 138 white dots. Unfurled, the figure would be about 12.5-inched long. As the arc approaches its tip and curves counterclockwise back towards itself, it merges into a single line of dots and here Les has added black and yellow dots to the white-dot outline. As with most pointillism, this color change can only be seen close-up and is subliminal to the typical observer.
The design at the base of this element is complicated. The bird’s squared brown base is intruded upon by the string of white dots that create a rounded thumb and a J-curve inside the base before rising to define the right and left edges of the design. Resting on the lunette and slid under the brown base of this large bird is a wedge of white, black, yellow and blue dots pointed left. Embedded in its wide tail is a V-shaped element of white-over-black lines. At its midpoint a vertical 0.5-inch white line emerges from it and intrudes into the avian form above. Nestled against the left side this line is a quadrant of blue, like a tiny piece of pie. This blue element is overlaid by white, black, blue and brown dots. As the wedge continues to the left edge of the plate, the white, black and yellow dot pattern reappears and then changes to an all-white string of dots until the wedge reaches the left edge of the plate.
Nestled against the left edge of the larger avian form is a smaller avian form, its square base fixed to the thin edge of the wedge below. Its internal design is more complex than its larger neighbor. The form of the smaller bird is defined by a large arc, thick at its base, and narrowing to a point as it curves to the left, eventually touching down on the thin the wedge below. From the upper right edge of the arc emerge two triangular wings. The right edge of the form is bordered by white-over-black lines that end at the point where the lower wing emerges from the body. The same white-over-black lines mark the left edge of the bird and rise to the apex of the arc. At this point the arc turns left and begins its descent to its base below, but the white-over-black lines cut right into the body of the bird, form an internal arch, and emerge on the right side of the bird to mark the upper edge of the upper wing. This small internal arch is itself cross-cut by a short white-over-black line. Finally, internal to the trunk of the bird, is a rectangular form missing its lower end (an inverted squared “U”) with its long sides not exactly parallel. It is composed of black-over-white lines, as are the section dividers below it.
This smaller avian form is entirely filled with sections of pointillism. The lowest section has a light brown background and is filled with white, black and red dots. A black-over-white line separates it from the section above. This section is filled with white, black, red and blue dots and it topped by another set of black-over-white lines. This main section of the body of the bird is painted brown and overlain by white and black dots. Near the apex of this section (defined by the small internal arch) there is an abundance of white spots which become the background color for brown, black and a few blue dots. Above the small internal arc the space if filled with a few white, black and blue dots and two green dots. From here the body of the bird curves sharply to the left and narrows to a simple line of white dots that joins the white-dot point of the wedge below. The base color of this section continues to be brown, but incorporates a thin strip and patches of light blue and a couple of streaks of green. The wider portion of this section has a top layer of white and black dots until its all-white-dot point.
The background around these two avian forms is a complex mosaic of color. Off the lower right edge of the larger abstracted bird are a series of 7 rays or layers of color. The lowest ray is a black triangle, except that the wide base of the wedge cuts into this space. The ray above is grey and is toped by black, purple, blue, brown and blue rays. As this sequence of layered colors asscends, the length of these rays gets squeezed by the curve of the neighborhood bird, and both their length and width are reduced.
To the right of the larger avian form and floating in the black and a bit of the grey rays is a 0.875-inch pointillism ball. So dense are the dots of paint that I’m not sure if it has a base color. At the center is a ball of blue and yellow dots. Surrounding this center are three rings of yellow and red dots, then the whole ball of dots was covered with a dense layer of white dots.
Above the seven rays, and filling the rest of the background, are 42 squares of color: red, black tan, purple, brown, yellow and blue in random order.
Design Analysis:
This plate is the fourth Les creation in this collection that was formed around the turn of the 21st century, are painted with acrylic, and uses pointillism and layering to create design. See pots 2020-02, 2023-05 and 2023-07 for these other examples.
The uneven surface under the acrylic paint captures the light and reflects it back to the viewer, giving the design some depth and additional energy. The acrylic was applied after firing the clay disk and has no precedence in pottery from Hopi, though the abstracted avian design has deep roots in the culture of the three mesas. The range of color is not possible using Native clay, though Jake Koopee (2013-08) gave it a good try. I’ve described the painting of plate 2024-08 in detail, but all those parts work together and the result is magical.
Art creates an exchange between the object and the viewer. For me the extensive use of pointillism gives the plate a stark, etherial look with the technique requiring a viewer to work at creating an image. I have a strong emotional response to this painting:
- The dots seem like stars.
- The sphere reminds me of a moon or a galaxy.
- The lunette is like a sky map of the constellations.
- The two birds fly amid a vivid universe.
- The mosaic of color echos the joy of creation.
- It’s a stary, stary night.
Viewing this disk of clay returns me to two great experiences in my life.
First, the jewel-like mosaic of color triggers my memory of Sainte Chapelle on the Isle de la Cite in Paris, a jewel-box of color, faith and spirit. For me it is the most beautiful building in the world.
Second, the pattern of the lunette reminds me of a map of our night sky with the constellations drawn with white lines. The dense pointillism ball on the right side of the plate seems like a glowing galaxy of stars against the black void of space, quite similar to the photographs being sent back to earth from the Webb telescope. Such celestial images also remind me of the night sky as I was returning to Hopi in the 1980’s. It was late at night and I was driving from Winslow up Rt 87 to the Cultural Center at Second Mesa. Through the windshield I saw shooting stars in the pitch-black and clear night sky. Fascinated, I pulled off to the side of the road, got out of the car, and looked upward at the celestial display. After some time my neck began to crink and so I climbed up on top of the car to lay down and see the sky. I woke up at sunrise still on top of the car, offering gratitude –if not corn meal– to the Gods for such a night. This plate reminds me of such good times. Art is a conversation between object and viewer and obviously this plate speaks loudly to me.
