Sculpted village scenes on pottery from Hopi are known, but rare. Jar 2025-09, discussed here, is the only example in this collection where the village scene is the central image. The only other pot in the collection with a carved village scene is jar 2024-01 by Harrison Jim, and that scene is shallow-carved and on a mesa top as a side tableau of the central design.
The village in jar 2025-09 is appliqué, meaning it was attached to the exterior of a formed vessel. However unlike any other appliqué known to me, Nolan’s structures are hollow. Jar 2025-09 is not only striking, it also is unique.
Form:
From a 1.25-inch base the sides rise 2.5-inches to the waist and then at an increasing angle 2.25-inches to a peaked rim. The rim of the jar is slightly oval and has a distinct slope. Between the high and low points of this slope Nolan had cut two kiva steps. As can be seen in photos 4 and 5 above, the undecorated sides of the jar have been polished with vertical strokes of the polishing stone, creating an “onion skin” effect which subtly gives the surface some character.
The pot is scratch-signed on the bottom “Nolan Y Nampeyo” with a small corn plant, to indicate his clan.
Design:
The jar is not painted; all the decoration is carved.
The village is placed about 0.66 inches below the kiva steps on the rim. It is about 4.25-inches wide (left to right) and 1.5-inches deep. The maximum height of the village buildings is 0.50-inches. The back section of the building wraps around the convex surface of the jar, resulting in a slightly concave structure. From each end of this central structure, extensions were constructed to the edge of the upper surface of the jar, here seen as the edge of a cliff. In the courtyard of this building is another U-shaped smaller structure with a sloped entry, a kiva.
Although appliquéd, the central building hides a surprise. Notice the 9 windows or doors in the main structure. These are real entries. A pin inserted into these openings finds a hollow interiors.
The “Featured Image” for the jar, the third image above, was taken with a light source at an angle to highlight the detailed texture of the carving.
As noted above, the large building is built around the round neck of the jar, making the building convex. This building has the following demarcation. The 1) center section of the building has a long linear facade, while 2) its short left 3) short right ends are at right angles to the center section and thus enclose a plaza, and 4) the common roof of all three sections is marked with tiny parallel lines.
- The central section appears to be smoothly stuccoed except for its left end which shows the remnant of a 6-layer adobe-brick wall, its top layer having just one brick and the number increasing so that the bottom layer has six bricks. The stucco section has one small window and a somewhat larger doorway facing the plaza..
- The left end of the facade of the center section turns a 45-degree corner and forms a short smoothly stuccoed surface with a window at its center.
- The right end of the facade of the center section is exactly like the left, except that a stepped wall is attached to the left side of its roof and this roof presumably is mud, since it shows numerous footprints.
- The thin lines on the roof of the central section represent the sticks that form the core of the mud roofs of traditional pueblo dwellings.
Below the window on the left end of this central building there is a raised structure with a roof also consisting of dozens of parallel small sticks. Below this roof is a room whose left and right external walls are smoothly stuccoed. The right wall, facing the plaza, has a small window and a large door. The end of this room, facing the cliff-like edge of the jar, has the remnant of another 6-layer adobe-brick wall, its top layer having just one brick and the number increasing so that the bottom layer has six bricks.
Below the window on the right end of this central building is a structure with a roof that slopes downward as it extends to the cliff-edge. This roof is marked by more thin parallel lines, the same roof treatment we saw earlier. The left edge of this sloped roof supports a wall with 8 steps. The wall facing the plaza has 1 window and 1 door.
Notice that:
- All wall openings either face the plaza or the edge of the pot, seen here as a cliff.
- The plaza, with a textured surface of parallel lines, slopes downward to the edge of the cliff.
In front of this main building, in the center of the plaza, is a U-shaped building, a kiva. It has the same roof treatment we have seen earlier. The opening of the U faces the main building. Emerging from this entryway is a 5-step latter. The short wall of the kiva along the cliff edge is smooth stuccoed, except that its right end shows the familiar remnant of a 4-layer adobe-brick wall, its top layer having two bricks and the number increasing so that the bottom layer has 5 bricks.
Below the edge of the jar –below the cliff’s edge–is a band of 7 incised designs. The first and last of these designs is a square enclosing a saw tooth of three incised triangles pointing away from the center pf the band. This leaves a residual of two not-incised triangles pointing toward the center of the band, three incised reciprotal triangles pointing toward the ends of the band. These first and last elements are separated from the remaining 5 elements, which form a continuous series.These 5 elements have two formats: 1) an incised Greek-key with five 90-degree turns, and 2) an incised right triangle with its hypotenuse having three steps cut into it. These two designs are presented alternately, with the stepped triangle occurring first and last. Notice that all 7 incised designs in the band display foreground/background reversal.
Design Analysis:
The village is constructed with amazing detail. My analysis was done with the help of a magnifying glass, and even when enlarged the design seems flawless.
Several design strategies unify and enliven the design. All of the buildings or sections of buildings carry a stepped design. Ruined step-edged adobe-brick walls adorn the central portion of the main building, its left extension, and the kiva. The theme of these stepped edges also realized by the stepped wall on the roof on the right extension of the main building. The roofs of all the buildings are lightly etched with thin, parallel lines. The dirt of the plaza is marked with somewhat thicker, bolder parallel lines. Foreground/background reversal of the 7-element band of design below the edge of the jar enlivens this decoration.
The left and right extensions of the main building and the kiva follow the downward slope of the upper surface of the jar. This format gives the scene an illusion of depth.
Notice that for defensive purposes there are no windows or doors on external walls of the village.
Scene is similar to the cliff houses of the sort found throughout the southwest, with structures attached to an escarpment and extending to the edge of a cliff, with the ceremonial kiva tucked into a small plaza.
Polingeysi Qoyawayma (2005-08 and 2021-02) was likely the first person at Hopi to make plain ware jars with appliqué forms attached to their sides. Her nephew, Al Qoyawayma, was the first person to form similar jars, but with the designs formed by reposse, formed by pushing the wet clay from the inside and then carving the raised external clay (2006-03). Nolan was not related to either of these artists, but his work builds on their tradition.
Nolan (1970-2020) was the son of Iris and Wallace Youvella. Wallace (2017-11) was among the first men to make pottery at Hopi and developed a style of shallow carving his pots. Iris, daughter of Fannie and thus Nampeyo’s grandaughter, developed a style of carving appliqué matte corn images on plain, polished pots (2003-08, 2021-03). Thus Nolan’s technique is an elaboration and extension of his parent’s work.
Like his Mother, Nolan’s designs are appliqué, added to the surface of the jar. Unlike his mother, but like Al Qoyawayma, Nolan’s structures are hollow. However, unlike Al Qoyawayma, Nolan’s forms are not reposse and thus are not visible from the interior of the jar and. I assume the structures on jar 2025-09 are built of small slabs of clay attached with slip to the jar’s surface, somewhat dried and then carved with a Dremel tool, but this only speculation on my part.
So realistic is Nolan’s village that I would not be surprised to see tiny people walking and working in the plaza and on the roof tops. I am not Hopi and have never lived in a Hopi village, but I have visited villages on the three mesas dozens of times. On this jar Nolan’s village and my memory vision merge.
