2026-04 Showy bird tile

Folk Art Bird Design, Tile

This tile is of ordinary size, but extraordinary design.  Although sold as “artist unknown,”  the design is so bold and intriguing that the front of the tile announces its maker, an intuition confirmed by the lightly scratched “RS” “ (which looks like a “B”) on the...

2023-10 Cookie jar with folk art birds, side lugs and a lid

Folk Art Bird Design

Jar is 6.5625” h X 7.5625” wide without lid or handles.  The lid is 2.1875” high and 4.25″ wide with a 3.1875” interior ring. Since as early as 1300 CE, when coal-fired Jeddito ware was widely traded, potters at Hopi have been good at marketing. After Thomas...

2021-18 Small seedpot with gliding birds

Folk Art Bird Design

The design on this jar has a large impact, but its detail is minuscule.  Without a reference point a viewer might guess this perfectly formed and painted jar to be many times its actual size. It’s a gem of pure beauty and joy: birds gliding with energy in an...

2020-12 Folk art bird tile

Folk Art Bird Design

This bird is part of a flock of folk birds that regularly adorn Hopi and Hopi-Tewa pottery, cf 1998-10, 2002-10, 2007-13 and 2008-05.  Lorna’s tile is indistinguishable from the work of her mother, Sadie Adams, who for decades demonstrated pottery making and won...

2020-03 Small Flying Birds Seedjar

Folk Art Bird Design

Jar 2011-28 made ca. 1900-1905 This small seedjar jar sits firmly on a table, but it does not sit alone. Rachael used 100+ year-old jar 2011-28 in this collection as a model for pot 2020-03, but also exercised her artistic license to modify both the form and design as...

2019-23 Tile with parrot and shard design

Folk Art Bird Design

This tile is much busier and dynamic than most Hopi tiles, yet it retains a sense of serenity and grace.  Above a field of pottery shards, a Sikyatki parrot flies in a sky full of crosses, dots and butterflies. The soft “thunk” heard when striking the tile...