2020-04 Snake dance mural jar

2020-04 Snake dance mural jar

This is a painted pot, but it is more accurately described as a complex mural painted on a pot.  Two central rituals of Hopi religious life are depicted: On the flank of the jar dancers celebrate the bi-annual Snake Dance, On the upper surface of the jar the water...
2019-22  Mini monochromatic flute player bowl

2019-22 Mini monochromatic flute player bowl

Pot 2019-22 is significant because it helps define the limits of Nampeyo’s legacy. This is the smallest pot in the collection by a potter who –as near as I can tell– make two pots in her career. Janelle is five generations removed from “The Old...
2019-15 Navajo tile of four sacred plants and frogs

2019-15 Navajo tile of four sacred plants and frogs

Women from other tribes marrying Hopi men and living at Hopi are often taught pottery-making by their mother-in-laws.  This was probably true of a Zuni woman who married a Hopi man at the end of the 19th century (2011-28) and was certainly true of Ceclia Lessou...
2019-07 Navajo Yei Vase

2019-07 Navajo Yei Vase

Some history: The Navajo migrated to what is now the southwestern USA from northwestern Canada and eastern Alaska about 100 years before Columbus “discovered” the Americas.  As nomadic people, they did not have a pottery-making tradition.  About 1700 CE a...
2018-11  Mother Earth and Father Sky jar

2018-11 Mother Earth and Father Sky jar

This is a well-formed vase with unusually thick walls and is thus unexpectedly heavy for its size.  It seems to have been vertically polished with a smooth stone. This is more difficult than the usual random stone polishing, but gives the finished pot a subtle,...