2017-01 Vase with two Koyemsi effigy faces

Effigy, Kachina Design

Two applied Koyemsi heads grace this otherwise fairly ordinary Nampeyo vase. Decorating pots with raised decoration is unusual but not unknown at Hopi. The two painted designs on this vase are well below Nampeyo’s standards and create some uncertainty about the jar’s...

2016-04 Shard-shaped tile with Saiastasana kachina

Kachina Design

This 5-sided, irregular-shaped tile depicts Saiastasana, The Zuni Rain Priest of the North, Colton kachina #154. Saiastasana appears in the Bean Dance at First Mesa, Darlene’s home (Colton, 1959:56,136; Colton, 1977: 84-85). At Hopi he usually appears in a group with...

2016-02 Polik’Mana on cloth, clay tile mounted

Kachina Design, Polik'Mana

The techniques and materials used to produce this item are innovative, not traditional. The iconography is both innovative and thoroughly traditional. The result is both visually and spiritually stunning. However, this art is only incidentally a pottery tile. Upon...

2015-08 Kiva jar with wooden katchina and ladder

Kachina Design

This is a unique pairing of clay jar and wooden carving. Their combination is a demonstration of the creative talent of Randall Sahmie and a reminder of what we have lost too soon. The jar is almost undecorated and is in the shape of an ovoid pressed slightly flat....

2015-06 Wedding vase with Pottery Mound Spirit Beings

Kachina Design, Wedding Vase

Although this collection contains hundreds of Hopi pots, only three others are in the form of a “wedding vase” (1998-03, 2010-04 and 2020-01). The form originated in Santa Clara pueblo but, because of the cute story associated with it, was promoted by Anglo traders...

2015-05 Carved Katchina ceremony bowl

Kachina Design

I am not particularly attracted to Hopi pottery that is carved, a type apparently originating in the 1970s with the work of Tom Polacca. Indeed the two examples of his work in this collection(2005-09 and 2009-18) are early works before he began carving his pots. The...