HOPI AND NAVAJO

Click on the photograph for an enlarged view.

      Karen was born on September 23, 1960. She is one of the finest young Hopi potters working today. She particularly likes using some of the older designs on her pots – the Polik Mana - (Butterfly Maiden) pottery sherds, feathers, eagle tail feather skirt, clouds, and song birds. Karen works particularly hard on her outdoor firing techniques - aiming to have a certain warm glow with the use of fire clouds. We continue to be so pleased with Karen’s current work. As recognition for her fine traditional Hopi ware grows, so does her excellence in shaping and painting.
      This open bowl is simply fantastic. The shaping, the polishing, the painting, and especially the imagery all add up to a wonderful new and unique piece from Karen. The inside of the bowl features six polychrome dragonfly images and five outlined shadowed dragonflies. Mottled like gentle paint splatters surround the insects adding to a beautiful contemporary feel. The backside is plain polished, with on e dragonfly and her trademark shard. The golden hues that came from this firing are magnificent; I like everything about this new bowl!

#HN51011 - 10 ½” wide by 3 ¼” high
Price: $1500

      Dorothy Ami - is one of the relatively new young Hopi potters working today. Her work is innovative in design, shape and clay colorations. Her fine line designs are carefully drawn and beautifully painted using a single strand of yucca and all natural pigments. Dorothy's cousin, Mark Tahbo, has been "mentoring" her - and her recent work has shown so much growth and change. Her painting is both clean and precise. Her pieces are thin walled, and the firing techniques show beautiful areas of blush.

#HN9730 - 9 1/2" high by 5" wide
Price: $1200

      Loren Ami has been an active potter since 1990. His grandmother was Eleanor Ami, and he was taught to make pottery by DEXTRA. He was raised in Santa Fe, away from Hopiland. During his senior year in high school, he and his mom moved back to Hopi. Loren paints with old, Sikyatki designs, and is especially known for his fine polychrome canteens, wedding vases, and bowls. The shape of this wedding vase is just right. Well proportioned, and beautifully painted, it is a lovely piece. Look at the use of fire clouding that he achieves in his firing. A warm glow surrounds the entire wedding vase.

#HN4105 - 9 3/4" high by 4" wide
Price: $1600

      This new bowl is so magnificently painted. The classic eagle tail design is interpreted by Loren in a masterful way. He is certainly one of the more precise painters working today. His firing techniques are fantastic - as a warm glow surrounds the entire bowl. The red slip painted on the opening of this bowl is terrific.

#HN7719 - 5" high by 6 3/4" wide
Price: $2400

     Preston is an accomplished artist in several medias – ceramics, metalwork, jewelry, and painting. His pottery often combines traditional techniques with contemporary shapes. Preston has said, “I want to establish cultural innovations offering alternatives in artist expression with experimentation in various techniques and media.”
     His Hopi name is Lomaiquilvaa--Carried in Beauty. This name was given to him after a relative had carried the sleeping boy home late at night following his initiation ceremony. How appropriate that name has become his hallmark. Born in Hotevilla, the third of three mesas on which the Hopi people have lived for centuries, Duwyenie grew up with beauty all around him. "Everyone has an art. My mother was a basket weaver, my father a Katsina carver. You grow up learning how to make art."
     This new plate is beautifully formed and textured. The clay has a light orange hue to it, so he has embedded an orange coral stone off set on the plate. He often uses the ripple pattern that he calls “shifting sands.” He tells us this was inspired by the flowing lines of moving sand and water. This pattern reminds him of how the wind and rain produced similar patterns in the washes and dunes near his childhood home. The rippled face of the plate has a flat surface finish while the back of the plate is a smooth orange, polished surface.

#HN51013 - 6" wide
Price: $650

     This is a new piece (especially requested by us) described a Peach colored Shifting sands bowl with three silver ingots. What is different and wonderful about this creation is that there is a polished lip for the opening, then a matte surface for the shifting sands imagery, but the whole underside is polished again. That combination and variation in peach coloring is very elegant. There is detailed stair stepped carvings around the actual carved sterling silver work. Preston did a masterful job on this new bowl.

#SC51012 - 4 ½” high by 9” wide
Price: $1800

     Bearing the Hopi name Koyemsi, which stands for the Hopi-Tewa mudhead clown, Steve Lucas has become one of the premier potters from the Nampeyo family. He consistently wins blue ribbons at the Santa Fe Indian Market, the Heard Museum Guild Fair and the Gallup Ceremonial. His work is made in the traditional style of his great-great grandmother, Nampeyo. He coils, pinches, scrapes, sands, and then fires outside. Steve uses vegetal paints, and is able to achieve beautifully deep, rich colors in his design work.
     Oh – what a fabulous LARGE bowl by Steve. A full 11” wide, the size of this piece lends itself to showcase the complexities of Steve’s paintings. An abstract polychrome creation, every stroke is perfect and meaningfully placed on the top and sides of this wonderful bowl. As much as we like the smaller examples of his work – when you can see a fully decorated – wide expanse of his painting – one can fully understand why he is considered to be one of the finest potters working in Hopi today. When you add the natural glow that results from outdoor firing, you are left with a marvelous piece of contemporary art.

#HN0907 - 5 1/2"' high by 11" wide
Price: $5500

     This is a particularly beautifully painted piece of pottery by Steve Lucas. The hues are so deep- reds, blacks, tans, combined with bold lines and modern flecking of colors. The stylized eagle tails and feathers create such movement around the plain polished bottom. There is a high polished glow with this piece, brought out by the careful and extensive stone polishing.

#HN1911 - 4 1/2" high by 6 1/2" wide
Price: $1975

      One of the things I admire so much about Steve�'s work is his ability to look at a bowl or a jar and design his painted elements so well to fit the form and shape.  Here he has depicted Prayer Feathers and Owls, in a simple but very beautiful way. The painting is precise, the colors are bright and clear, and the firing is really lovely. This is a very nice example of Steve�fs creative design work.

#HN12717 - 7 1/4" high by 6 1/4" wide
Price: $2400

      Steve remains one of the most talented potters and painters in Hopi. His senses of form, as well as designs are exemplary. His images always have a marvelous flow to them. Notice how he wraps the design elements of the eagle tail all around one side of the pot - and keeps part of his "canvas" plain polished. Steve's sense of proportion is great. The firing is fabulous - golden and orange hues. What a marvelous example of his work.

#HN1055 - 4 1/2" high by 7 1/2" wide
Price: $2700

      This is a great shape with a very narrow bottom, accentuated by a deep red slipped area banded in black, then wonderful bird imagery on the top with diamonds and other symbols. Along with the red slips, he also used some brown on this one (in the diamond areas) and it really works well. It has a beautiful sheen to it, so the painting jumps out in a bold style. Steve is a marvelous painter, so careful, and pristine,

#HN978 - 7" high by 8 1/2" wide
Price: $3200

      Steve is marvelous when he paints a "simple" design. This bowl has a beautiful red bottom, and a panel of stylized bird imagery. Varying the painting with red and white slips, the precision with which he paints is of the highest quality.

#HN182- 7 " high by 7" wide
Price: $2650

     Sylvia Naha was the daughter of Helen and Archie Naha, and the granddaughter of Paqua Naha. Paqua was the first Frog Woman, and Helen, the first Feather Woman. Sylvia passed away in August of 1999, at the age of 48.  Helen's children signed their pottery with a feather, and their first initial when they were young, and now each has developed their own signature retaining the feather. Sylvia's signature remained the same: a feather, punctuated by the letter 'S'. Sylvia won many awards over the years.
     This bowl, which was in a private collection, is in perfect condition. It is such a great example if her work, as she has the classic lizard on the top with the cornstalk, and the black and white Awatovi swirl is on the bottom.

#HN7612 - 4 3/4" high by 5" wide
Price: $2200

     Rondina was born in Keams Canyon, Arizona and is a member of the Tewa Kachina/Parrot Clan. She has been a resident of Polacca, Arizona since her childhood. Never receiving any formal training in pottery making, she makes her pottery in the traditional way. She starts the process by collecting clay from down below the mesa, then sifts, strains, and dries the clay. Then she coils, dries, and sands the pottery. Then comes polishing, slipping, and painting. Finally she fires the pieces outside. Rondina still uses yucca plants to make her paint brushes. She is truly one of this country's most gifted potters. Her pots are undeniably her own - with a distinctive style of decoration.
     Rondina won BEST OF SHOW at INDIAN MARKET in 1986 and 1996 she gathers her clay near the ruined village of Awatovi, Arizona, and still makes her own paintbrushes from yucca plants. With them she applies incredibly intricate and delicate black, white, and red designs to backgrounds of white and orange buff. Her rows are so tightly packed with blocks of repeating patterns that her symbols create eye dazzling designs. This work is so demanding, and so unbelievably time consuming, that there are very few potters who even attempt to imitate this style. She really is one of our "master potters." "You must feel good, beginning when you dig the clay. It comes from Mother Nature and deserves respect."
     This new open bowl is wonderful. Rondina has continued to use her trademark shard pattern. There is a terrifically detailed band of intersecting triangles right below the lip that is repeated again on the very bottom of the bowl above the base. What is distinctive and so difficult is that Rondina has completely polished the inside of the bowl She explained that it is so challenging to do, trying to get her polishing stone into the center of the piece. It is very beautiful. Rondina works so hard to keep her designs as tight as possible. She is one of a kind!

#HN4101 - 2 ½” high by 4 ¾” wide
Price: $1850

     Charles was born in 1965, and is the great grand-son of Paqua Naha, and the grandson of Joy Navasie ("Frog Woman") Charles uses Sityatki decorations on his pots. This one is a terrific shape - with the classic design on the top of the bowl, and the beautiful plain polished elegance on the bottom, showing off the lustrous natural firing marks. And this time, he has painted his hallmark signature on the actual front of the pot - not on the bottom. It adds a special unique quality to the design.
      Charles is known for his tightly painted designs and thin walled pottery.  This bowl is a beautiful example of that work. Here he has eagle tail designs, painted with the traditional Hopi reds and blacks. The tails are combined with flowing and detailed geometrics providing quite a bit of movement to the piece.

#HN7518 - 6 " high by 6 1/2 " wide
Price: $900

     Dextra is the daughter of Rachel and Emerson Namingha. Her grandparents were Annie and Willie Healing and her Tewa Great-grandmother was Nampeyo. Dextra began making pottery in 1967. She has been working on her pottery ever since, and is now recognized as the "living matriarch of Hopi pottery." Her mother, Rachel, watched and supervised her. Dextra was recognized as a "Master" in 1977 in an article in the American Indian Art Magazine. The article stated that "The graceful shapes bear a rich complexity of designs and the craftsmanship is flawless,"
      This bowl is absolutely beautiful. There is a central image of a stylized eagle tail and wings bordering a beautiful red and black Hopi geometric - a very lovely design. The backside of the bowl has a red painted area that acts as a border on the plain polished area. She has polished her pot with the deep red slip, and painted the black areas with bee-weed. The firing on this piece turned out particularly well. It is golden, and has a slight orange cast to it. It is a beautiful shape and the design works well on this open bowl. It really is a special polychrome jar with a Siktyaki design. One can see why Dextra has been such an instrumental figure in the world of traditional Hopi-Tewa pottery..

#HN1199 - 5 ¼” high by 6” wide
Price: $5800

     The process of making pottery is a time-honored tradition among the Hopi-Tewa potters of First Mesa, Arizona. The clay is dug from the earth and the impurities are filtered out. Then the bowl is formed in the traditional method of layering coil upon coil. Mark Tahbo does not use any additional clay slip to polish his bowls, but re-wets the body of the piece and then uses a stone to burnish it. This is the process that creates the high shine on his work. Their bowls are fired in a traditional outdoor firing, using sheep manure and old pottery shards as part of the process. Mark�fs work is deeply influenced by his Hopi-Tewa ancestry. However, he is an individualist artist at heart. Mark has so much creativity and innovative spirit reflected in his art work. He is the great-grandson of noted potter Grace Chapella. Today, they Mark is among the leaders of the Hopi-Tewa potters.
     This very large bowl, from 1998 was a first place prize winner at the Gallup ceremonial. The design is simple, but it is magnificently painted and fired. Look at he gorgeous golden orange fire clouds- soft and almost sun kissed. The eagle tail imagery is beautifully placed on the top of the pot, with deep polychrome elements. This allows for the simple, plain bottom to accentuate the painting. Mark has always been a very fine designer.

#HN9812 - 5 1/2" high by 13" wide
Price: $5000

     By now you probably know that we truly love this shape that Mark creates called a “genie” jar. Simple, elegant, and stunning in tonal qualities, it is marvelous. The gradations of yellow, gold, and tan, all in a single piece is perfect. Very lightweight, this is a great addition to someone’s collection who wants to have a traditional unpainted Hopi jar.

#HN12811 - 5 1/2" high by 5 1/2" wide
Price: $900 SOLD

     Harrison Begay, Jr. is a Navajo artist. He was born in Keams Canyon, Arizona in 1961. He grew up in Arizona, and Utah, and now resides in New Mexico. He went to college at a small school in Utah and then quickly turned to art as a full time career. He is a self-taught potter, who received lots of help from friends and other artists. Actually, Harrison started as a painter, using oils and acrylics, and then decided to turn all his attention and efforts to pottery.
     Harrison has become known for his deep, clean carvings in both black and red ware. He uses cross-cultural symbols, such as petroglyphs, animal imagery, and geometric designs. He often uses Navajo symbols directly stemming from his own cultural heritage.
     Since 1999 he has won so many awards at the Santa Fe Indian Market, Eight Northern Market, and the Heard Museum Show. It seems that with each passing year, he has become better known, and has earned great respect as a talented potter. We have worked with him since the very first day we started this business, and it is always a pleasure!
     Harrison is known for his deep carved bears, and here he mixes them so nicely with various geometric designs. The bears on this piece really fill the rounded areas of the pot well. Using Harrison's trademark balance between polished and matte symbols, this open bowl turned out beautifully. There is a lovely symmetry to the piece with a plain polished band on the top and bottom.

#HN6912 - 3 ¾” high by 4 ½” wide
Price: $600

     Here is a terrific example of Harrison’s black carved bowl in miniature form. Deep carved spirals, curves, and angled geometrics, Harrison strikes a balance between the polished and matte areas, even in this miniature size.

#HN51017 - 2” high by 2 ¼” wide
Price: $300

     This bowl is beautifully shaped. Harrison has carved an avanyu around the center of the bowl and has kept it matte colored. He has carved a deep border around the top with the Greek Key design and water images. In keeping with the rest of the bowl, carvings are both polished and matte. Harrison’s designs for these contrasts are particularly well placed on the bowl.

#HN7811 - 5 ¾” high by 7 ½” wide
Price: $1400

     Alice Cling is the daughter of Rose Williams, and began to make pottery in 1966 after returning to Shonto after her high school graduation. She soon thereafter created her own unique style, using simplicity of form, and achieving a soft surface sheen. These traits have become hallmarks of her work. She has perfected this burnishing technique through much trial and error, using just the right amount of pitch in her work to produce this highly appealing result- her polished pottery almost looks like beautiful wood carvings! She sometimes experiments with texture by occasionally incising, or impressing, or adding appliquéd bands of clay. In 1978, one of her pieces was exhibited in the Vice-Presidential Mansion in Washington DC. Since then, she has won numerous awards at every Market and show that she has entered. We are pleased to work directly with Alice as she designs new and beautiful shaped traditional pitch coated Navajo pottery.
    This is a beautifully shaped vase we have acquired from Alice. The simplicity of the piece is what makes it so special - browns, reds, and blacks, all melding together

#HN12625 - 14" high by 8" wide
Price: $1450

     Look at the coloration on this flat bowl by Alice Cling. The striations of black on the top are gorgeous. What a terrific shape.

#HN71010 - 2 ¾” high by 6” wide
Price: $260 SOLD

   This is the first “jug” we have had from Alice. It turned out to be so elegant. The twisted double handles are beautifully positioned and the burnishing is wonderful.

#HN71011 - 7 ½” high
Price: $330

   Here is one of Alice’s simple, round vases with a round opening. Her work is so nicely shaped, the polishing stands out so well.

#HN71012 - 6 ½” high
Price: $195 SOLD

    This square opening pot has a wide shoulder and is a beautiful shape. Alice does such a nice job with these elegant, plain polished vases.

#HN6915 - 5 1/4" high
Price: $240

      Elizabeth is one of Betty Manygoats' daughters, and is a very skilled potter. Self-taught, she hand builds and fires her pieces by traditional methods. Along with traditional Navajo pottery styles that she decorates with appliqué horned toads, ears of corn, and prickly pear cactus, she also creates pictorial scenes of Navajo life for what are called "lifestyle" pots, much like the woven designs on Reservation Pictorial rugs. The figures and design elements she uses are appliquéd and glazed in lifelike colors. Her pottery often features herders on foot, horses, hogan, children, and Navajo women in various poses. Elizabeth creates freestanding figures as well as bowls and jars featuring figures in relief... As is common to all Navajo potters, Elizabeth places a final slip of pinion resin on her completed works
     Elizabeth Manygoats is from Tonalea, AZ. She signs her work, "EM" with "Dine' " and also as "E. Manygoats" in cursive letters, and sometimes dates her pots with the year they were made.
      This sculptural “clay scene” called is actually all formed out of ONE PIECE OF CLAY. It is called “Disagreements” and shows the couple, along with their dog and little lamb, sitting on separate sides of the tree trunk; hopefully they will end their dispute and come back together again! It is delightful; Elizabeth is a real talent! This piece comes with the red ribbon it won at the Museum of Northern Arizona Heritage Program Festival.
      Elizabeth was just recently in an automobile accident while returning home from the Native Treasures Show in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her brother was traveling with her and was killed. We are so sorry for her loss, but we are happy to report that she is out of the hospital and recovering.

#HN9911 - 8 ½” high by 6” wide
Price: $750

     Also known for her pictorial tiles – this one features the famous “Long Walk Home” You can see why she is at the forefront of this representational style of work.

#HN9912 - 4 1/4” high by 5 ½” wide
Price: $225

      Samuel Manymules was born August 30, 1963 of the Bitterwater Clan for the Red Horse Nakai Dine Clan. He writes for us, "Unemployment is extremely high on the Navajo Nation. Through my adult life, I have been employed sporadically among many trades: I once made jewelry for the late Herbert Taylor, drove a tow truck for several years, and worked at an auto dealership. After dabbling in making pottery for over a decade, it is only very recently that I considered myself a potter, I am self-taught, At the moment, I consider myself more serious and engaged with my pottery.
      The vessels I make are of traditional natural materials. First, I gather moist pure clay from local riverbed sources, which is then dried three to four months in the sun. When dried, the resulting clumps are crushed, ground and sifted into fine powder. Temper is also gathered and processed; volcanic ash, silt, or pottery shards may be used. After hand mixing, the clay is set aside for curing. Finally, after many months of preparation, the clay mixture is ready for use. Firing is an all-day process. Cedar wood is used because it burns efficiently and high temperatures. Fire clouds happen by chance. When finished, debris, such as ash, is carefully removed. Refined pinion tree sap is then swabbed inside and out with a stick while the vessel cools. After the vessel cools, the pottery is polished with a cotton cloth to a high sheen."
      Samuel has won numerous awards since 2002, including a recent Judges' Choice Award at the 2008 Heard Museum and a Blue Ribbon at the 2009 Santa Fe Indian Market. He has been awarded Blue and red ribbons at both the Santa Fe Indian Market, the Heard Museum Market, and in both 2005 and 2006 won Best of Pottery at the Southwest Museum Indian Marketplace.
      Samuel continues to work on his superb shapes and forms. His forms tend to be sophisticated and elegant. There is simplicity to his work that is so pleasing. This new water jar is one of our favorite, traditional shapes. Notice the beautiful fire clouds.

#HN999 - 11” high by 10” wide
Price: $2460

    Ida Sahmie was born in 1960. Like many young Navajo girls, Ida Sahmie was taught to weave rugs by her mother and grandmother. But unlike most of those other girls, Ida grew up to be rather unconventional. She married a Hopi man, she learned to make pottery, and she graduated from the International Business College in Albuquerque, New Mexico as a microcomputer specialist.
     Ida was raised in the Pine Springs, Arizona area of the Navajo reservation. When she was 19 years old she married Andrew Sahmie, ofmHopi/Tewa descent. Andrew's mother is Priscilla Namingha, granddaughter ofmNampeyo, a name that is synonymous with Hopi pottery. For several years after her marriage, Ida watched her in-laws as they made pottery. Then one day she picked up some clay and began to form a small pot. "I smoothed and polished it just like they did," she says, "but I painted my own designs. And right away those little pots sold. I couldn't stop. People liked it."
    In 1986 Ida entered her first competition at the Navajo Craftsman Exhibition at the Museum of Northern Arizona, and won a blue ribbon for a beautiful jar with a Mother Earth - Father Sky design. That same year she also won a first place award at the Navajo Nation Fair. Since then she has received numerous awards for her pieces.
    Ida collects her clay from the Hopi Reservation, mixing it with a small amount of yellow clay so that it fires to a light tan color. Each pot is made by first coiling clay ropes into the shape desired, after which the sides are scraped until the coils are blended together. After the pot dries she brings it to a smooth finish, inside and out, by sanding and adding a coat of slip. Then she polishes the outside.
    Painting is the last thing she does before firing. Ida uses natural red and white earth pigments and black paint made from bee plant, painting her pottery with a yucca brush. Ida fires her pots outdoors in a wood and manure fueled oven. "My potteries are good because I do my own designs," Ida explains. "I think it's my designs that people like-the unique combination of Hopi and Navajo. In shows I like the tag to say Navajo, because that is what I am. But to me, my work is contemporary pottery.
    This Day Dance is very compelling. Ida comes to see me quite often, with new works, and it is so delightful working with her. She tries so hard to make her painting precise and clear, and actually be able relate a "story". She does a terrific job.

#HN8519 - 3 3/4 " high by 3 1/4" wide
Price: $750

    Ida is an amazing painter. She has done miniature tiles for us as well as large ones. She has made mini canteens and very large canteens. Here are two fabulous examples of her work in the small scale. Look at how precise her painting can be, even on a piece that is only about one inch high!

#HN11017 -
A) Mini Canteen
1 ¼” high by 1 ¼”wide
Price: $150
B) Mini Tile
1 ¼” high by 1” wide
Price: $100

    This is a new painted design for Ida. She explained to me that it is called a “storyteller bowl.” It is Homage to her grandmother. She tells of remembering her childhood with her grandma. They were living in the hogan, doing the farming, raising the sheep, walking near the mountains, and living a simple life. This is a “remembrance bowl” created in a traditional style.

#HN6920 - 3 ¼” high by 4 /2” wide
Price: $700 SOLD

    Donna Williams is Alice Cling's daughter, and was born in June of 1968 in Shonto, AZ. She is quite new to pottery making, beginning her career in February of 2009. She had lived in Salt Lake City for many years, but moved back to Shonto last year to be the in home care giver to her grandmother, Rose Williams. Rose, who is now 94 years old, taught Donna how to make pottery. We think Donna shows great potential.
    Here is her wedding vase, which is NOT an easy form to coil, especially for a new potter. It is symmetric and well polished, and looks just great. She did a great terrific job adding the twisted handles.

#HN71013 - 10" high
Price: $300 SOLD