PAINTINGS: “From Her Heart Thru Her Hands…“ SERIES

"Nampeyo, Hopi Master Potter"

The Pueblo Revolt occurred in 1680 when the Tewa & Hopi peoples fled up into the higher mesa to escape Spanish oppression in New Mexico & Arizona.  Nampeyo was born in 1860 in the pueblo complex Walpi on the First Mesa.  Her name means "snake that does not bite".  As a young child she was fascinated by the pottery made by her grandmother to serve the family needs.  She began making her own pottery.  She used ancient techniques for making and firing pottery using designs from "Old Hopi" pottery and shards found at the 15th century Silyatki ruins on First Mesa. 

Sikyatki Revival or Hano Polychrome pottery was Nampeyo's contribution to great ceramic art.  She taught her daughters and members of her family the fine art of surface design.  She became blind but continued to hand build her bowls and pots.  The women of her family and her husband completed the surface design on her pottery.

Nampeyo lived on a ridge of stones, in a house built of mud and stone, in a culture that revered their ancient crafts.  Nampeyo gathered sacred clay, sifted it and laboriously processed it to make her clay.  Her pottery artwork grew through her hands as she envisioned designs that told of the the great migrations, of the animals who shared her desert home.  A Nampeyo migratiion design bowl is depicted in the middle left of this MCC painting.

Nampeyo has given the world gifts from her heart with her hands that overflowed with energy from her art and her people.

“Nampeyo, Hopi Master Potter"

24"H x 20" W

Mixed Medium: acrylic paints, inks & craypas pastels on Bristol Board

Photo by SkyLark Images