HOPI ARTISTRY: A MEETING OF TWO WORLDS

HOPI POTTERY AND BASKETS

"Pottery making has to be a part of you," says Dextra Quotskuyva, greatgranddaughter of the noted Tewa potter Nampeyo.

Griselda Saufkie, who began weaving baskets when she was 12 years old, repeats what she learned from those who taught her: "You have to be careful and serious about your work."

Dextra and Griselda play key roles in the continuing development of the arts and crafts produced by the Hopi Indians of northeastern Arizona, a process that originated with their people's cliff-dwelling ancestors.

The two oldest crafts among the Hopis are pottery making and the weaving of baskets. Fragments of tightly woven basketry dating from the time of Christ have been discovered in the Southwest.

Although the everyday use of baskets declined among the Hopis as modern containers became available, the ceremonial need for basketry items continUses. Baskets also have become desirable collectibles, appearing in museums, art galleries, and private collections.

Second Mesa weavers produce coiled basketry and the majority of plaited baskets. Plaited baskets are formed by weaving strips of yucca into flat mats that are then bent over wooden hoops of willow or tamarisk (or sometimes metal rings) to form sifters, piki trays, and other containers. Simple geometric patterns result from varying the weave and taking advantage of the natural colors of the yucca, as well as some vegetal and commercial dyes.

(PRECEDING PANEL, PAGE 4, ABOVE) This basketry plaque with a Kachina Mana in the center was made by Pauline Quiyo. COURTESY LIZ CLENDENIN/DR. GREGORY GRANT (PRECEDING PANEL, PAGE 4, BELOW) Hopi potter Joy Navasie (Frog Woman) designed these classic pots. COURTESY KATHLEEN L. AND WILLIAM G. HOWARD COLLECTION (PRECEDING PANEL, PAGE 5) Hopi baskets reflect a broad range of design and artistry. COURTESY LIZ CLENDENIN/DR. GREGORY GRANT Second Mesa's coiled baskets, from plaques to large, deep containers, are made by wrapping narrow strips of yucca around small bundles of a common prairie grass. Yucca also is wrapped around the outer rims to finish these baskets, most of which include elaborate designs.

"We use the natural colors of the yucca for most of our baskets," says Griselda Saufkie. "We gather it when it's green. The white comes from inside the yucca, but I make it whiter by using a white rock [kaolin clay] that's sort of like baking soda or talc.

"I use wool dye for the black, but the red is still made from wild tea. We soak the yucca in it. Then we burn old sheep's wool and hold the yucca over the fire. The smoke from the wool turns the yucca dark red.

"When we start a basket," Griselda adds, "we make about two rounds, then take it to the edge of the mesa where the Basket Society goes. We take it out early in the morning and pray to the sun that we'll do better and be a faster weaver. We put a basket at a shrine, turn four times, then run fast so we can be fast in weaving. For designs, we like to use things that mean something to us, like corn."

In addition to corn, the most prevalent designs in Hopi art involve rain, clouds, geometrics, life-forms - such as butterflies, turtles, and eagles and the ever-recurring theme of kachinas.

Figures representing Hopi deities, kachinas provide the foundation of much Hopi art, including pottery. Lawrence Namoki, a carver of miniature kachinas who switched to pottery making around 1984, says he began making pottery "because I wanted to use something natural, and the clay and the paints are from the Earth." His pottery encompasses carved kachinas and other legendary figures in a melding of his two art experiences.

Hopis today make pottery as their ancestors did. Coils of moist native clay are layered one on top of the other to form a vessel. Scraped and dried, the pot is then sanded and polished with small stones and decorated with natural mineral paints. Tiny wisps of yucca serve as the brushes used to create the intricate designs.

The pottery is fired outside with juniper wood and sheep dung. If the technology of the modern world as we know it were to end tomorrow, this traditional craft (LEFT) Almarie Masayestewa's wicker baskets are made using sumac rods, spiraling from the center, interwoven with yucca (black) and the brightly colored stems of rabbit brush, and finished with a wrap of yucca.

(RIGHT) This intricately designed coiled basket by Joyce Saufkie won First Prize, Best of Class, and Best of Show at the 1996 Gallup Intertribal Indian Ceremonial. COURTESY STEVE AND GLORIA COWGILL/BLUE RAIN GALLERY, TAOS, NEW MEXICO (ABOVE, CLOCKWISE FROM BACK LEFT) Coiled plaque by Hazel V. Yuyaheova; coiled basket by Retta L. Adams; pottery jar by Dawn Navasie; long neck vase by Rainy Naha. COURTESY THE HEARD MUSEUM SHOP, PHOENIX (LEFT) This coiled basket by Griselda Saufkie won Best of Class and Best of Division at the 1997 Heard Museum Guild Indian Market and Fair.

HOPI POTTERY AND BASKETS

This could continue unabated. However, due to their creativity, Hopi potters today produce many new and different styles and designs.

First Mesa is the home of Hopi pottery, and many potters - including Dextra Quotskuyva - are descendants of Nampeyo, who brought about a renaissance in Hopi pottery in the late 1800s. Many of today's Hopi potters are actually descendants of the Tewa people who settled at Hano Village after fleeing Spanish persecution in New Mexico in the early 18th century. Due to their assimilation into Hopi society, they are usually considered Hopi artists, and any other tribal affiliations have not been identified in this article. Five generations of Nampeyo's descendants, both women and men, have followed in her footsteps with admirable devotion.

"You get so close to what you're doing that, if you leave, you can only think of your clay," says Dextra. "When I leave, I wonder what my pots are thinking about. Do they think I just went away and that I'm neglecting them? It's just a part of me."

Pottery making is a "part" of many dedicated potters, some of whom seem to have absorbed their craft by osmosis.

Jacob "Jake" Nampeyo Koopee, who was born and raised on First Mesa, says, "All my neighbors and relatives made pottery. I watched the older generation all the time. Then I went to Arizona State University to study dentistry. There they told me that [to achieve dexterity] I should 'do something' with my hands. That summer I started making pottery. Now people ask how I do it, but I don't know. It just took over."

Jake now works as an exceptional and versatile full-time potter, who is happy to be living on the Hopi Mesas once again. Many Hopi artists prefer their native homeland to more urban areas, and income from their art allows them to remain there or, like Jake, to return.

The Hopi people have had to learn to survive in two worlds. However, the blending of their ancient culture and native tradition with (LEFT) This pottery group includes the work of several Nampeyo family potters: Dextra Quotskuyva, Hisi Quotskuyva Nampeyo, Les Namingha, Steve Lucas, and Yvonne Lucas. COURTESY FAUST GALLERY, SCOTTSDALE (RIGHT) Two pieces by Jacob Koopee that won First Prize at the 1996 Gallup Intertribal Indian Ceremonial echo the designs of ancestral Puebloan pottery and incorporate handprints found at ancient sites in the Four Corners region.

(LEFT) These four pieces share a lineage both cultural and personal. Tonita Nampeyo made the canteen and jar on the left; her son Loren Nampeyo created the slanted-lip jar and the ceramic sculpture on the right. COURTESY DR. JAMES KEMP (BELOW) Shown in quadruple-exposure, Lawrence Namoki's carved pottery vessel "Creator's Hands" was awarded First Prize for contemporary pottery at the 1996 Santa Fe Indian Market. COURTESY 1996 SANTA FE INDIAN MARKET the influences of the "outside world" seems to have molded them into the exemplary American Indian artists they have become.

Editor's Note: To learn more about Hopi pottery and basket making, visit: Flagstaff's Museum of Northern Arizona, 3101 N. Fort Valley Road, (520) 774-5213; Phoenix's Heard Museum, 2301 N. Central Ave., (602) 2528848; Tucson's Arizona State Museum at the University of Arizona, just east of the main gate at Park Avenue and University Boulevard, (520) 621-6302.

Phoenix-based Lois Essary Jacka and Jerry Jacka were recently honored by ANSER, a group representing the Hopis and other Native American tribes, receiving the Ita' Kwatsi ("our friend") Award in recognition of their contributions to American Indian peoples and their arts.