A shallow stoneware bowl banded with a design in the traditional Southwest style. The bowl is tan embellished with patterns in shades of black and reddish brown.
Subject Matter
A bowl in the style and design of the Native American Southwest.
Label Copy
March 28, 2009
Num-pa-yu or Nampeyo, meaning “snake that does not bite,” was the Tewa name of a prolific and exceptional potter who became very interested in early Hopi pottery form and designs when the ancient site of Sityátki was excavated in the 1890s. Using shards she found at the site and detailed reconstruction drawings produced by archeologists, she developed her own style based on traditional designs. She has been credited with a revival of older designs and the birth of the new Hopi pottery movement now known as Hano Polychrome. By end of her life she was one of the Hopi Pueblo’s most renowned potters and drew huge numbers of tourists to her workshop; her influence led to a renewal of pottery making among the Hopi.
As Nampeyo’s eyesight began to fail, around the year 1925, her daughters Fannie and Annie helped to decorate and fire the pots their mother coiled and scraped by sense of touch until her death in 1942. For this reason, it is difficult to ascribe one attribution to vessels produced during this period.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
A shallow stoneware bowl banded with a design in the traditional Southwest style. The bowl is tan embellished with patterns in shades of black and reddish brown.
Subject Matter
A bowl in the style and design of the Native American Southwest.
Label Copy
March 28, 2009
Num-pa-yu or Nampeyo, meaning “snake that does not bite,” was the Tewa name of a prolific and exceptional potter who became very interested in early Hopi pottery form and designs when the ancient site of Sityátki was excavated in the 1890s. Using shards she found at the site and detailed reconstruction drawings produced by archeologists, she developed her own style based on traditional designs. She has been credited with a revival of older designs and the birth of the new Hopi pottery movement now known as Hano Polychrome. By end of her life she was one of the Hopi Pueblo’s most renowned potters and drew huge numbers of tourists to her workshop; her influence led to a renewal of pottery making among the Hopi.
As Nampeyo’s eyesight began to fail, around the year 1925, her daughters Fannie and Annie helped to decorate and fire the pots their mother coiled and scraped by sense of touch until her death in 1942. For this reason, it is difficult to ascribe one attribution to vessels produced during this period.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
A deep bowl with a wide mouth made of black earthenware. The upper half of the bowl is decorated with a horizontal and diagonal design in a lighter shade of black and rougher texture than the smooth black surface.
Subject Matter
A beautiful, functional object made by an award-winning artist from the Santa Clara Pueblo people.
Label Copy
March 28, 2009
Part of a long line of exceptional potters, Legoria Tafoya produced pottery using traditional techniques. The process began with clay, dug from a location known to her family, mixed with a tempering agent to decrease the potential for cracking and promote even firing. No potter’s wheel was used to make her vessels; they were formed using the coil technique, in which long snake-like coils are circled around the base and then blended to make walls. The vessel is then smoothed and shaped using pieces of gourd. After it partially dries, it is scraped to refine the shape and surface, and then sanded. Slip (liquid clay) is applied and then burnished with a smooth stone before firing to give a lustrous surface. Next decoration is painted on, which results in matte areas when fired. The black color of the pot comes from clay unique to the reservation, whose high iron content turns black when fired. First wood and dried cow manure are piled around an iron grill and lit on fire; this is then smothered with ash or fresh manure, producing a smoke-filled reducing atmosphere that blackens the pot.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
A squat, gracefully rounded pot with a mouth that is slightly smaller than the widest circumference of the pot, and a tapered base. The interior is colored white. There is a band of black along the brim. The exterior is decorated with a pattern of alternating squares: brownish-orange squares divided vertically by a white stripe broken by three thin black lines; and white squares divided diagonally with wave-like black shapes.
Subject Matter
An example of Pueblo pottery produced in the early twentieth century. It draws on traditional techniques and styles but was probably produced for the booming Native southwestern ceramic market.
Label Copy
March 28, 2009
You’re always talking to the pot when you are making it—telling it your feelings—and when you finish a pot you blow life into it and it is given life. —Wanda Aragon, contemporary Acoma potter
Acoma Pueblo is one of the oldest continuously occupied cities in North America. Here pottery has always been a feature of daily life and potters hold a respected position in society; their wares—both everyday and ritual—are considered sacred.
This open-mouthed vessel is an excellent example of early twentieth-century Acoma pottery. It is made using locally mined ground Acoma clay tempered with powdered pottery shards. This results in very strong clay that allows for thin-walled vessels. The pots are formed without a wheel using the coil method. After they are scraped, smoothed, and sanded, fine kaolin clay is used to produce a brilliant white slip (liquid clay) that provides a base for the polychrome designs characteristic of Acoma pottery.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
