By Andrew Somerville
Ancient, traditional, handmade, and personal are rare attributes of material objects today. Hopi and Hopi-Tewa pottery fits this description. One family is famous for carrying this tradition with great skill and imagination: the descendants of Nampeyo of Hano.

Nampeyo of Hano was born in Hano village on the First Mesa. Her mother was White Corn (Qӧtsaqa ̉ӧ), a Tewa person of the Corn Clan, from the Hano village.  Her father, Qotsvema, a Hopi person of the Snake Clan, came from Walpi village on the First Mesa. According to Northern Arizona University's “Indigenous Voices of the Colorado Plateau” exhibit, First Mesa is one of several southward mesa projections protruding from one larger, finger-like geologic formation. Nampeyo was born during an unstable time for the Hopi mesa area. Disruptive visits from outsiders increased dramatically, the United States government was attempting forced assimilation of the Hopi, and commercial tourism reached into Hopi land via a Grand Canyon rail line and automobile routes.

According to Mary Ellen and Laurence Blair’s book, “The Legacy of a Master Potter — Nampeyo and Her Descendants,” it is likely that Nampeyo learned to make pottery from her Hopi grandmother, observing ceramics skills from an early age. The Blairs also state it is likely she didn’t begin to work seriously in pottery until 1883, after the birth of her child, Kwetcawe or Qotsawe, also known as Annie. But her most artistically prolific period was from about 1879 to 1912. Nampeyo is most known for her bold designs inspired by those on pottery or shards at abandoned prehistoric settlements around the Hopi mesas. Her husband, Lesou or Lesso, was very supportive of her work, copying prehistoric designs he found onto paper for her to study and helping her with obtaining raw materials. Her ornamentation combined the prehistoric with her own active imagination, full of fluid, energetic designs, and internationally recognized and re-popularized ancient themes or motifs. Nampeyo had glaucoma and continued to make incredible pottery while losing her eyesight, concentrating on the forms of her pottery rather than the painted designs. Eventually she became completely blind.