Wallace Youvella

Wallace Youvella was a son of noted Hopi potter Susie Maha Youvella. He was the husband of potter Iris Nampeyo and the father of Wallace, Jr, Charlene, Nolan and Doren Youvella. He learned to make pottery by watching Iris and her mother Fannie Nampeyo create pottery, as well as from his mother while growing up. He was one of the first men, along with Thomas Polacca, to begin making pottery at Hopi in the late 1970’s.  Wallace is known for wonderful Hopi patterns and shapes carved into various natural clays he harvest from around the Pueblo.  His carving is three dimensional with wonderful hatch marks to make the figures appear to stand free from the pottery surface.  Wallace uses the traditional process of digging and preparing the clay, hand coiling each piece, then polishing, carving and painting with natural pigments and ores.   His colors often reflect the colors of the earth and stone around the Hopi Mesas.