Begaye, Nathan – Polychrome Storage Jar with Sun Katsina and 3 Hopi Birds (1991)
$ 4,800.00
This is an extraordinary large polychrome jar by Nathan Begaye. He was a unique innovator among Pueblo and Navajo potters. His ethnic connection to both Hopi and Navajo let his clay art flow between the two distinctive styles and yet find its own unique space. His work used traditional designs, forms, and techniques, yet somehow appeared very modern. The jar is coil-built and thin-walled. It has a classic storage jar shape with around shoulders and a slightly turned out rim. One side of the jar has a large Hopi Tewa Sun Katsina as the design. It is complex and colorful with all the colors coming from various clays. The remainder of the jar has three large swirling Hopi birds. Each is different, and again, they are slipped with various clays to create the coloration. The background on the jar is more “painterly” with strokes of red clay. There are purple, white, peach, red, teal, orange, blue, and brown clay colors used on this piece. The black is bee-weed (a plant). It is an extraordinary number of colors on this piece and the result is quite spectacular. I remember going to Nathan’s apartment when he lived in Phoenix. I would watch him work on painting his pottery. He would talk about each of the colors, and some were more difficult to source than others. The purple and blues, I remember, were the most difficult to find. The jar was traditionally fired to create the slight blushes on the surface. It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration, or repair. It is signed on the bottom, “Nathan Begaye”. It is from 1991. The last photo is a picture I took of Nathan when he was living in Phoenix. He moved there for several years, and I would go to his apartment and see what he was working on and hear the stories about his pottery, the clays, and his firings.
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This is an extraordinary large polychrome jar by Nathan Begaye. He was a unique innovator among Pueblo and Navajo potters. His ethnic connection to both Hopi and Navajo let his clay art flow between the two distinctive styles and yet find its own unique space. His work used traditional designs, forms, and techniques, yet somehow appeared very modern. The jar is coil-built and thin-walled. It has a classic storage jar shape with around shoulders and a slightly turned out rim. One side of the jar has a large Hopi Tewa Sun Katsina as the design. It is complex and colorful with all the colors coming from various clays. The remainder of the jar has three large swirling Hopi birds. Each is different, and again, they are slipped with various clays to create the coloration. The background on the jar is more “painterly” with strokes of red clay. There are purple, white, peach, red, teal, orange, blue, and brown clay colors used on this piece. The black is bee-weed (a plant). It is an extraordinary number of colors on this piece and the result is quite spectacular. I remember going to Nathan’s apartment when he lived in Phoenix. I would watch him work on painting his pottery. He would talk about each of the colors, and some were more difficult to source than others. The purple and blues, I remember, were the most difficult to find. The jar was traditionally fired to create the slight blushes on the surface. It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration, or repair. It is signed on the bottom, “Nathan Begaye”. It is from 1991. The last photo is a picture I took of Nathan when he was living in Phoenix. He moved there for several years, and I would go to his apartment and see what he was working on and hear the stories about his pottery, the clays, and his firings.
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Begaye, Nathan (1958-2010)
Nathan Begaye was a unique innovator among Pueblo and Navajo potters. His ethnic connection to both Hopi and Navajo let his work flow between the two distinctive styles and yet find their own unique space. His work used traditional designs, forms, and techniques, yet somehow appeared very modern. Nathan was one of the innovators of Native pottery and was featured in numerous books, including "Free Spirit: The New Native American Indian Potter", "Beyond Traditions" and others. His pottery can also be found in the permanent collection of the Heard and other museums.