Clashin, Debbie – 18″ “New Beginning” Jar with Grandmother Katsina and Dragonflies

18"w x 9.5"h

$ 6,500.00

Debbie Clashin has become one of the exciting leaders in Hopi-Tewa pottery over the past several years.  She is known for her large-sized traditional fired vessels. This very large jar is entitled, “New Beginning”.  Debbie said that the designs symbolize the arrival of the Grandmother Katsina in the winter and the beginning of the Hopi new year in the cycle of the katsinas.  She has painted the Grandmother Katsina as a cradle doll on the sides of the jar.

“The Grandmother Katsina (Hahay-i wu-uti) shares with Crow Mother the title of Mother of all the Katsinam. Her husband is said to be Eototo and her children are the monsters, the Nataskas. She appears during the Bean Dance (Powamuya), the Serpent Ceremony and at Home Going (Niman). She speaks in a high voice and is very talkative. Flat carvings of the Grandmother Katsina are given to Hopi infants. As a young girl matures, she receives larger, more detailed forms of the Grandmother Katsina.”

This large jar is a wide shape and a slightly turned out neck.  The entire piece is stone polished and then it is painted with bee-weed and natural clay slips.  Separating the three katsina figures are large Hopi dragonflies which have dark and light red wings!  The jar is traditionally fired with blushes across the surface of the jar and a few little darker areas.   It is signed on the bottom with her name and a pipe for his “Tobacco Clan”.  Quite an exceptional jar!