Rondina Huma has certainly been one of the most influential Hopi potters working today.  Since her two-time “Best of Show” awards at Santa Fe Indian Market, her tight style and intricately painted pottery have changed the face of contemporary Hopi pottery.   Each piece is coil-built, fully stone-polished, and painted with native clays and bee-weed (black), and native fired.  This fully painted bowl is from the early 2000’s. Rondina said of this style of her pottery:

“This style is when I first started designing from the bottom to the top. I would get a bunch of sherds and I would put them together and see what pattern they created. Then I would take back the sherds to where I found them. I also polish the inside of all my pottery. People ask how I do it and how I can get so deep inside. I just think it makes a bowl look nicer if it is fully polished.  I do most of the painting freehand. When I look at a pot, I already know what design I’m going to put on there. I can visualize what I’m going to paint, and it is never the same. I don’t really use a pencil—I’m afraid it won’t come off. I try to just measure with my hand to space out the designs.”  Rondina Huma, Spoken Through Clay

The bowl has a wide shoulder and flat top.  The top has a “key hole” design in burgundy clay, which is filled in with small shard squares.  There is a cloud and mountain design around the shoulder.  Below the shoulder, there are triangular mountain designs in deep burgundy red.  These sections have flowing places with squares of shard designs.  Note how they are painted at an angle!  All the deep red areas are also stone-polished.  This bowl has an amazing amount of line work!  The early 2000s were some of Rondina’s most intricate pieces, and this is certainly one of them.  It is tightly painted and striking in person!  It was traditionally fired to create the blushes on the surface.  The bowl is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Rondina Huma”.  It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration, or repair.  A great-sized piece with exceptional painting!

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