Violet Huma is one of a group of potters from Second Mesa at Hopi who began making pottery in the 1960s and ’70s.  The forms were often more traditional shapes, such as this classic canister.  It is a form made popular at Hopi in the early 1900s.  It’s coil built and always difficult to create the shape and keep the walls vertical and even.  This jar is painted with bee-weed (black) and red clay slip.  The design has large Sikyatki inspired birds on each side.  They are stylized with the wings to the side and the tail feathers extending downward. The jar was traditionally fired to create the blushes on the surface.  The jar is in very good condition with no chips, cracks, restoration, or repair.  It is signed on the bottom, “Violet Huma”.