This is a classic wide-shoulder jar by Helen Naha, also known as “Feather Woman”.  She created distinctive pottery using the white clay slip throughout her career.  The designs were all painted using bee-weed (black) and natural clay slips.  She learned to make pottery from her mother-in-law, Paqua Naha yet had her own style in form, imagery, and composition.  This jar has the “Awatovi Star” pattern painted on the top and the bottom.   Around the shoulder is her “eternity band” design.  Interestingly, the inside is also fully polished as Helen would make her pottery with wide enough openings so she could put her hand inside.  The jar has been traditionally fired and there is some variation to the color from the firing, which certainly adds to the beauty of the piece.  The jar is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.  It is signed on the bottom with her hallmark feather.

“Helen is known for her revival of Awatovi pottery from the 1100-1700 period.   Awatovi is one of the ruins near Hopi where a white slipped style of pottery was made.  It is a fascinating place as it was where Coronado made contact with the Hopi in 1540 but was destroyed during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.  During the excavations in the 1930s, the whiteware pottery was rediscovered.  It was the imagery from his work that inspired much of Helen’s early pottery, as opposed to the more classic Sikyatki-inspired pottery of Nampeyo.”