Naha, Rainy – Jar with Awatovi Mural Parrot and Hero Twin Figures

9"w x 5"h

$ 2,100.00

Rainy Naha is well known for her creative and intricately designed pottery.  This jar is a new design for her and it is inspired by the Awatovi murals.   Awatovi was a Hopi village from around 1300 to 1700.  In the 1930’s J. O. Brew of the Peabody Museum conducted extensive archeological excavations at Awatovi.  Most of the murals were actually removed and are now at the Peabody Museum.  The last image is one of the actual murals.  Rainy Naha has depicted two of the katsina figures on the murals on this jar.  One side has one of the Hero Twins with the rainbow over the back of the figure. The other side has a figure holding a parrot with prayer sticks and another parrot off to the side.  Both are very intricate and complex designed pieces!   They are painted much as depicted in the murals and some of her own stylized designs.  They are intricately painted and all the various colors are from natural clay slips.  Separating the two figures are bands of Hopi-Tewa designs.  Each of the squares has a different design from classic Hopi-Tewa pottery.  So why the Awatovi designs? Rainy’s mother, Helen “Feather Woman” Naha, lived on a ranch in the Jeddito Valley, below the Awatovi Ruins and Helen was the first revivalist of their black and white pottery.  Rainy has continued this revival with her innovative designs.  The jar is painted with vairous clay slips along with bee-weed, which is the black.  It was traditionally fired and it is signed on the bottom with a feather and “Rainy”.  Rainy has won numerous awards for her pottery at Santa Fe Indian Market and the Heard Market and her work continues to be a creative inspiration in Hopi-Tewa pottery.