This is a large bowl by Darlene Nampeyo James.  She is a great-great-granddaughter of noted potter Nampeyo of Hano as a descendant through her eldest daughter Annie and Annie’s eldest daughter Rachel. Darlene’s mother is Ruth James, a sister of Dextra Quotskuyva, Eleanor Lucas, and Priscilla Namingha.  She learned to make pottery from her aunts, Dextra and Priscilla.  Her pottery is more traditional in style and she continues to use Hopi clay for her pottery and paint with bee-weed for the black.  This bowl is made from red Hopi clay.  It is painted with a white clay slip on the surface. The bowl has mountain and star patterns.  It was traditionally fired to create slight blushes on the surface.  The bow is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Darlene Nampeyo” with an ear of corn to denote the Corn Clan.  It is in very good condition with no chips, cracks, restoration, or repair.

Dextra Quotskuyva Nampeyo said of  the migration pattern:

“This is the one design that was really stressed for us to use, the migration pattern. Nothing but lines, representing the migration of all the people to all the places, including down below and up above. All the x’s represent life from the bottom and top, telling you the universe is one. The thin lines, I just wanted to paint them real fast and real close to try and include everyone.”  Dextra Quotskuyva Nampeyo, Spoken Through Clay