Nampeyo, Miriam – Bowl with Migration Pattern

Miriam Tewaguna Nampeyo (b. 1956) is a great-granddaughter of Nampeyo and a granddaughter of Fannie Polacca Nampeyo.  She is a daughter of Richard and Elva Tewaguna Nampeyo.  Her sisters Adelle Lalo Nampeyo, Neva  Nampeyo, and brother Elton Nampeyo, are also potters.  This bowl is coil-built and stone-polished.  It is painted with bee-weed and red clay slip. The bowl has the classic migration pattern with eight bird wings above the shoulder.  Extending downward are the bird’s tails.  The piece was traditionally fired to create slight surface colorations.  The jar is signed, “Miriam Nampeyo”.  It is in excellent 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