This is a very complicated architectural piece from Al Qoyawayma.  The piece is entitled “Kii-Quo,” which means “The Remains of an Old Village” in Hopi.  The oval area is pushed into the clay, and then the building is pushed back out from the bowl.  Beyond the technical, this large bowl has a very intricate series of buildings.  The jar has SIX structures in the back and two kivas in front.  It is unusual and technically more difficult to create a piece with so many buildings for this size.  One of the kivas has a ladder, and the other is open with very detailed stonework.  All the stonework in the clay is individually carved or “inscribed” on the damp clay surface, allowed to partially dry, and then “scraped”. The final slip on the stonework is 6 layers of color. The overall piece has a polished surface of buff-yellow stone with native clays and mica.  Al has also made small wooden vigas that are added to the piece after the firing. The bowl itself is vertically polished in an “onion skin” vertical manner in the style of historical pottery.    The jar is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Al Qoyawayma”.  It is always exciting to see how Al will continue to evolve one of his most iconic vessels.

Al wrote of this piece:

“Based on a mystic past our Hopi ancestors entered the Fourth World from the Third World. From stories the escape from a world catastrophe that occurred in the Third World brought them to a land with steep mountains in reed vessels moving Eastward.

Whether this was South America and the Andes we don’t know.  But for my inspiration and creation, I’ve let architectural styles in Peru be part of this creation, since buildings there are of beautiful stone construction. I’ve traveled and preformed exploratory research in Peru. So with what I’ve seen, I’m inspired to mix construction styles for this creation.

The Inca words describe their many sites as old, or ancient.  So I used a Hopi word indicating something old, “Tuu-kwi”.

It is said that we came from the “South”, how far South we don’t know….but Hopi speak a dialect of the Uto-Aztecan language. We knew of Central American pyramids, roads, and wells.

This piece incorporates two kivas. and Hopi-styled stone work, with a hint of Southwestern “Tee- doors or openings, that are mostly trapezoidal in shape. There are some Tee-doors in South America and major stone sites worldwide in the shape of a tee-door or key-hole. Perhaps, some kind of memory holdover from the past Hopi “Third World”. There is a hint of the smooth formal granite stonework also included.”

Note: Regardless of any myth, mystical stories or history the reality is beautiful stone structures stand in as a signature of our past, catastrophe or not. they survived the elements worldwide to hint of each culture in the past…. but all “human” was constructed as far as we know. But there is much more to the “story”.

This is one of my pieces from my “Mesa Verde” series, a “1/2 Arch Mesa Verde”.  The concave oval area is pushed into the Hopi clay vase using the repoussé technique and then the buildings are pushed back out from the inside of the bowl, no clay added except parapets and freestanding walls. This 1/2 arch architecture includes a large tower in the center. What is unique is the wall structures on the outside vase surface….likely one of a kind feature in the Native American pottery world. Then there are two kivas. The kivas are round ceremonial rooms built into the ground. All the stonework is individually carved or “inscribed” on the damp clay surface, allowed to partially dry, and then “scraped”. The final slipping on the stonework is 6 layers of color. The overall piece is a buff-yellow stone polished surface with native clays and mica.