This is a spectacular architectural piece from Al Qoyawayma.  The piece is entitled, “Tuu-Kwi”, which means “Ancient” in Hopi.  The oval area is pushed into the clay and then the building is pushed back out from the inside of the bowl.  Beyond the technical, this large bowl has a very intricate series of buildings.  There is a large square tower in the background along with buildings to the side.  In front are two kivas with the roof in place and the two ladders leading downward.  Note all the stairs Al has carved into the clay.  They create an additional sense of movement and scale, as one feels you can move from the foreground upward.   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 is a buff-yellow stone polished surface 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”.