This is a large bowl by Dextra Quotskuyva.  She is certainly one of the great innovators among Hopi-Tewa potters.  Her work began with more classic imagery and evolved over the years to more unique and stylized designs. This piece is from the early 1980s.  It has a round bowl that is coil-built, thin-walled, and fully stone-polished.  The bowl itself is nearly perfeclty round!  It is painted on each side with a large “bird wing” design.  This imagery is one that was originated by Nampeyo of Hano (see last photo).  You can see the double birds in red and black on each end of the central design.  However, it is the double bird wings in the center that are so striking!  They are VERY tightly painted with thin lines, which is where Dextra gained her early notoriety.  The lines are nearly perfect on this piece, and note how THIN they are!  There is the same double bird wings on each side.  Separating them are a large, open space.  This reflects Dextra’s early use of open space on her pottery and how it would influence her work over the years.  The designs are all painted with bee-weed (black) and red clay that is polished, before the piece was fired.  The bowl is signed, “Dextra” and an ear of corn representing the Corn Clan.  The bowl is in excellent with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.

Brand

Quotskuyva, Dextra Nampeyo (1928-2019)

Dextra Quotskuyva Nampeyo

Few potters have had such an impact on their art as Dextra.  She was a great-granddaughter of Nampeyo of Hano, descending through her eldest daughter, Annie Healing.  She was one of Hopi's most creative, innovative, and influential potters for almost forty years.  She is also the mother of famed painter Dan Namingha and potter Hisi Quotskuyva.  She taught Steve Lucas, Loren Ami, Yvonne Lucas, and Les Namingha to make pottery, resulting in Hopi pottery's nearly unprecedented influence.  Dextra used the bee-weed plant for the black and native clay slips for the red.  Dextra's pottery can be found in numerous museums' permanent collections and has been the subject of a book and exhibition at the Wheelwright Museum entitled "Painted Perfection."  Dextra Quotskuyva Nampeyo uses traditional Hopi pottery methods in hand coil construction, stone polish, paint, and open fire.

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