This is an early innovative jar by Dextra Quotskuyva.  She began her pottery career with classic imagery and then evolved over the years to more unique and stylized designs.  The jar has a wide shoulder and short rim.  Looking at it makes me think that Dextra was testing out various new changes to her work.  The inside of the rim is polished red.  The area above the shoulder is polished, but the base is matte.  The shoulder has four painted bird wings with bee-weed (black).  They are all variations of techniques she would include throughout the 1980s.  The unpolished area below the shoulder creates a great texture when holding the vessel. The tan polished rim gives the piece depth.  While these variations seem commonplace now, it’s exciting to think about how she wanted to challenge traditional Hopi-Tewa pottery norms on a technical and not just design level!  The piece was traditionally fired to create subtle colorations on the surface.  The jar is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Dextra” and there is corn plant for  Corn Clan.  It is in excellent condition 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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