Dextra Quostkuyva Nampeyo is certainly one of the most influential Hopi-Tewa potters of the last 50 years. Not only has she taught numerous potters (Steve Lucas, Yvonne Lucas, Les Namingha, Loren Ami, Hisi Nampeyo, to name just a few), but her creative designs and forms changed have dramatically influenced the pottery itself.  This jar is from around 1992-3.  It is coil built and painted with bee-weed and a red clay slip that is stone polished. The design is a Shalako Mana katinsa.  The face is very tightly painted with thin lines. The tablita on her head is also finely painted and the additional red polished areas are striking.  The remainder of the jar is fully polished.  The jar is an elegant and creative use of form and design, focusing on traditional Hopi imagery.  The jar was traditionally fired to create blushes or fire-clouds on the surface.   The jar is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Dextra” along with a corn plant to represent the Corn Clan.  It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration, or repair.

“If I dream about different designs, I dream this should be here and that should be there. Once I start doing that, I get up and try to sketch it. I leave it and then I think about it. It won’t hurt to go ahead and put it on the pot if that’s what it’s meant for. I’ll go ahead and do it. If I don’t, then I keep thinking about it. Another dream, a repeat of the same one. So, I decided there’s a reason why. So I’ll go and put it on the pot. The dreams lead me to something new. It’s kind of funny. I worried that people would not like what I was doing. My mom said that because you are changing it people are not going to like it. I thought I don’t know. All these ideas about life in this world, what to leave, and what’s important in life. Living the spiritual life. That’s how I got started. I guess it was alright. I couldn’t get away from it anyway.”  Dextra Quotskuyva, Spoken Through Clay