Sahmie, Ida – “Night Chant” Tile

4.5" x 3"

$ 220.00

This is an amazingly complex tile by Ida Sahmie.  It is the Night Chant Dance with seven male Yei-bi-chi dancers in a row.  The background area is fully painted with bee-weed (a plant) to make it black.  In the background there are the mesas and a fire in the “center”.  This is her attempt to create a “3D” story on the tile!  Ida also incises into the clay for the faces and the bodies, leather, and masks.  She is a daughter-in-law of Priscilla Nampeyo and Ida continues to make beautifully formed pottery with wonderfully complex designs.  She has won numerous awards for her pottery at events such as Santa Fe Indian Market.  She is the only Navajo potter creating this unique style of ethnographic pottery.  It is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Ida Sahmie”.  It is traditionally fired and painted with natural clay slips and bee-weed (the black).