Al Qöyawayma Hopi Architectural Pottery Vessel with Pueblo Ruins

This striking creamware vessel by Hopi Pueblo artist Alfred H. Qöyawayma (b. 1938) exemplifies both technical mastery and profound cultural resonance. Crafted in 1992, the jar features a sensuous, balanced silhouette: the lower hemisphere gently reverses into an upper rounded form, culminating in a subtly slanted opening. The surface is polished to a soft gleam, embracing Qöyawayma's signature plainware style — natural clay, unadorned by pigment, which demands the utmost skill to achieve.

Embedded within the vessel wall is a sculpted tableau of an ancient adobe ruin — a tower, two kivas, and homes with wooden vigas — echoing the cliffside architecture seen throughout the Southwest. It's a quiet homage to ancestral landscapes and lifeways.

Signed Qöyawayma, inscribed with a fish symbol, and marked "92—5," this piece is as rare as it is evocative.

Qöyawayma entered the art scene in the 1970s and continues to be a leading figure in contemporary Indigenous pottery. Mentored by his aunt, the legendary Elizabeth White ("Polingaysi Qöyawayma"), he inherited and evolved her pioneering vision of all-natural clay work without slip, incorporating subtle appliqué elements and honoring traditional Hopi aesthetics.

In his own words:

"My clay creations deal with the origins, migrations, and cultures of native peoples, particularly my Hopi roots... If our clan traditions had not been influenced by European contact, where would they be today?"

This vessel invites us to reflect on that question — offering timeless grace, historical depth, and sculptural excellence.

Condition: original condition

Provenance: this Al Qöyawayma Hopi Architectural Pottery Vessel with Pueblo Ruins is from the collection of a client of the gallery and a resident of Arizona

Reference: "The Mind-blowing Pottery of Hopi Artist Al Qoyawayma" in Indian Country Today, Lee Allen

TAGS: Western Sculpture: Bronze, Contemporary Pottery, Hopi Pueblo, Elizabeth White - Polingaysi, AL Qöyawayma