Hopi-Tewa Polychrome Pottery Seed Jar with Bird Designs by Steve Lucas [SOLD]

This polychrome pottery jar was made by Hopi Pueblo artist Steve Lucas.  We are always happy to have an opportunity to handle one of Lucas’ pots.   His technical abilities are admirable, and his designs are consistently unique and creative.  With this particular jar, Lucas stuck closer to traditional styles, using the traditional seed jar shape and a stylized bird design.

Lucas’ bird design appears twice on the jar.  Curved lines form the birds’ long necks and sharp beaks.  Rectangular designs form their bodies, long pentagonal shapes form tail feathers, and pairs of triangles signify feet.  Everything is stretched out horizontally, so that each bird covers about a third of the jar’s upper half.  Just below the jar’s widest point, a single line appears in bold black.  The jar’s polished surface has a beautiful gold tone.  A slightly darker variation circles the jar’s rim.  With this pot, Steve Lucas made a fine tribute to his ancestors’ works.

The bottom of the jar is signed S. Lucas and marked with mudhead and Corn Clan hallmark symbols.

Steve Lucas (1955-) Koyemsi is recognized as one of the finest of the younger generation Nampeyo family potters.  He is the grandson of Rachel Namingha Nampeyo and the great-grandson of Annie Healing Nampeyo. His mother was Eleanor Lucas.  We do not have an exact date of birth, but he is reported by various sources to have been born around 1955. His Hopi-Tewa name is Koyemsi—the Hopi-Tewa name for the Mudhead Katsina. 

Lucas has been a consistent award-winning artist at Santa Fe Indian Market and Gallup Inter-tribal Indian Ceremonial, among others. His awards include First and Second Place at the 1994 Santa Fe Indian Market; First, Second and Third Place at the 1995 Indian Market; Best of Division at the Heard Museum in 1997; Best of Show in the 1998 Santa Fe Indian Market.

Condition: excellent condition

Provenance: this Hopi-Tewa Polychrome Pottery Seed Jar with Bird Designs by Steve Lucas is from a private California collection

Recommended Reading: Fourteen Families in Pueblo Pottery by Rick Dillingham

Relative Links: Annie Healing Nampeyo, Hopi, Southwest Indian Pottery, Katsina, Contemporary Pottery, Steve Lucas, Koyemsi, Hopi-Tewa Potter