Hopi Small Bowl with Arrow Design signed Grace [SOLD]

The collector from whom we received this small Grace Chapella jar stated that it was circa 1960s and has been in his collection since that time.  Grace would have been 86 years old in 1960 and was making smaller and simpler-designed pottery at that time.

Grace Chapella was born in the Tewa village of Hano at First Mesa on the Hopi Reservation in 1874, eight years before the Reservation was established as such, and before Custer's Last Stand at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.  She witnessed the first "horseless carriage" arrive on the Reservation and recalled how frightening it was. In 1927, she became the first person from the Hopi Reservation to fly in an airplane, going from Grand Canyon to Long Beach for a pottery demonstration.  

Having lived for over a century—she passed away at age 107—Chapella (pronounced Tsepela) witnessed many changes in her life at Hopi where she lived.  She was a youngster at a time before trading posts and tourists were introduced to the reservation and lived to see both flourish and the demand for pottery grow at leaps and bounds. Although her pottery, and that of others at First Mesa, is referred to as Hopi pottery, technically it is Hopi-Tewa pottery as the residents of Hano Village at First Mesa are Tewa-speaking Indians originally from New Mexico (as opposed to Arizona).

Condition: this Hopi Small Bowl with Arrow Design signed Grace is in very good condition

Provenance: from the collection of John Barry of California

Recommended Reading:  Hopi Traditions in Pottery and Painting Honoring Grace Chapella, Potter, Masters Gallery, Alhambra, CA, February 25-April 3, 1977