Zuni Pueblo Pottery Owl Figurine with Five Owlets by Josephine Nahohai [SOLD]

This Zuni Pueblo pottery owl was probably made in the 1960s or 70s by Josephine Nahohai.  It is a lovely red color with four baby owls perched on her wings and one on her tail. It is signed on the underside J Nahohai/Zuni. 

Josephine Nahohai (1912 - 2007) started making pottery in the 1950s. According to the book, Dialogues With Zuni Potters, she states that she was making jewelry when a relative told her she should try pottery because she wouldn’t have to purchase any materials as they were all provided by Mother Earth. She started making owls by making two bowls and putting them together. She continued to make pottery for 50 years. She won a lifetime achievement award at the 2006 Indian Market when she was 93 years old.

In 1986 Nahohai was awarded a grant at the School of American Research (SAR), Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she was allowed to study old Zuni pots. After this experience, she abandoned the designs she had used for years and adapted new but traditionally based designs modified from the historic and prehistoric pottery she had seen in the collections.  She had learned potting from two aunts, and, following the SAR grant, she began teaching others.

Josephine was the mother of famous Zuni potters Randy Nahohai, Milford Nahohai, and Priscilla Nahohai.  She was also a Zuni OLLA Maiden, performing throughout the country.

Condition: excellent condition.

Provenance: this Zuni Pueblo Pottery Owl Figurine with Five Owlets by Josephine Nahohai is  from the collection of a client from Albuquerque

Recommended Reading: The Pottery of Zuni Pueblo by Lanmon and Harlow.

Reference: Dialogues with Zuni Potters by Milford Nahohai and Elisa Phelps.

Relative Links: Southwest Indian Pottery, Zuni Pueblo, Pottery Figurines