Ben Adair Shoemaker (Quapaw/Shawnee/Cherokee) presents a daily occurrence on the reservation by painting a woman kneeling by a water jug while she ladles out water.  She is wrapped in a grey cape or blanket over her brown dress.  She is presented in profile.  The only background is a muted Sun.  

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Whitethorne's paintings are full of activity and color.  Usually they are of events on the Navajo Reservation or events of Navajo life.  In this painting, the seven facial items that appear to float across the painting represent the Navajo supernatural Yei*.  Interestingly, it appears that the top of the paining represents a reservation scene of ahogan covered in snow with trees around the area.  The rest of the painting appears to be an underground scene?  In addition to the Yei masks, there are green squares, yellow circles, zigzag elements rising from the base of the painting, and strata of earth in horizontal bands.

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Navajo artist Anthony Chee Emerson has developed a whimsical style that incorporates both traditional Navajo cultural values and a modernist approach. Emerson is a native of the Four Corners area where, as a self-taught artist, he paints Navajo settings and people. His colorful renditions of Navajo life reflect upon the important values of family and tradition.

In this painting, Chee has a Navajo man and woman cheerfully riding their horses among a stampede of horses.  They appear to be happy and carefree so it must not be a serious stampede. 

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Zia Pueblo refrained from making tourist-related pottery during the late 1800s when other pueblos succumbed to doing so.  Zia potters did make pottery for sale in the latter half of the 1800s but they only improved over those that they made for their own use.  They took pride in making better pottery for sale than for their own use.  That, in part, is the reason there are so many beautiful Zia ollas from 1880 to 1930.

Harlow and Lanmon, in their book The Pottery of Zia Pueblo, largely devoted a chapter to what they described as split rectangles-the design seen on this jar at the widest point of diameter and colored orange.  Black split rectangles circumnavigate the neck of the jar. They state that split rectangles became quite prominent about 1880.  Such prominence is accented by the use of red and deep black design elements as compliments.  The potter of this jar filled all available space with design. 

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This is a very traditional Santa Clara vessel shape, one of the most popular.  The design-bear paws-too are very traditional.  It is said that the bear paw is put on water jars to enhance the chances that the jar will never be empty of water, a belief based on the fact that bears can always find water.  What a wonderful tribute to nature that is, something that Native Americans are known for doing.

Sometimes the manner in which the bear paw is designed provides a hint to the potter but, in this example, I have been unable to tie these bear paws to a specific potter.  The important consideration is that the jar was beautifully constructed and finished on this Southwest Indian Pottery olla.

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This appears to be an early item of pottery by Margaret Tafoya, perhaps circa 1950s or so.  The design is unlike that used by her on later pottery.  It has been stated that the stepped elements in the center and on the edge represent the mountains and the parallel lines in the center represent rain.  The plate is signed Margaret Tafoya Santa Clara.

Starting sometime in the early 1950s, Margaret made smaller bowls, jars, plates, candlesticks and canteens for sale to tourists visiting the pueblo as well as to take to Royal Gorge for the summer. She and her family spent their summers-from Memorial Day to Labor Day-at Royal Gorge near Canon City, Colorado, selling pottery and entertaining the tourists with dances and permitting them to photograph the family members. She had made enough pottery before going to Royal Gorge to take with her to sell. She did not make pottery on site.  Perhaps this plate is one that made the trip to Royal Gorge.

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Dance wands are customarily carried by the women during some dances.  They are flat wood panels with a handle at the end.  Decorations may be of any variety of subjects.  This one has a green frog with black dots as the sole item of design.  Water creatures are always considered fertility indicators so perhaps the frog is used on the wand in a fertility dance. It also could be a clan symbol. 

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Carmelita Dunlap (1925-1999) was the daughter of Juanita and Romando Vigil of San Ildefonso Pueblo.  Her mother passed away when Carmelita was very young and her mother's two sisters, Maria Martinez and Desideria Montoya, raised her.  She took turns staying with Maria for a few months and then with Desideria for a few months.  She learned to make Southwest Indian Pottery by watching Maria and Desideria at work. 

Carmelita lived in California in the early 1950s while her dad worked for Walt Disney Studios.  In 1955, she moved back to San Ildefonso and began seriously focusing on pottery.  In 1974, she was one of the pueblo potters invited by President and Mrs. Nixon to visit the White House and one of her large pots was displayed at that time at the Smithsonian Institution.

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This appears to be a very early painting by Andrew Van Tsihnahjinnie (1916 - 2000), possibly one painted while attending the Santa Fe Indian School.  The style is that of a student, not an accomplished artist, and the mat board appears to be hand cut, both being indications of student work.  The painting was very well executed and illustrates why Dorothy Dunn thought so highly of Andy Tsihnahjinnie as an artist.  She stated "[He] had no equals among the artists of the [Santa Fe Indian School] studio and perhaps few superiors among modern painters. If equanimity and self-confidence were to rule his artistic abilities, Tsihnahjinnie might well be one of America's top-ranking painters."

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Andrew Van Tsihnahjinnie was born near Chinle, Arizona, in 1916. He attended elementary school at the Indian School at Fort Apache, but ran away and returned back to the reservation. He then attended school in Santa Fe and became a student of Dorothy Dunn at the Santa Fe Indian School. He was an avid student and was known to have stayed in the studio painting until forced to return to the dormitory. Following his graduation he went to work as an illustrator for the Indian Service.

Dorothy Dunn spoke highly of Andrew Van Tsihnahjinnie.  She thought he displayed"incisive interpretation, spontaneity of brushwork, originality of color, vigor of draftsmanship and vitality of action and that he had no equals among the artists of the Santa Fe Indian School studio and perhaps few superiors among modern painters."  She thought he might well be "one of America's top-ranking painters. In the brief seasons when he felt freed to paint the things he knew so deeply, without troubled concern for doing otherwise, his work attained a trenchant beauty, unique in modern art."  Dunn 1963

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Lowell Talashoma, Sr. has always been one of the finest carvers on the Hopi Reservation. He prided himself on good form, good musculature, and carving the complete doll from a single piece of cottonwood root.  I talked Lowell into selling it to me because I was so impressed with the form and proportion of the body, all accomplished with a pocketknife. I find it fascinating that a carver can pick up a round piece of cottonwood root and carve a human body in such accurate proportion using only a pocketknife. 

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This unfinished katsina doll was going to represent Crow Mother Katsina but, during carving, a section of the cape on the back side broke off so the carver abandoned the work.  The cylindrical shaft in her hands was going to be a bunch of yucca leaves. This is an excellent example illustrating the process of kachina doll carving from a single piece of cottonwood root. 

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Maria and Julian had four sons: Adam, John, Popovi Da, and Philip.  Adam's wife was Santana and it was she who worked with Maria following the death of Julian in 1943.  There are two periods of pottery that was collaborated by Maria and Santana.  The earlier ones were signed Marie & Santana and that period lasted from Julian's death in 1943 until 1956, at which time Popovi Da replaced Santana and helped his mom.  Maria did not immediately stop working with Santana when she began working with Popovi but did continue on and off for a few more years.  Those pieces are signed Maria & Santana. 

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This plate is signed Marie & Santana, an earlier signature, indicating that it was made from mid-1940s to mid-1950s.  Santana had started assisting Maria following the death of Julian in 1943.  Maria made the plate and Santana decorated it with a four pronged element radiating outward from the center.  Cloud elements are attached to the rim.

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There is very little information published on the artist Roy Tawahongva.  From his brother's (Mark Tawahongva) biographical information, who is listed as being born in 1948 at the Hopi village of Hotevilla, one can assume that Roy is 65 or more years old and was from the village of Hotevilla, as well. Roy is listed as being a katsina doll carver and a jeweler.

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There is a category of Hopi Clowns that has been named Piptuyakyamu.  They represent a group of Hopi men who band together to perform impromptu skits for the amusement of the people. They are not sacred clowns, as are the Koosa, nor are they equivalent to the Koyemsi (Mud Heads).  They do not have a prescribed appearance except for painting their faces white, and may appear in any dress of choice.  They dress according to the skit being performed.  Their antics are usually something related to happenings at the pueblo.  Their skits are usually presented in the most obscene manner possible. 

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#adobegallery #HopiPueblo #Katsina #Kachina # #Doll #SouthwestIndianArt #PuebloArt #SantaFeNM #LemPoola

This katsina doll from Hopi Pueblo appears to be very old-perhaps late 1800s or early 1900s.  There are remnants of paint in the recessed areas of the carving and a little remaining on the face.  It is strange that so much of the paint is missing, as that is not the normal wear pattern, however, what paint remains does appear to be authentic. 

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It is not an accepted practice in pueblo culture for individuals to seek fame or to stand out from others of the village.  This attitude seems more relaxed today than it did a hundred years ago when fame began to be bestowed on Maria Martinez.  Maria was very conscious of not seeking fame but it came her way anyway.  She did not sign her earlier pottery partly for that reason.

Maria was encouraged by Museum of New Mexico staff to sign her pottery because demand for her work was growing.  The earlier pieces were simply signed Marie and that seems to have begun around 1923.  Julian painted the designs on this early pottery but his name was not added to the vessels, most likely because pottery was considered "woman's work."  It was a couple years later before Maria added his name by encouragement of Kenneth Chapman.

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Early pottery made by Maria was generally decorated by her husband Julian and it would either be signed Marie or Marie & Julian, however, there are always exceptions to every absolute.  Another absolute is that all plain black vessels void of decoration were signed Maria Poveka.  This small black jar deviates from the norm in that is it signed Marie S.I.P., an indication that it was made in the early 1920s when Maria was signing her name as Marie.

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Maria's husband Julian Martinez was a janitor at the Museum of New Mexico for a dozen or so years early in the museum's history.  It was there that Julian most likely saw the Mimbres bowl in the museum's collection that was decorated with eagle feathers.  Julian may have been working as a janitor but his mind was working as an artist.

At some time in the 1930s, Julian adapted the Mimbres feather design to fit the plates and shallow bowls that Maria was making.  The design became a favorite of his for years.  After Julian passed away in 1943, Maria's daughter-in-law took over the task of painting Maria's pottery and Santana also used the Mimbres feather design as shown on this plate.

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