Hopi Contemporary Black on red Jar [SOLD]

Karen Abeita was born in Albuquerque, NM in 1960, to a Hopi named Lenora Nahoodyce Abeyta who had married an Isleta Pueblo man named Isidor Abeita, Sr.  Apparently her mom had moved from Hopi to Isleta Pueblo upon marriage.  Her maternal family is of the Tewa Kachina/Parrot Clan.  She currently lives on the Hopi Reservation with her husband Darryl Daw.

Karen Abeita has certainly mastered the techniques of construction and painting as illustrated quite well in this seed jar.  The jar sits upright and has the widest point at mid-body.  The black painted design is most comprehensive with very little space left without design.  The wide black painted hooks immediately command the viewers' attention, and then the other design elements appear as well.  The checkerboard elements each have a black dot in their centers and the adjacent triangles are filled in with stippling normally applied by the tip of a brush. 

A wide brown band with a ceremonial line break cinches the mid body and provides an anchor for the design on the upper half of the jar.  There is a black band around the rim which provides a boundary for the upper elements of the design.  The jar is extraordinarily beautiful in execution and design and well illustrates the talent of the artist.

Condition:  original condition

Provenance: from the collection of Dr. Allan Cooke, co-author of the book Canvas of Clay: Seven Centuries of Hopi Ceramic Art.

Recommended Reading:  Canvas of Clay: Seven Centuries of Hopi Ceramic Art by Edwin L. Wade and Allan R. Cooke