Very Large Open Hopi-Tewa Pottery Bowl by Joy Navasie, Frog Woman [SOLD]

This pottery bowl is a major accomplishment by Hopi Pueblo artist Joy Navasie.  It is exceptionally large and beautifully presented.  The walls have a mathematically precise curve with a significant overhang at the rim.  A 1-3/4-inch wide band of painted design fills the exterior wall and a Sikyatki-inspired design fills the interior bottom.  There is a beautiful golden blush on the exterior from the firing process. Joy Navasie was an accomplished potter who earned the praise bestowed on her and her work.

Joy Navasie (1919 - 2012) Frog Woman-Yellow Flower was the first potter to inherit the Frog Woman name.  Her mother, Paqua Naha, was the first Frog Woman and, when she died in 1955, the Frog Woman name passed on to Joy.  Her mother was also her mentor. Joy began making pottery around 1935 and apparently began using a frog hallmark on her pottery around 1939, although it was different from that of her mom’s.  Joy put webbed feet on her frogs, and Paqua used short lines for toes.  Joy said that her mom was the first to produce white pottery at Hopi and had started doing so around 1951 or 1952.

Condition: this Very Large Open Hopi-Tewa Pottery Bowl by Joy Navasie, Frog Woman has a very small amount of spalling to the surface

Provenance: from the personal collection of a member of San Ildefonso Pueblo

Recommended Reading and Source Photo of Artist: Fourteen Families in Pueblo Pottery by Rick Dillingham (1952-1994).

Relative Links: Southwest Indian Pottery, Hopi Pueblo, Contemporary Pottery, Joy Navasie, Paqua Naha