Adobe Gallery Blog

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 Big Horn.  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 potteryas the residents of Hano Village at First Mesa are Tewa-speaking Indians originally from New Mexico.

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Would like to purchase or read more about this Chapella pttery?