Adobe Gallery Blog

When Adobe Gallery had its Santa Fe gallery grand opening in May 2001, the opening exhibit was the private collection of Hopi pottery by the Nampeyo family that had been accumulated by Barbara Kramer during her years of research in preparation for writing the book Nampeyo and Her Pottery, published in 1996. Her collection had grown to 33 pottery pieces by various members of the Nampeyo family. The entire collection was exhibited during that exhibit.

It is now our pleasure to be able to re-post this one jar from that collection. It is a large jar made by Fannie Nampeyo in the mid-1960s and it is designed with the Hopi migration pattern, a pattern incorporating many parallel straight lines that must have been a nightmare for the potter to paint.

Fannie Nampeyo was the youngest daughter of Nampeyo of Hano and, as a result, is the daughter most recognized by collectors from the 20th century. Annie had passed away in 1968 and Nellie in 1978. Fannie lived until 1987. Of course, she was not making jars as large as this one during that last decade of her life but she was an active potter and she was very welcoming to visitors to her home, so many collectors knew her personally. I visited her frequently during that decade and am glad to have known her. She was the first one to demonstrate putting Vaseline on her fired pottery and then polishing it with old nylon hose. That is the reason that the paint on her pottery does not smear or rub off easily.

This jar is an excellent example of her mid-20th century style when she was able to make larger vessels and was very competent in designing and painting them. It is now a half-century old and still as beautiful as the day it was fired.

Condition: very good condition
Provenance: Purchased from a private collection by Dewey-Kofron Gallery, Santa Fe, which in turn sold it to Jim and Barbara Kramer in 1977. Exhibited in "Nampeyo of Hano and Her Daughters," at Adobe Gallery, Santa Fe, May 11 through 31, 2001.
Recommended Reading: Nampeyo and Her Pottery by Barbara Kramer

Subject: Hopi Migration Pattern Jar by Fannie
Artist / Potter: Fannie Polacca Nampeyo 1900-1987
Category: Contemporary
Origin: Hopi Pueblo
Medium: Native Clay, Slip & Vegetal Paint
Size: 7" high x 11" diameter
Item # C3388