Canvas of Clay: Seven Centuries of Hopi Ceramic Art [SOLD]

Limited Hardcover Edition: These copies are numbered and autographed by both authors.

From the Dust Jacket: 

"The vessels in the pages that follow open to us a world flickering with the light of a people's collective character and shared philosophy. These vessels have bodies of clay, but they float before us in the zero gravity of wisdom and belief. "- EDWIN L. WADE

Canvas of Clay explores the evolution of Hopi ceramics from early Black on white Ware to the exuberant carved, painted, and sculpted masterworks of 14th- through 16th-century Sikyatki Polychrome to the emergence of Sikyatki Revival style and the fluid artistic interpretations that emerged in the 20th and 21st centuries. It is richly illustrated with examples from all the major Hopi stylistic traditions and offers a close look, in particular, at the art and life of the master Hopi-Tewa potter Nampeyo.

The story of Hopi pottery told here is interwoven with insights into Hopi history and aesthetic thinking, an analysis of design systems and possible symbolic meanings, and, vessel by vessel, a look at some of the reasons behind the spectacular artistic success of particular jars and bowls. Canvas of Clay is a celebratory testament to the aesthetic genius and exhilarating inventiveness of many long generations of Hopi potters, offered with heart, passion, knowledge, and abiding respect.

Image Source: Adobe Gallery (Jonathan Tercero, et al., used with permission)