File:American Indians - first families of the Southwest (1920) (14753235506).jpg

Identifier: cu31924028656738 (find matches)
Title: American Indians : first families of the Southwest
Year: 1920 (1920s)
Authors: Huckel, John Frederick, 1863-1936 Harvey, Fred
Subjects: Indians of North America
Publisher: Kansas City, Mo. : F. Harvey
Contributing Library: Cornell University Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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ceramics knows of Nampeyo, for she is foremostamong the Indians of today in the perpetuation of this art. It is probably safe tosay that the beautiful polychrome vases of this woman and her family are themost artistic among Indian products. In making pottery the Indian uses neither measure, model nor potters wheel.All is done from memory and with the hands. A few tools, hardly more than sticksand brushes made from yucca leaves, are the instruments. In the uses of materials,the clays and pigments, the methods are as complex as the tools are simple. TheIndians go miles for clay that will burn a certain shade and the colors, almost im-pervious to acids, are made of stonelike substances ground to dust in mortars andmade liquid. The decorations are often strongly symbolic, for there are fewpeoples possessing the sense of the mystic more than the Hopi. In form thearticles of pottery range from spoons or ladles to cups, water vessels and elaboratelydecorated vases. Digitized by IVIicrosoft®
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NAMPEYO DECORATING POTTERY Digitized by IVIicrosoft® Never Were Two Pieces of Indian Pottery Exactly Alike The culture center of the early Americans was in the Pueblo region of theSouthwest. These people as aborigines expressed their art sense in pottery.Today the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico and Arizona practice the art in its abor-iginal form with little or no variation. For tempering purposes the clay was mixedwith sand, pulverized stone and shells. The art was restricted almost exclusivelyto the women, a condition that holds good today. The potters wheel was unknownto these people before the white men came, and even now its use is rare. Thecolors usually employed are black, white, yellow, red and brown. Geometricand symbolic designs are used most, with the triangle predominating; many ofthem indicate lightning, rain and clouds. Next in frequency are the figuresderived from birds and animals, and last come the decorations suggested by leavesand flowers. The sunflower appears often

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