This ornately carved pottery depicting a series of whimsical clowns is the work of Delmar Polacca. Delmar carries on the tradition of carved Hopi pottery his father pioneered. He is the son of Tom Polacca, the grandson of Fanny Nampeyo, and the great grandson of the original Nampeyo of Hano. All of his siblings are respected artists in their own right, including Gary, Elvira, Carla, and Penny.

Delmar uses a clay mixture that gives his pieces a marbleized look. He then painstakingly carves murals filled with images from his traditional upbringing. This particular piece features a scene from his own life. Delmer recalls as a boy being carried into the plaza on the back of another clown. His father was a clown and so it was fit that he should follow in his footsteps.

Pueblo clowns play an important role in village life. They help to teach and instruct, and at times reprimand, using humor and folly.

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Artist Bio:

Delmar Polacca was born in 1959 the son of Tom Polacca, a renowned Hopi potter from the village of Polacca, on Hopi first mesa. The Nampeyo-Polacca Family is now in its fifth generation of potters and is listed in the book "Fourteen Families in Pueblo Pottery." He is also the grandson of Fannie Nampeyo, and the great-grandson of Nampeyo of Hano.

Delmar works in the same style that his father Tom created, that of deeply carved scenes of Hopi culture, his carvings are very precise and refined. Delmar learned his techniques by watching his grandmother Fannie, his father Tom, his aunts, uncles and cousins. He invented the marbling of Red and Light clay, which is a very difficult technique. Delmar has only been making pottery since 1993 but has already won many awards at the Hopi Show, the Museum of Northern Arizona and the Mesa Verde Show and most recently the Zuni Art Show just to name a few.

Although a part-time potter, Delmar still returns to First Mesa in the Hopi reservation over fifty miles distant, to gather rock deposits. He paints with Wild Spanish juice. He constructs his pots with handmade coils and fires them 2 to 4 hours using horse manure. In the painting of the pots he expresses the history of the Hopi people. Delmar has won two best of show awards at the Zuni Indian art show and the southwest Indian art show Delmar has won many other awards through the years.