Wally &
Iris Youvella (Nampeyo)
Maize Vase
12 1/4"
H x 6" D
We're delighted to present
this amazing new work by Wally and Iris Youvella (Nampeyo). This
is the first collaborative effort we've seen in many years.
As well as being an incredibly
tall piece (by Iris' standards), this vessel magically combines
her elegant and warm high polish corn applique with his innovative
and contemporary sgraffito techniques.
The title of the piece is
really a play on words, Maize Vase meaning both "corn"
and "maze" through the many intricate etchings in the
pottery surface. The story is equally as compelling, since the
many incised rows symbolize the corn fields throughout the Hopi
homeland, and it is only after the seeds sprout and find their
way (through the maze) to the top of the soil that they find
the Sun, who greets them and gives them life.
Iris Youvella Nampeyo is truly
a next-generation matriarch of Hopi pottery. She is the daughter
of the late Fannie Nampeyo, and grand-daughter to the legendary
Sikyatki renaissance potter - Nampeyo.
Wally Youvella is the husband
of Iris Youvella. His family pedigree reads like a Who's Who
of Hopi pottery. He has been a proficient potter for many years,
assisting Iris in some of her endeavors.
Wally has also been credited
with developing the incised style of Hopi pottery, along with
his late brother-in-law, Tom Polacca.
Iris and Wally maintain a
clean and classic approach to Hopi pottery making. Their natural
colors lend themselves well to the look and feel which they set
out to achieve. There is nothing else quite like it. The smooth
surface and expertly executed designs demonstrate their skill
as delicate potters.
Both Wally and Iris spend
many hours burnishing their pottery by hand in the traditional
fashion - using a smooth polishing stone handed down for generations.
They are very meticulous in their attention to detail. Every
inch is carefully gone over to insure precise density and polish.
Iris' cornstalk motif is her
"trademark" design, and the vessel's non-uniform lip
is unique to her pieces. Everything is naturually fired - outdoors
in a sheep dung firing pit. Still she has mastered the ability
of achieving an even and consistent coloration throughout.
Both apper in nearly every
major publication on Hopi pottery including Hopi-Tewa Pottery:
500 Artists Biographies by Gregory Schaff, The Art of
the Hopi by Jerry and Lois Jacka, Fourteen Families
in Pueblo Pottery by Rick Dillingham, and The Legacy of
a Master Potter: Nampeyo and Her Descendants by Mary Ellen
and Laurence Blair.
