Hopi Pottery

More About Modern Hopi Potters

Modern Hopi potters make their pottery in the traditional manner. The clay is hand dug on the Hopi mesas and hand processed. The pots are carefully hand constructed using the coil and scrape techniques their ancestors taught them. The paints used are from naturally occuring materials. For example, black paint is made by boiling Beeweed for a long time until it becomes very dark and thick. It is then dried into little cakes which are wrapped in corn husk until ready for use. It is called guaco.

The intricate and beautiful designs are painted free hand using a yucca leaf brush. The pots are then fired in the open air out on the mesa using sheep dung and cedar as a heat source. Prehistoric potters did not have domestic animals to provide dung, but modern potters prefer it for its rapid, even heat.

Some Hopi pottery is ceremonial in nature and not intended for public consumption. You will not find this kind of pottery for sale in reputable galleries and shops. Most prehistoric pottery has been taken from burial contexts, and the Hopi people find non-Hopi ownership of these pots offensive. It is better not to buy prehistoric pottery.

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