Hopi Pueblo Pottery Seed Jar By K. Dewakuku

Mid/Late 20th Century

2.75″ H x 4.25″ D

Hand Coiled from Apricot Colored Clay with Painted Black and Red Geometric Designs

Excellent Condition

Verla Dewakuku (born 1932), a renowned Hopi-Tewa potter from First Mesa (Hano or Tewa Village) on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona. She has been active since the early 1970s and is celebrated for her traditional hand-coiled polychrome pottery, often featuring Sikyatki Revival designs inspired by ancient Hopi motifs excavated from sites like Sikyatki (circa 13751625 CE). These designs typically include geometric patterns, bird elements, feathers, rain clouds, shards, and symbolic motifs like parrot tail feathers or Twin War Gods footprints, painted with natural pigments from beeweed (black) and other minerals using yucca leaf brushes.

Verla Dewakuku’s pieces are prized for their fine execution, cultural authenticity, and the characteristic “blush” effect from pit-firing iron-rich Hopi clay in open fires fueled by sheep dung and cedarresulting in warm orange-to-apricot tones. Her work is featured in major collections and has been auctioned at galleries like Adobe Gallery (Santa Fe) and Bill Hood & Sons Arts & Antiques. She is profiled in Hopi-Tewa Pottery: 500 Artist Biographies by Gregory Schaaf.