14 Facts About Priscilla Namingha

Priscilla Namingha Nampeyo was a Hopi-Tewa potter who was known for her traditional pottery.

Priscilla Namingha's work is in the collection of several museums and cultural centers.

Priscilla Namingha was born in 1924, was Hopi-Tewa and lived in Polacca, First Mesa.

Priscilla Namingha was the oldest daughter of Rachel Priscilla Namingha and sister of Dextra Quotskuyva, Lillian Gonzales and Elenor Lucas, all of whom were potters.

Priscilla Namingha stated that she learned to create pottery by watching her mother work.

Priscilla Namingha kept making pottery almost up to her death in 2008.

Priscilla Namingha's work is part of the Nampeyo family tradition of pottery making.

Priscilla Namingha's pottery uses "fine-line" decorations and incorporates patterns based on birds and feathers.

Priscilla Namingha used about 20 of the traditional designs created by Nampeyo.

The traditional meanings of the designs however, had been lost by the time Priscilla Namingha's mother was incorporating these patterns and symbols.

Priscilla Namingha's pots are large, often around 20 inches or more in diameter.

Priscilla Namingha fired her pottery in the ground, first burning wood into charcoal and then laying around 8 to 10 pots on top of the coal and added sheep dung.

Priscilla Namingha has done pottery demonstrations and shown her work at the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology.

Priscilla Namingha has work in the collections of the Morgan Collection of Southwest Pueblo Pottery, the Heard Museum, the Hopi Cultural Center Museum, and the Museum of Northern Arizona.