Navajo rugs, blankets and weavings
Native American Art Navajo pottery history - page 4 of 6

Navajo potters often mix several clays together, for varying physical and chemical as well as aesthetic qualities. Unlike many other tribes, Navajos do not grind up old potshards to mix into the raw clay powder for temper, lessening the shrinkage and breakage during firing. Navajos feel that old pottery shards belong to the Anasazi, their forefathers, and should not be removed from the ground.

The style of early Navajo pottery is in contrast to most pots made in other Indian villages in the United States. Fabricated in the coil and pinch manner of old societies, the work was bonfired - but then a unique treatment was used. Before the pot had cooled, hot melted pitch from piñon trees was poured or rubbed in a thin coating over the vessel, inside and out. This unusual technique distinguished the look and aroma of Navajo pottery.

Traditional pots were otherwise undecorated for centuries, except for textures that occurred in the fabrication, or the application of small symbols made of the same clay. Navajo tribal society was tightly controlled, and medicine men imposed restrictive behavior regulations upon the women making pottery. Possibly, the discipline imposed on Navajo women shows in the conservative nature of their pots.

In the 1880s, the railroad crossed America and the first Anglo-run trading posts came to the Navajo reservation. Use of cash money instead of the barter system brought the Indians access to Anglo cooking products made of metal and plastic, diminishing the need for utilitarian pottery and undermining native tradition. Navajo women still made pottery for ceremonial use, but the lack of production reduced the stimulus for making any kind of pottery. At the same time - while artistic pottery from the southwestern pueblos was reaching a high degree of popularity - traders rejected the traditional Navajo pottery, calling the dark-brown, pitch-coated, utilitarian wares "mud pots." Tourist markets for Navajo rugs, blankets and jewelry were more profitable than the market for this kind of pottery.

For the most part, the Navajo Nation is comprised of high desert where temperatures can shift from very hot to very cold over the course of a few hours. There are canyons and plateaus, mesas and washes. The action of wind and water over the land has created rich and varied deposits of clay all over the reservation. This natural material has been well used for making pottery. The effects of weather on the land over eons have produced rich deposits of clays that are collected and used by the people for making their pottery. Potters learn to recognize good clay from looking at it, touching it, smelling it, and even from tasting it.

A change occurred when curators from nearby museums began to notice a few emerging clay artists, who were taking traditional Navajo techniques to new levels. In the 1960s, as new markets for traditional crafts expanded, Navajo potters began to produce pots for the tourists and collectors of Indian art. Though potters were traditionally women, many men now make pottery as well.

Native American art Navajo clay pottery history - page 5

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