ALTA YESSLITH
(Hopi - active from the 1960’s)
Alta Yesslith was born in Keams Canyon, Arizona and attended boarding school at Keams Canyon on the Hopi Reservation.
Alta makes many different shapes of pottery. She can bring in a wedding vase one day and another day bring a large bowl. You will find her hand coiled work designed with traditional motifs painted on using yucca leaf brushes. The pottery is made from clay products, formed, sanded and is usually polished. There are several colors of pottery, the majority is beige or tan color, some are white, and there is also a red to pink color. The designs are usually of parrots, eagles, roadrunners, eagle tail, migration patterns, pueblo style villages, kiva designs, rain and rain clouds, lightning, water waves, and other life germinating symbols like corn.
Alta is the sister of Perry Navasie, niece of Eloise Navasie and daughter-in-law of Joy Navasie (Frog Woman)….the long line of Hopi potters.
Her husband, Dan Tsinnijinnie Yesslith, Navajo potter, often works with Alta on their pottery, Dan signs his work as D. Yesslith.
Where there is water, earth and fire, pottery may exist. Used for utilitarian purposes, such as storage and cooking, or for ceremonies, pottery has had an integral role in human life from the beginning of man's time on earth.
In the past, each tribe and Pueblo in the Southwest had a distinctive pottery style, developed according to the constraints of geography. Today, there is still a surprising loyalty to the patterns and materials of the potter's home area, although some use of distant materials also occurs.
Southwestern Indian pottery is a time-consuming process: it starts with the digging of earth, sometimes in many locales, to make the clay. After sifting, mixing with temper (often broken bits of old pots) to make the clay more cohesive, and curing, the potter is ready to form the pieces, coil by coil. The pieces then rest, get stone-polished and/or decorated with natural colors or carving, and must wait for a windless day to be fired, in a pit in the ground. Many times, an air bubble or minute flaw will explode the pots during firing. Alta Yesslith’s work is done in exactly this manner.
Hopi pottery stands out among all other Pueblo and non-Pueblo Native pottery. The whitewashed, or warm honeyed tones, with polychrome painting are some of the most recognizable pottery styles. Whether brilliant black on russet, black on gold, and/ or red images or symbols painted on pots, bowls, plates, and even ladles, once you see Hopi pottery it will become almost instantaneously recognizable.
Designs change over time. Some artists are interested in adapting and creating new styles, while others tend to recreate specific and/or historic designs. For all styles, balance in colors, symmetry in design, and overall integration with the shape of the piece are important, and will affect value.
