How Hopi people hand built pots...

       Just below is the original page with illustrated instructions for hand built Hopi pots. There is also a great deal of text included in this page so I have numbered a copy at the bottom and recorded the text so that it may be translated for those visitors who do not read English. 

• How South American natives crafted their pottery
• The Storyteller dolls made using pottery techniques...
  

       The text for the same illustrated process with numbers identifying each description beneath the pictures...

Translation of Text:

1. A basket or a bowl may be used for forming clay coil pottery over it.
2. The Hopis also use tin basins for starting their pottery forms.
3. The Indian potter considers it taboo to use the index finger in pottery shaping.
4. A gourd or shell fragment for surface scraping and a basket or bowl for easy turning of work.
5. The Spanish brought to the Mexican Indian, glazes, and stamping of motifs with wood blocks.
6. A smooth round stone burnishes the clay surfaces just before it is dry.
7. A helpful turn table may be made with little work.
8. Indian women do all the pottery. 
9. Indian men do all their embroidery.
10. When pottery is dry it can be burned in the open by placing can wedges between the pottery, covering the entire group with paper, excelsior and wood for firing.
11. Pottery pigments ordinary mineral oxide colors such as are used for coloring cement, mixed with water and clay will fire if painted on the pottery. Burnt Umber, Venetian Red, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Indian Red may be used.
12. Step on cans to make wedges.
13. Discarded iron kettles with covers or sheet metal for covers make containers for firing pottery in the open. Wood and other fuel is piled over and around kettles.
    

Illustrations of Totem carvings

       Haida  are an indigenous group who have traditionally occupied Haida Gwaii, an archipelago just off the coast of British Columbia, Canada, for at least 12,500 years.

Discussion about a memorial totem pole.

       The Haida are known for their craftsmanship, trading skills, and seamanship. They are thought to have frequently carried out raids and to have practised slavery. The Haida have been compared to the Vikings by Diamond Jenness, an early anthropologist at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Read more...

Illustrated totem poles

Animal totem pole motifs from the Haida Indian of the North Pacific sections of
North America. These plates show strong positive design arrangements,
a good influence for the hesitant over-detail-inclined student to study.

Motifs by modern American Pueblo Indians

        The Puebloans or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Currently 100 pueblos are actively inhabited, among which Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Zuni, and Hopi are the best-known. Pueblo people speak languages from four different language families, and each Pueblo is further divided culturally by kinship systems and agricultural practices, although all cultivate varieties of maize. Read more...

• Toys, Games, and Dolls of Indigenous Children Remembered... 
• Storyteller Dolls by Pueblo people and video about Helen Cordero
• More About Maria Martinez

Symbolic language of the Pueblos people and their meanings.

Bird motifs by Pueblo Natives.

Designs in color by Pueblo Natives.

Pottery by artist Marie Martinez.

Designs by Zuni Native Americans

       The Zuni (Zuni: A:shiwi; formerly spelled Zuñi) are Native American Pueblo peoples native to the Zuni River valley. The Zuni are a Federally recognized tribe and most live in the Pueblo of Zuni on the Zuni River, a tributary of the Little Colorado River, in western New Mexico, United States. The Pueblo of Zuni is 55 km (34 mi) south of Gallup, New Mexico. The Zuni tribe lived in multi level adobe houses. In addition to the reservation, the tribe owns trust lands in Catron County, New Mexico, and Apache County, Arizona. The Zuni call their homeland Halona Idiwan’a or Middle Place. Read more...

Zuni native designs from North America.

Mexican Indian Designs from Textiles and Pottery

       "The indigenous population is distributed throughout the territory of Mexico but is especially concentrated in the Sierra Madre del Sur, the Yucatán Peninsula, the Sierra Madre Oriental, the Sierra Madre Occidental, and neighboring areas. The states with the largest indigenous population are Oaxaca and Yucatán, with the latter having the highest percentage of indigenous population in its own territory. Since the Spanish colonization, the North and Bajio regions of Mexico have had lower percentages of indigenous peoples, but some notable groups include the Rarámuri, the Tepehuán, the Yaquis, and the Yoreme." Wikipedia   

       Below are sample designs by modern indigenous peoples living in Mexico today.

Shown here are strong designs from textile and pottery motifs
 by modern Mexican Indians.

Huichol Folk Art.

Designs by The Incan Indians of Peru

      "Below are designs from the work of the remarkable Inca Indians of Peru. The Inca designs have interested artists and designers around the world immensely, and influenced many craftsmen toward a simpler but more thoughtfully arranged form of motif." Lemos

Animal designs by Peruvian Indians of South America.

 

Designs from old Inca Indian weavings found in Peru.

Bird, animal, fish and plant designs made by the Inca of Peru.

Bird borders from textiles and pottery designed by
the Indians of Peru, South America.

Peruvian Indian weaving and two bowls showing their
application of design to objects of utility.

Hopi Ceremonial Artifacts

       The Hopi are a Native American tribe who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census, there are 19,338 Hopi in the country. The Hopi Tribe is a sovereign nation within the United States and has government-to-government relations with the United States federal government. Particular villages retain autonomy under the Hopi Constitution and Bylaws. The Hopi language is one of 30 in the Uto-Aztecan language family. The majority of Hopi people are enrolled in the Hopi Tribe of Arizona but some are enrolled in the Colorado River Indian Tribes. The Hopi Reservation covers a land area of 2,531.773 sq mi (6,557.26 km²). Read more...

• Read more about Katchina Dolls
• Hopi Nation: Essays on Indigenous Art, Culture, History and Law (pdf)
• Hopi Origin Story - English captions, delivered in Hopi

Color clip art of Hopi Ceremonial artifacts: dolls and woven crests from Arizona.