Wedding vase

Abstract

"Joy Navasie, also known as "Frog Woman," is among the most famous of the Hopi-Tewa potters. She was an active potter from 1935-1995. Her mother, Paqua Naha, (ca. 1890-1955) was the first Frog Woman and it was Paqua who taught Joy to make pottery. Joy began signing her pots with a hallmark Frog design around 1939. She drew her frog signature with webbed feet while her mother drew the frog with short toes. Joy worked in a style called black and red on white. She credits her mother Paqua with developing the style in the early 1950s. After her mother passed away three years later, Joy continued the whiteware tradition and the Navasie and Naha families have specialized in whiteware pottery ever since. Her sister-in-laws Eunice (Fawn) Navasie (ca.1920-1992) and Helen Naha (Feather Woman) (1922-1993) were also famous potters. Hopi potters who have made whiteware pottery consider it the most difficult to make. When firing white clay pots the fire has to be very hot. The delicate white slip must also be protected from smudging so instead of using potsherds to cover and protect the pots during firing the Navasie family uses slates or slabs of asbestos. Joy has made many different types of pottery including jars, bowls, wedding vases, bird effigy bowls, lidded sugar jars & creamers and lamp bases. Her designs were inspired by the Sikyatki style with rain, clouds, parrots and feathers among her favorites. An excellent color photograph of Joy surrounded by her whiteware pottery was featured on the inside cover of the May 1974 special Southwestern Pottery Today issue of Arizona Highways magazine. Her pottery has won countless awards including many from the Santa Fe Indian Market and the Gallup Intertribal Ceremonial. Collections of her work can be found in several museums including the Museum of Northern Arizona and the Heard Museum in Phoenix. Now in her mid-eighties, and no longer potting, Joy's works have become highly prized. She passed on the whiteware tradition by teaching the art to her children Marianne, Leona Navasie, Natelle Lee, Maynard, Loretta Navasie Koshiway and Grace Lomahquahu who have all become well-known potters. She also taught her grandson Charles Navasie Martin to make fine pottery."--From the Morgan Collection of Southwest Pottery website.