Nampeyo was born in Hano, a Hopi Reservation on the First Mesa in Arizona. Her mother was Tewa and her father Quootsva, and she grew up with her mother’s corn clan. As a child, she learned the art of pottery from her Hopi grandmother, becoming one of the finest potters at First Mesa.
After mastering contemporary pottery making in styles such as Polacca and Crackleware, Nampeyo began to experiment with the ancient designs and forms of Hopi pottery. She visited the ruins of ancient Hopi villages, coping designs of prehistoric and protohistoric pottery pieces, and applying them to her work. She also used ancient techniques to brighten and smoothen the clay and combined five different clays instead of the common use of two types of clays. Nampeyo’s innovation and integration of the old with the new created a unique and original style of pottery.
In 1875, a trader named Thomas Keam opened a post at First Mesa, where 16 years old Nampeyo sold her pottery, soon earning a steady income from her work. Within a few years, she became known for her “old Hopi pottery.” In 1898 Nampeyo’s husband traveled to Chicago to exhibit her pottery, which afterward her fame spread, and her art became a collector’s item both in the US and in Europe.
At the begging of the 20th century, Nampeyo settled for a few years at the Grand Canyon Lodge. She created and sold her work in a Hopi House, a tourist attraction that included a museum, theater, a curio shop, and living space for Native American artists. In this period, she was diagnosed with trachoma, which damaged her sight. By 1925, she was almost blind, though she continued to create pottery by touch and instructing her husband and daughters how to paint the finished vassals. She died at the age of 83, but her works are presented in museums worldwide.
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