Browse by Date Obtained | Index of Artists | Index of Categories | Search by Keyword | Appendices | Works Cited
This collection began when a 15-year-old boy from Connecticut discovered a dramatic new world in the American West. Climbing mountains in Colorado and the Tetons in Wyoming; camping at Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Grand Canyon; camping at Hopi; living with a family in their summer hogon at Navajo Mountain… it was the summer that the world became a large and exciting place—and the boy became a man.
It is the archetypal American story: the West formed the American character and provides a place for individuals to prove themselves. In this case, the experience also produced two Hopi pots—souvenirs of the trip. One was intended as a trip gift for the parents who financed the adventure, and one was to keep.
Those two pots are the genesis of this collection. The collecting, in turn, has become an excuse to return to Hopi often and come to know Hopi and Hopi-Tewa people, their land, and the institutions they have created. I am generally able to visit Hopi at least once a year (and more frequently in good years). With the passage of time and generations, the connections with Connecticut have faded and northern Arizona is now where I go to relax and renew.
Meanwhile, those first two pots have become three hundred pots—including seven generations of one family. What started as a few random pots on a shelf has become a collection with its own internal structure, logic, and website. Even my friends recognize the obsession, which poses as a collection.
It is a Pahana tradition for outsiders to fall in love with a romantic image of the “peaceful” Hopi and idealize life on the reservation. I know better than that. Yet, Hopi and its people have a special place in my heart. My life and my world would be much impoverished were it not for the experience of that first trip to Hopi and the ensuing dozens of visits back to the reservation.
Now, almost fifty years after that first trip, it is possible to give back some of the delight and beauty that my connection with Hopi has added to my life. When my life is done, the collection described in this catalog, its associated library and various other Native American art will be given to The Hopi Foundation, which has agreed to keep the collection intact. The Museum of Northern Arizona has agreed to store (and use) the collection until there is a professional, secure, and functional museum on the reservation. Then, the collection will return home to Hopi.
My hope is that the collection will allow Hopi artists to experience the accomplishments of past generations and be inspired. My hope is also that a reservation museum might encourage non-Hopi people to visit and learn, and be blessed by the experience...
…As I have been.
— C. O.
October 2009
This collection began with a couple of Hopi-Tewa pots on a shelf. The website came along a couple of hundred pots later—and the numbers keep growing.
Of what use are the collection and website? Several come to mind.
First, many of the people who access the website are collectors or galleries looking for quick access to detailed information about a particular potter. The “Artist List” allows them to access such information. Others are interested in a particular type or design of pottery and the “Category List” serves a similar function. Often such folk have a particular pot that they want to compare to similar pots in this collection.
Second, although there is now only limited access to the internet on the reservation, some Hopi and Hopi-Tewa potters have used the website to see pots they made earlier in their career or see pots made by other family members or friends. Often a potter has several pots in the collection spanning different periods of her/his career. The collection has particularly strong representation of potters in the Nampeyo family (seven generations) and Chapella family (four generations). Numbers of families other than these two are represented in the collection and potters from different families are often linked by marriage. It is my hope that access to generations of pottery will inspire Hopi and Hopi-Tewa artists. As internet connectivity becomes more available on the reservation, it is expected that this use of the collection will grow. Eventually, when the collection becomes part of a reservation museum, potters will be able access the pottery directly.
Third, the collection has become more than a series of pots on a shelf. It has its own internal structure and logic. Thus, it can be used as source data for the development of Native American art history. The development of the style of particular individual can be defined over the course of her career. Similarly, the development of artistic expression within families can be traced (cf. Chervnsik, 2003). The development of particular designs or design motifs might also be examined.
Because the collection covers pottery made over a range of more than 500 years (though mostly the last 150 years), changes in pottery style over time can be examined using collection pots. As an example, in Appendix A I offer a discussion of stylistic changes from 1870 to about 1900. This discussion is just one example of the kind of analysis that can be done using this collection.
To summarize, this collection and its associate website have multiple purposes: 1) as an aid to collectors and dealers, 2) as an inspiration to current Hopi and Hopi-Tewa potters, and 3) as a source of data for the development of art history. Finally there is the most obvious purpose. 4) These pots are beautiful. Seeing them, even online, adds pleasure and joy to life. Though I admit that living with them is even better.