Helen Naha, Feather Woman

1922 Born

1993 Died

 PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE

1910-1955 Studio potter

 BIOGRAPHY

Paqua Naha was from Hopi Pueblo where she spent her life making pots in the Hopi tradition. Naha is known for large challenging forms with black and orange polychrome decorations on a ground of cream or yellow slip.

During the last years of her life she developed and began using the white slip ground her family has become so well known for.

Naha’s pieces are marked with a frog earning her the name Frog Woman. She became Frog Woman 1 when Joy Navasie, her daughter, also signed with a frog, becoming Frog Woman 2. Naha’s frogs have straight line feet while Navasie’s frogs have webbed feet.

Public Collections

Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff, Arizona

Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona

Bibliography

Hayes, Allan and John Blom. Southwestern Pottery: Anasazi to Zuni. New York, NY: Cooper Square Press, 1996.

Schaaf, Gregory. Hopi-Tewa Pottery: 500 Biographies, American Indian Art Series. Santa Fe, NM: CIAC Press, 1998.

Southern Highland Craft Guild