“Clay Tile - Hopi Manta”
(1900–1910 Walpi, AZ)
by Gwen Setalla, Hopi
Alternate Views
Gwen Setalla
Photo by Lana Tupponce
Description: Tile approx. 8 in. x 10 in. of native clays and pigments, dung fired, with Hopi manta design from Walpi, AZ, 1900-1910.
About this Award: Any medium is eligible. Art works winning acquisition awards become part of the museum’s permanent collections. They are chosen for their technique and artistry as well as for the way in which they compare and contrast with other items in our collections.
Jurors’ Comments:
Diane Dittemore: It’s just incredibly well painted. I love the fact that she seems to have taken her designs from a particular manta. She’s drawing upon the rich Hopi textile tradition in her designs. I love the splattering in the background and just really precision painting, and it’s a nice substantial size tile, so I think it would make a great addition to our pottery collection. We don’t have any pieces, to my knowledge, from the artist.( Dr. Lyons: We have in the memorabilia collections tiles that she made to mark excavated and backfilled ruins at Homol’ovi—functional things.) Right, which is another reason to have her more aesthetic product.
Patrick Lyons: What I really like about this piece is the fact that it has these designs that come from traditional Hopi textiles, designs that you see on mantas, and some of these motifs you also see on men’s dance kilts. It also shows something that we see for the first time in the late 1800s and early 1900s—that stylized use of Hopi rain clouds whuch has become a really important symbol in Hopi art, and a nice depiction of what I’m interpreting as a Sun Forehead Katsina—just real classic late 1800s or early 1900s Hopi motifs, done faithfully, and even the technological aspects of the spattering that go back to the 1300s and 1400s. Also the use of engraving is nice, in this piece we see the full complement of traditional Hopi decorative techniques that go back to the 1300s. Also the fact that we have done a lot of things to focus on tiles in the past and that is a medium that we’re trying to build on in our collections.
Andrew Higgins: I like it because of all the iconography. There are so many elements that it could be a really great teaching tool to show students and kids the meaning of different designs. It’s a flat tile so it’s easy to show the whole work. It adds to our Hopi collection.