Sakeva, Beth

Hopi potter Beth Sakeva was the sister of the Kenneth Shupla who married Helen Shupla of Santa Clara Pueblo. Her mother was Hazel Shupla, two of her aunts were Lena Charlie and Irene Shupla. Beth was born in 1926 and passed on in 1994.

Beth learned how to make pottery through watching and working with her mother as she grew up. She learned to make traditional Hopi pottery and decorate it with traditional designs. Then she got more interested in patterns she found on the pot sherds littering the ground around where she lived. She developed the beginnings of the “sherd” design from those. The sherd design was later picked up by Rondina Huma and developed further. It’s that sherd design that Rondina eventually made famous.

Some Exhibits that featured Beth’s work

• Every Picture Tells a Story. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. 2002
• Recent Acquisitions from the Herman and Claire Bloom Collection. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. January 11, 1997 – July 1997