Dineh Pottery
Prehistorically, as a semi-nomadic tribe, the Dineh never made much pottery, preferring to use baskets for most storage purposes. Then they settled into the Four Corners area in the 1500s. They learned to make pottery from the pueblos and got pretty good at it. Brown pottery was their trademark and became a staple trade item. Samples of Dineh pottery have been found all over the Southwest. They did produce a small amount of other pottery for ceremonial uses. When traders from the railroads arrived looking for items to sell the tourists, Dineh potters saw an opportunity. But that market dried up in the Great Depression and potters stopped working.
After 1950 Cow Springs brownware began to appear on the market. A trader named Bill Beaver was in Shonto back then, encouraging local potters to “make something different” and the market in the outside world responded positively to those different creations.
Rose Williams is considered the matriarch of modern Dineh pottery. She learned to make pottery from Grace Barlow (her aunt) and passed her knowledge and experience on to her daughters and many others.
Today, most Dineh pottery is heavy, thick-walled and coated with pine pitch (a sealer they also use on many of their baskets). Most Dineh pottery has little in the way of decoration but many pieces have a biyo' (a traditional decorative fillet) around the rim.
Unlike many Puebloan potters, Dineh potters do not grind up old pot sherds and use them for temper in creating new pottery. Their religion says those pot sherds are filled with the spirits of their ancestors and forbids the reuse of the material. Similarly, Dineh religion limits the potters to using primarily Dineh carpet designs in the decoration of their pots.
Dineh potters have also created a panoply of folk art, including unfired clay creations called “mud toys.” Other Dineh potters, like Christine McHorse, have graduated into the mainstream of American Ceramic Art and easily compete among the finest ceramic artists on Earth.
Samuel Manymules at Santa Fe Indian Market