Nampeyo, Donella Tom Zacarias

Donella Tom Zacarias Nampeyo is the daughter of Jean Sahmie. She was born into the Hopi-Tewa world at Tewa Village in 1972. She grew up learning how to make pottery by watching and working with her mother and grandmother, Priscilla Namingha Nampeyo. By lineage Donella is a great-great-great granddaughter of Nampeyo of Hano.

Donella began producing pottery on her own about the time she finished high school. Like her mother and grandmother, Donella likes to make traditional Hopi shapes and decorate them with designs passed down through her family.

You can see some of Donella’s pottery on display at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff. Donella signs most of her pieces with her Tewa name: Popovi.