Nampeyo, Ellsworth Polacca

Ellsworth Polacca Nampeyo (1940-1993) was a Hopi-Tewa potter. His mother was Fannie Nampeyo, his grandmother, Nampeyo of Hano. Among his siblings were Elva Nampeyo, Leah Nampeyo, Tonita Nampeyo, Harold Polacca, Tom Polacca, and Iris Nampeyo.

Like his siblings, Ellsworth learned how to make pottery by watching and working with his mother as he was growing up. He began producing for the marketplace in the 1970s. He continued making pottery almost until he passed on. Like the other male potters in the family, he had to develop his own niche where he wasn’t competing with his sisters. He mostly made polished red jars, bowls and seed pots, decorating them with lightly carved and sgraffito designs.