Kahe, Gloria

Born in 1951, Gloria Kahe is a Dineh woman who married Samuel Kahe of Sichomovi and moved to a home in Polacca. Because the Hopi and Hopi-Tewa are matrilineal societies, neither Samuel nor Gloria would ever inherit a home on the mesa. Polacca is a cross-cultural village at the foot of First Mesa, inhabited in its early days by Thomas Polacca, the brother of Nampeyo of Hano. Because he was male, Thomas also could never inherit a home on the mesa. From his home below the mesa he entertained many invading archaeologists, missionaries and government agents, until he was forced to relocate to the family ranch in Sand Hills Canyon where he lived the rest of his life. Several cross-cultural families have settled in Polacca since.

Gloria learned to make pottery from her mother-in-law, Marcella Kahe. Marcella taught her the traditional Hopi way, including the designing and painting of Sikyátki-Revival designs. However, Gloria branched out into designs and imagery drawn from her Dineh heritage. She also developed some new designs of her own.

Some of Gloria’s pottery shows Yeibichai, Dineh spirit figures pictured in Dineh sand paintings and on rugs woven in the Four Corners region. She paints these figures using the same paints and slips she’d use to paint Sikyátki imagery. Her work is very distinct and in demand by many collectors.

Gloria has been producing pottery since the 1970s. She taught her daughter, Valerie Kahe, to make pottery, too. Her husband, Samuel Kahe, also makes pottery, as does his sister, Karen Kahe Charley.

Some Awards Gloria Earned

• 2008 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, Classification II – Pottery, Division A – Tradition, Native clay, hand built, painted: Honorable Mention
• 2004 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II – Pottery, Division F – Traditional pottery, painted designs on matte or semi-matte surface, all forms except jars, Category 1301 – Seed bowls, opening must be top center: Second Place