Chapella, Grace

“She used to hold my hands and rub them,” Mark Tahbo said, speaking of his grandmother, “as if she was rubbing into my hands the gift of creativity. Then she said confidently, ‘I know you have it.’ I loved to touch her skin, so silky, thin and transparent.”

Grace Chapella was born in the Tewa village of Hano at Hopi First Mesa on February 4, 1874. She grew up next door to Nampeyo of Hano and learned most of her pottery-making skills from her. Nampeyo was maybe 15 years older than Grace and the year Grace turned 23 was the year Nampeyo became famous at the Chicago World’s Fair.

Grace passed on a few months after her 106th birthday. She saw a lot of changes come to the world of the Hopi and Hopi-Tewa in that time. Grace was born while the last of the Indian Wars was being fought, before the Hopi Reservation itself was formally set aside by Congress. Those were the years when trading posts were first being established and tourists first began to arrive. She also saw the first horseless carriage arrive on the reservation, and remembered being afraid of it. In 1927 she became the first Hopi to take flight in an airplane: traveling from the Grand Canyon to Long Beach, CA, to give a pottery-making demonstration.

While she learned to paint most of the Sikyátki-Revival designs Nampeyo used, the butterfly, moth and mothman designs are those most identified with Grace (and her descendants).

Grace’s daughter Alma Tahbo had a son named Ramon Tahbo who had a son named Mark Tahbo who used the moth often in his designs.

Toward the end of her life Grace sometimes felt the spirit of Nampeyo had come back to visit. “Grandmother Grace would tell me,” said Mark, “‘My grandchild! Come and see what Nampeyo wants.’ I got up, looked outside and said, ‘No one’s out there.’ Grandmother Grace would reply ‘Maybe she’ll come back again.'”

Dr. Greg Schaaf quoted that Grace was one of the first Hopi-Tewa potters to sign her name to her pieces.

Some Exhibits that Featured Grace’s Pottery

  • It’s Your Turn: A Home Studio. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. May 21, 2016
  • Personal Journeys: American Indian Landscapes. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. February 28, 2016
  • Elegance from Earth: Hopi Pottery. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. March 24, 2012 – April 6, 2014
  • We Are About Beauty: Hopi Artists, Hopi Art. Heard Museum North Scottsdale. Scottsdale, AZ. October 25, 2008 – March 29, 2009
  • Buggin’ Art. Heard Museum West. Surprise, AZ. March 24, 2007 – August 26, 2007
  • Every Picture Tells a Story. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. September 20, 2002 – 2005
  • Blue Gem, White Metal: Carvings and Jewelry from the C.G. Wallace Collection. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. May 16, 1998 – October 17, 1999

Some Awards given to Grace Posthumously

  • O’odham Tash, Pottery: Best of Show. Casa Grande, Arizona. 1988
  • Arizona Hall of Fame Award. Arizona Women’s Commission. Phoenix, Arizona. 1988
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