Shupla, Helen

Helen Baca Shupla was born into Santa Clara Pueblo in 1928. Her mother was from Santa Clara but her father was from Tohono O’odham. She grew up at Santa Clara, learning to make pottery along the way. She married Kenneth Shupla, a Hopi kachina carver, and they seem to have commuted regularly between Hopi and Santa Clara.

It was at Hopi that Helen first experienced the elasticity of Hopi clay. That led to experiments where she developed her unique style of making a melon jar by pushing the clay out in segments rather than carving segments into a dry clay surface. While her method yielded a beautiful melon bowl it also required extreme patience to not push too hard and poke an unfixable hole in the clay.

Early in her life Helen was producing black-on-black pottery, then she graduated to making carved and incised bowls, jars and plates before developing her signature melon jars. Her husband often helped with carving and incising her pots, using designs like the avanyu (the mythic Tewa water serpent), rain clouds, lightning bolts and kiva steps.

Between 1978 and 1984 Helen earned four First Place ribbons and several Second and Third Place ribbons for her work at the Santa Fe Indian Market.

Helen’s daughter Jeannie married Alton Komalestewa and he moved to her home at Santa Clara. Helen taught him the traditional way to make pottery, including how to make her famous melon pots.

Helen died in 1985 and Jeannie followed in 1989. Alton married Pam Lalo from Hopi Second Mesa in 1992 and moved back to Hopi from Santa Clara. He still continues to make pots in Helen’s famous shapes and styles and has taught Helen’s grandson, Mathew Komalestewa, how to make pottery in Helen’s style, too.