Nampeyo, Hisi Quotskuyva

“The highest compliment I have gotten was when someone said my work resembles my mother’s pottery.”

Camille Hisi Quotskuyva Nampeyo was born to Edwin and Hopi-Tewa potter Dextra Quotskuyva in 1964. She said she was always playing with her mother’s clay, making toy figures and such as Dextra and Hisi’s grandmother, Rachel Namingha Nampeyo, were usually making pottery somewhere close by.

Hisi felt the learning was on a subconscious level, almost like osmosis. Working with clay in that way was always fun and slowly she learned all the processes involved in making pottery: the molding, sanding, polishing, painting and firing.

For years Hisi participated in events like the Santa Fe Indian Market, the Hopi Show at the Museum of Northern Arizona, the Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts Fair & Market, the Gallup InterTribal Ceremonial and others, earning ribbons at most for her work. Then one day she stopped going out to promote herself and sell her work. She still makes pottery but it’s usually sold before it leaves her home.

Following her mother’s advice, Hisi has always stayed with making the shapes she learned from her family and painting the designs she learned growing up. Sometimes she flavors those designs with something different that she found on an ancient pot sherd or with something new she’s developed herself, based on the old designs.

Some Exhibits that featured Hisi’s work

  • It’s Your Turn: A Home Studio. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. May 21, 2016
  • Elegance from Earth: Hopi Pottery. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. March 24, 2012 – April 6, 2014
  • Choices and Change: American Indian Artists in the Southwest. Heard Museum North. Scottsdale, AZ. June 30, 2007
  • Buggin’ Art. Heard Museum West. Surprise, AZ. March 24, 2007 – August 26, 2007
  • Home: Native Peoples in the Southwest. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. May 22, 2005
  • Succeeding Generations. Faust Gallery. Scottsdale, AZ. March 13, 1997
  • Dan Namingha: Extensions of the Nampeyo Creative Spirit. California Academy of Sciences. Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California. November 16, 1978 – January 16, 1979. Accompanied by an exhibition catalog co-published by the Gallery Wall, Phoenix, Arizona. Features art by Dan Namingha, Nampeyo, the Nampeyo Family, Annie Healing Nampeyo, Rachel Namingha Nampeyo, Dextra Quotskuyva Nampeyo and Camille Quotskuyva Nampeyo
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