Koopee, Jacob
Jacob Koopee Jr. (1970-2011) was the great-great-grandson of Nampeyo of Hano. His father was Jacob Koopee Sr. and his mother was Georgia Dewakuku Koopee, a Hopi woman from Sichomovi. Jake was raised in the Sichomovi Deer/Flute clan.
Jake was interested in clay early in life. Among his teachers he counted Marie Koopee (paternal grandmother), Kathleen Dewakuku (maternal aunt), Nancy Lewis (maternal aunt), Zella Cheeda (maternal aunt) and Dextra Quotskuyva (paternal aunt). While he spoke highly of them all, he said it was Dextra who taught him the most about producing high-quality pottery.
In the early years of his career, Jake usually painted designs that he’d learned from others in the Nampeyo family. Most were replicas of designs that had been passed down through the generations, designs that had been copied from broken pot sherds found littering the ground at ancient sites all around the mesas of Hopi country. He signed those early pieces Jake Nampeyo and painted a corn plant and a kokopelli design nearby. Later he modernized and stylized those base Sikyátki designs, making them his own. Those later pieces he signed: Koopee, and used the flute of a larger kokopelli figure as the main leg of his uppercase “K.”
During the migrations of the Flute and Horn clans, the Flute clan was charged with carrying the water. Today they are charged with performing the prayers that bring rain. The kokopelli is their symbol: as he plays his flute, he’s sending prayers for rain to the heavens.
Jake exhibited his pieces at the Museum of Northern Arizona’s Hopi Show, the Santa Fe Indian Market and the Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts Fair & Market. He earned a number of awards in his life, a highlight being two Best of Show ribbons in 2005: one at the Santa Fe Indian Market and the other at the Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts Fair & Market.
There’s a series of three melon jars that were made by Jake in order to show his cousin, Alton Komalestewa, that Hopi clay could be shaped and formed in the same way as Santa Clara clay to make the kind of melon jars Alton had learned to make from his mother-in-law, Helen Shupla. On learning that, Alton returned to Hopi after his wife Jeanne Shupla died. Those three melon jars were the only melon jars Jake ever made.
Most pottery made by Jake Koopee was sold directly to a collector before it left his house.
Some Exhibits that featured pieces by Jake
- Elegance from Earth: Hopi Pottery. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. March 24 – April 6, 2014
- Buggin’ Art. Heard Museum West. Surprise, Arizona. March 24 – August 26, 2007
- Marti’s Choice: a Very Personal Selection of Fine Southwestern Indian Art. Martha Hopkins Struever. Santa Fe, New Mexico. August 17-20, 2006. Note: held in the De Vargas Room, Eldorado Hotel, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- Our Stories: American Indian Art and Culture in Arizona. Heard Museum West. Surprise, Arizona. June 26, 2006 – 2009
- Images, Artists, Styles: Recent Acquisitions from the Heard Museum Collection. Heard Museum North. Scottsdale, Arizona. July – December 2001
Some Awards Jake earned
- 2005 Santa Fe Indian Market. Best of Show. Awarded for painted bowl
- 2005 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market. Best of Show. Awarded for traditional pottery artwork: “Awakening”
- 2005 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, Classification VIII – Pottery. Best of Classification. Awarded for traditional pottery artwork: “Awakening”
- 2005 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, Classification VIII – Pottery, Division A – Traditional/Native Clay/Hand-Built (painted): Best of Division. Awarded for traditional pottery artwork: “Awakening”