Youvella Sr, Wallace

A member of the Kachina Clan, Wallace Youvella, Sr. was a Hopi-Tewa potter from Polacca. Born in 1947, he was the son of Charlie Youvella and Susie Maha Youvella. He attended the Hopi Day School, the Polacca Day School and the Phoenix Indian School. He seems to have never put his hands in clay until after he married Iris Nampeyo. Then he learned through watching and working with Iris, and sometimes through watching Iris’ mother, Fannie Nampeyo, or his own mother, Susie Maha. Thomas Polacca also had some input, suggesting that Wallace find a style of design that he could make his own.

Wallace’s pottery first appeared in the marketplace around 1975. He primarily made polychrome seed pots, decorating them with arrow, feather and geometric designs, some painted, some sgraffito. A student of prehistoric pottery decorations, most of his designs came from the ancients.

Wallace passed on in 2021.