Before the turn of the last century -- 1900, very little pottery was being made at Hopi.  Their pottery tradition was as old as the mesa top homes, but reduced trade with the outside and use of new trade vessels had reduced the creation of pottery to heavily made utilitarian and ceremonial pieces not made for trade.  A young Tewa speaking woman, resident of the Tewa speaking village of Hano, on First Mesa, is credited with almost single handedly reviving Hopi pottery.

The Tewa people had migrated to Hopi's First Mesa during the early 1700's from what is now the Chimayo Valley in New Mexico.  They wanted to reestablish their traditional cultural life away from the intrusion of Spanish colonial settlers, and had been invited by the Hopis, to help them defend against the predations of Ute raiders.  Once they arrived, they became so disillusioned with the land they had been given by the Hopis, that they vowed to keep their culture and language separate from Hopi cultural life.  To this day, while many Tewas have marrfied into Hopi families, and have learned the Hopi language, it is a very unusual Hopi who has learned to speak Tewa! Along with their cultural life, they had brought the rich, New Mexico Pueblo pottery tradition.  That tradition was to play an unusual role in the development of Hopi pottery.

The young Tewa woman's name was Nampeyo, and as she worked as translator and courier for an archeological expedition at the nearby, undisturbed, pre-colonial ruins of the Hopi village of Sityatki, (which means "yellow light") she became captivated with the beautiful markings and color of the pottery fragments she saw coming from the ruins.  With the encouragement of the Anglo archaeologists working the dig, she attempted to re-create some of the more striking Hopi designs in clay, using her understanding of the Tewa pottery tradition.  The results were very beautiful, and became highly sought after by the members of the expedition and by the local traders once the news got out that Nampeyo was resurrecting Hopi pottery. 

One of the most unusual aspects of the work was her use of the gold clay slip found among the cliffs near the ruins which gave her pottery it's distinctive golden glow.  As her fame spread in the art world, Hopi potters from other villages became interested in trying their hand at the new art form which soon spread as a good source of income.  Nampeyo carefully passed her craft and her design sense on to her daughters and granddaughters, the most famous of which, Fannie, was a very prolific potter who added to the rich tradition of the Nampeyo family pottery. Today, the descendents of Nampeyo and their families and several other Hopi families are involved in creating the beautiful pottery.  The styles have blossomed, many of the newer ones very different from the older styles, but are still done with great respect for the old traditions.  The old traditional forms are still created with as much care and respect as Nampeyo herself gave her work.