Wallace Youvella
Corn Maidens
5" H
x 5 1/2" D
Wally Youvella is the husband
of the well-known Nampeyo pottery, Iris Youvella. Through is
wife, his family pedigree reads like a Who's Who of Hopi
pottery. He has been a proficient potter for many years, assisting
Iris in some of her endeavors, but it has been quite some time
since he last started producing unique works of his own.
Wally has also been credited
with developing the incised style of Hopi pottery, along with
his late brother-in-law, Tom Polacca.
Like Iris, Wally maintains
a clean and classic approach to Hopi pottery making. His natural
colors lend themselves well to the look and feel which he sets
out to achieve. There is nothing else quite like it. The smooth
surface and expertly executed designs demonstrate his skill as
a delicate potter as well.
Both Wally and Iris spend
many hours burnishing their pottery by hand in the traditional
fashion - using a smooth polishing stone handed down for generations.
They are very meticulous in their attention to detail. Every
inch is carefully gone over to insure precise density and polish.
Wally also appears in nearly
every major publication on Hopi pottery including Hopi-Tewa
Pottery: 500 Artists Biographies by Gregory Schaff, The
Art of the Hopi by Jerry and Lois Jacka, Fourteen
Families in Pueblo Pottery by Rick Dillingham, and The
Legacy of a Master Potter: Nampeyo and Her Descendants by
Mary Ellen and Laurence Blair.
