Miriam Nampeyo

Hopi

Born in 1956, Miriam Tewaguna Nampeyo is the daughter of Elva Nampeyo and granddaughter of Fannie Nampeyo. Miriam learned the traditional art of making pottery from both women as she was growing up.

In her own words: "I feel good about doing pottery. It's the only thing I do now. It excites me to work. It took me quite a while after I got out of high school, four or five years. Then my mom really started teaching me the pottery. Then I started on my own, not painting right off, especially the 'fineline,' which was taught to me by my younger sister, Adelle."