Patty Maho

Hopi

Born around 1903, Patty Maho was a Hopi-Tewa potter. She lived most of her life at Hano, on First Mesa. She learned to make pots but never to paint. Her self-taught sister, Mamie Nahoodyce (1906-1999), did all the painting for her. Neither sister ever attended school and both only spoke Tewa, with maybe a bit of Spanish. The sisters worked together for many years. They were still producing pottery in their seventies. Patty died around 1993 at the age of 89.

Patty seemed to like to make bowls, using either red or yellow clay. Mamie liked to decorate using black and red pigments. Her favorite designs seem to have been parrots, feathers and geometrics.