Navajo Pottery Techniques and Designs
For hundreds of years, the Navajo have been passed down their techniques of making pottery
Navajo potters were guided by certain cultural and spiritual beliefs about the proper ways to make and fire cooking pots, bowls and storage containers. They were primarily for home and ceremonial use. While traditional Navajo pottery was functional, it was rarely decorated. When compared to other southwestern Native American pottery it just didn't stand out. It was basically plain red clay - often referred to as "mud pots".
This is certainly NOT the case today. Navajo potters have evolved into renown artisans. Contemporary Navajo pottery is acknowledged as some of the most appealing and collectible of all native American ceramics. Master Navajo potters are now producing stunningly beautiful pottery that is sought after by collectors world wide.So what brought about this transformation? It all began slowly in the early 1960s, when the demand for traditional Native American crafts exploded on the world stage. With the revival of interest in their arts, many Navajo that had turned away from creating pottery, found a new and eager market for their clay pots. Spurred by the success of a few well known potters, the rush was on to create ever more stylish and yet distinctly cultural designs. Once begun, the Navajo's special talent for creating exquisitely gorgeous pottery blossomed.
Traditionally authentic Navajo pottery was never created using a potter's wheel. Instead, it was slowly formed using the coiling and pinching method. When the hand crafting was done it was fired in an open pit, using juniper wood. Occasionally potters would also combine different types of clay, to give their pots distinctive characteristics. With the rival of Navajo pottery, many artisans have returned to these traditional methods to create a rustic and earthy look. However many others are using modern day potter's wheels and high temperature kilns. 
No matter which method is used to create the pottery, it is today's finishing techniques of sculpting, etching and painting that compels Navajo pottery to stand out from the rest of the field. Artisans embellish their creations with designs and symbols that draws on the rich cultural heritages and religious beliefs of the Navajo. Many of the designs which are used represent water, mountains, clouds, whirlwinds, cornstalks, animals, lightning, and spiritual Yei figures. The use of these significant parts of the Navajo culture are an important part of what makes them so beautiful and desirable.
Perhaps the most popular of all contemporary Navajo designs is called "horsehair" pottery. The technique was first discovered by accident when strands of a Navajo potter's hair fell onto a still hot pot that was being retrieved from a kiln. The results was a very unique and delicate pattern. Today's techniques have evolved to where actual hair from the mane or tail of a horse is burned into the surface. Thus the name horsehair pottery. The end result is a beautiful, dark, free flowing pattern that makes these Navajo pottery pieces so unique.
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