Jean & Nyla Collaboration

Jean Sahmie was a fifth-generation descendant of master potter Nampeyo of Hano. Her life and legacy established her as a renowned Hopi potter, trained through a lineage of accomplished Hopi women in her family. Over her lifetime, she created a large and diverse body of Hopi pottery that is now held in collections around the world.
Jean passed away in 2024, leaving behind numerous works, including many unfinished pieces. She is survived by her sister, Nyla Sahmie, to whom Jean entrusted these unfinished forms to be completed. This series of yellowware represents the first group of those works brought to completion—shaped and formed by Jean, then painted and fired by Nyla—and signed by both sisters.
These pieces stand as a tangible link between family and generations of Hopi women, reaching all the way back to Nampeyo, with knowledge passed through observation, practice, and shared experience. Jean and Nyla are daughters of Priscilla Healing, daughter of Rachel Namhinga, who is in turn a daughter of Nampeyo’s first daughter Annie. This Sahmie-sister collaboration honors the Nampeyo lineage and celebrates the enduring bond between sisters.