Hopi Pueblo by Rachel “Koo-Loo” Sahmie Nampeyo (1956-2022)

Late 20th Century

Size 5.75"H  x 8.25" D

Hand Coiled Polychrome Clay with Tan Background and Hand Painted in Dark Brown and Dark Orange Geometric Designs

From a Private Colorado Collection

Excellent Condition

Rachel "Koo-Loo" Sahmie Nampeyo (1956–2022) was a renowned Hopi-Tewa potter from the First Mesa on the Hopi Reservation in Arizona. She was the great-granddaughter of the legendary Nampeyo (c. 1860–1942), often called "Old Lady Nampeyo," who pioneered the Sikyátki Revival style that revitalized ancient Hopi pottery designs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.Born in 1956 to Priscilla Namingha Nampeyo and Donnelly Sahmie, Rachel grew up in Polacca at the base of First Mesa, immersed in a family of accomplished potters. She learned traditional techniques by observing her mother and began actively creating pottery around 1970. Many of her siblings—such as Bonnie Chapella Nampeyo, Randall Sahmie, and others—also became potters or carvers, continuing the renowned Nampeyo family legacy.Koo-Loo specialized in the Sikyátki Revival style, featuring classic shapes like wide-shouldered jars, seed pots, tiles, and canteens, decorated with intricate polychrome designs inspired by ancient motifs (e.g., batwing, dragonfly, migration patterns, and geometric elements). Her work often signed as "Nampeyo Koo Loo" or similar variations, emphasized balanced, symmetrical painting on smooth, polished vessels fired in traditional methods.She had one daughter, Carla Moreno, and several grandchildren. Her pottery earned recognition for its fidelity to ancestral traditions while showcasing personal artistry, appearing in galleries, auctions, and collections focused on Southwest Native American art.