Burel Naha

Hopi

Burel Naha

Burel is the son of Helen Naha, brother of Sylvia and Rainy Naha, grandson of Paqua Naha and nephew of Joy Navasie. He was born into the Hopi-Tewa Spider Clan in 1944. While he learned something about the traditional way of making pottery from his mother as he grew up, he earned a BA at Brigham Young University after high school and became a school teacher for many years. Then he returned to making pottery.

At first he stayed with the styles and designs he had learned from his mother. Then his daughter Cynthia came home from school one day with a digitized photo of a spider she had drawn. He was entranced. He decided to include the spider in his pottery designs and soon became the "Spider Man" of Hopi pottery.

Burel signs his work with the Long Hair Kachina symbol (his name) followed by the feather design of his mother.