Garnet Pavatea

Hopi

Garnet Pavatea (Asamana - Mustard Flower Girl) was born in 1915 in the Hopi-Tewa village of Hano on First Mesa. Her father was Hopi, her mother Tewa. She began a long and productive career of pottery making around 1946 and continued until she passed on in 1981.

Garnet was married to Womak Pavatea and their daughter, Wilma Rose Pavatea, produced pottery in the form of miniature jars from around 1950 to 1960. Garnet herself was fond of making plain red bowls with a corrugated band around the shoulder. Triangular indentations were a common design found on her pieces. She also often made ladles to accompany her bowls.

Like the Nampeyo family, Garnet perfected a style all her own, drawing many design elements from ancient Sikyátki pottery sherds. She often clashed with various Nampeyos over the years (especially Fannie and Priscilla Nampeyo) who accused her of stealing "their" designs. Garnet would always reply that she believed the ancient pottery (and the shapes of it and designs on it) belonged to all Hopis, not just the Nampeyos.

One of Garnet's most beautiful pottery techniques was to use two different colors of slip on the same vessel, one color for the inside of the piece and the other color for the outside.

During her lifetime Garnet entered more than 400 pieces for judging in the Museum of Northern Arizona's Hopi Artist Exhibition. She earned an amazing total of 139 ribbons. Her pieces have long been a favorite among collectors of Hopi pottery.

Myrtle Young was Garnet's sister and she made very similar pottery to Garnet.