Tonita Nampeyo

Hopi

Tonita Hamilton Nampeyo was born in 1934, the daughter of Fannie Nampeyo and granddaughter of Nampeyo of Hano. She grew up surrounded by some of the finest potters on Earth and she learned a lot from them. But she never produced much pottery. In the last years of her mother's life, she and Tonita were almost inseparable. Fannie was slowly going blind but, like her mother before her, she was still making pots by feel. Tonita wasn't making pottery because she was busy painting pots for Fannie. After Fannie passed on, Tonita inherited her role as head of the Hopi-Tewa Corn clan, moved into the Corn clan house in Tewa Village and assumed those duties. When Tonita did make her own pottery, she tended to stick with the shapes and designs she learned from her mother.

Loren Hamilton Nampeyo is Tonita's son.