UGA, Institute of Native American Studies

This project was a collaborative effort that brought three eminently qualified Navajo potters and culture bearers to teach the art of Navajo pottery making to Navajo Nation potters in the Four Corners Area of New Mexico.

This project brought together three master potters, Samuel Manyules, Alice Cling and Ida Sahmie to collaborate in the cultural sharing of traditions they learned from previous generations and teach these Navajo pottery techniques to eight apprentices. As an open campus event, there was also public viewing and some participation during the six-day workshop. The apprentices ranged in age from 19 through middle age and included one Navajo elder. All the participants continue to share the techniques and cultural knowledge learned with their home communities. The workshop took place on the campus of the Navajo Nation Museum – the pottery -apprentices’ work was exhibited there – and inspired museum plans for a major pottery show of past and present Navajo pottery.