To the Springs

by Kim Obrzut

Size: 23H x 10W x 10D
Medium: Bronze

Can be ordered in either a blue or red patina

Hopi culture depends on everyone doing their part; no one person or his or her role is any more important than any other. Collecting water at the springs can bring a lot of the community together; it is a time of relaxation, a time to catch up on the latest, to see friends and clan relations that may have messages or important advice to be passed on. The women bring their canteens or water jars to be filled for the house or garden.
Sedentary people of the Southwest have been making pottery for two thousand years. The origins of pottery came from Mexico and developed through mud-lined basketry enabling food to be stored and water to be boiled rendering vegetables easier to eat and digest. Mothers and Grandmothers pass on their designs and skills for generations. No greater craftsmanship is found elsewhere in a period comparable to the Neolithic of Native prehistory. In 1821, the Santa Fe Trail opened and market demand encouraged the polished yellow styles of 200 years earlier, known as the “Sikyatki Revival”, and has remained the dominate Hopi style since the beginning of the 20th century. Elements from a thousand years earlier can reappear in today’s finest pieces. Widespread collecting of Pueblo pottery began in 1876 with Fred Harvey and the Santa Fe, Atchison, and Topeka railways (now the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe).