The Navajo Indian tribe is relatively new to the Southwest compared to other Pueblo cultures. These hunters and gatherers settled in the Southwest about 150 years before the Spanish.
Navajo Indians borrowed largely from neighboring Pueblos, assimilating their cultural practices into the Navajo way of life. From the Pueblo people, the Navajo Indian tribe learned the art of pottery making, the Distinctive Style of Diné – Navajo Indian Pottery. For having learned pottery art from neighboring Pueblos, Navajo Indian artists have developed a very distinctive pottery style.
Artists of the Navajo Indian tribe have all but neglected the monochromatic designs so popular in Acoma and Laguna Pueblo pottery. Instead,Navajo Indian pottery employs a varied palette that includes vivid greens and blues that “pop” against natural terra cotta-colored clay.
Figures and symbols commonly depicted on pottery from the Navajo Indian tribe are the kokopelli and Yei-Bichei, supernatural beings, some of whom are associated with forces of nature.
Unique Techniques – Navajo Horsehair Pottery
The Navajo Indian tribe are the only pottery makers to use pine pitches for finishes, giving the finished piece a dark red or brown hue and glossy sheen resembling mahogany.
More than any other Native American pottery making tradition, the Navajo Indian tribe is known for horse hair pottery which was borrowed from the Acoma Pueblo. By placing individual strands of horse hair from the mane or tail onto red-hot pieces, artists create dark veins that may either serve as the sole decoration or as a backdrop for another etched or painted design. A similar process is also used with feathers.