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Nampeyo, an American Modernist

Sponsored Project

  • Tom Radford, Director
  • Steve Wikviya Larance, Producer
  • Steve Elmore, Producer
  • Max Walukas, Producer
Nampeyo sits alone in a room surrounded by her masterpieces. Seemingly unaware of the photographer, she gazes introspectively at a ceramic seed jar in her lap.

About the Project

Survival requires creativity.

During the settling of the American West, Hopi-Tewa matriarch Nampeyo transforms adversity into artistry, using her extraordinary talent for innovative pottery to support her community and becoming one of America’s most influential—yet overlooked—Modern Artists.

Combining rare archival footage, interviews with Nampeyo’s descendants and insights from leading scholars, the film offers an immersive portrait of Nampeyo’s life, artwork and cultural impact. It explores the intersections of Hopi-Tewa tradition and Modernist innovation, highlighting Nampeyo’s role as a great creative force. This protagonist-driven approach echoes the strengths of programs like PBS American Masters’ "Marian Anderson: The Whole World in Her Hands" (2024), blending a personal narrative with broader historical context to bring the subject’s legacy to life.

Through a scholarly biography, Nampeyo’s story redefines the origins of Modern Art by focusing on a groundbreaking Native American artist heralded in the press as “the greatest maker of Indian pottery alive” and “the greatest artist of her tribe.” Nampeyo’s revival of ancient Hopi aesthetics introduced abstraction to the visual language of contemporary art, inspiring figures like Picasso and O’Keeffe while establishing the American Southwest as a cradle of Modernism.

Drawing on 30 years of research by award-winning author Steve Elmore, the film reveals Nampeyo as a cultural icon celebrated globally, hailed by President Theodore Roosevelt as a vital player in the genesis of an "original American art for our whole people." Her dynamic story challenges the conventional Eurocentric narrative of Modern Art and celebrates Indigenous artistry as the foundation of America's cultural identity.