What Are Native American Coil Pots?

Native American pottery has a long and rich history spanning thousands of years across different tribes and regions of North America. Pottery served both utilitarian and ceremonial purposes, expressing cultural traditions and artistic styles. One of the oldest and most widespread techniques for creating Native American pottery is the coil method.

Coil pots refer to a hand-built pottery technique where long coils of clay are stacked and blended together to form the pot’s shape. The clay coils are rolled out and then layered on top of each other, gradually building up the vessel walls. The seam where each coil meets is then smoothed together using fingers, tools, or a paddle and anvil technique. Designs can be carved or painted onto the pottery before or after firing.

Coil building allows artisans great flexibility and control in forming pots of varying shapes and sizes. It was used to create many traditional vessels like jars, bowls, plates, and lidded baskets across Native American cultures. Coil pots showcase the artistry and ingenuity of their makers. Their continuing popularity today highlights the enduring appeal of this ancient artform.

Origins and History

Coil pottery first began around 4000 years ago in Central Mexico. Slowly, over 2000 years, this coil pottery technology spread north and got to areas like the American Southwest. According to The History of Coil Pottery in the Southwest United States, coil pottery originated in Central Mexico nearly 4000 years ago and slowly spread north.

Many Native American tribes adopted coil pottery techniques, including the Ancestral Pueblo peoples, Hohokam, Mogollon, and others across the Southwest and South. These tribes used locally available clay and materials to create coil pots for utilitarian purposes like cooking, storage, and serving food and water.

Over centuries, coil pottery evolved from simple rounded shapes into more elaborate styles with painted designs. Traditions were passed down generation after generation. Characteristic styles emerged among tribes, like the black-on-white pottery of the Mimbres people and red-on-buff ware of the Hopi.

Making Coil Pots

Making coil pots is a simple yet artistic process that involves shaping clay coils by hand and joining them together to form the pot’s shape. The basic steps are:

1. Roll out clay coils of even width and thickness. Typical coils are around 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Use your palms to roll the clay into long snake-like coils (source: https://www.lakesidepottery.com/Pages/Pottery-tips/Making-a-clay-coiled-pot-Lakeside-Pottery-Tutorial.htm).

2. Form the base by flattening a large piece of clay into a circle. Smooth the edges using your fingers or a rib tool.

3. Attach the first coil around the base using the “bonding pinch” technique. Press the coil onto the base clay and pinch them together from both sides. Apply water or slip to increase adhesion (source: https://ancientpottery.how/how-to-make-a-coil-pot/).

4. Continue adding coils, one on top of the other, to build the pot walls upwards. Smooth each coil using the “flat pinch” technique. Use a wooden rib tool to further smooth and shape the coils.

5. Allow the pot to air dry completely before firing. Dry slowly to prevent cracking. Fire at the appropriate temperature for the clay type.

Coil pots can be shaped into all kinds of creative forms like bowls, vases, pitchers etc. The finished look depends on the coil shapes, bonding method and smoothing techniques used.

Styles and Techniques

Native American coil pots display a diverse range of regional styles and techniques. The materials available locally, cultural influences, and intended purposes all contribute to the variations seen across North America.

In the Southwest, coil pots often feature geometric designs reminiscent of Puebloan art. Black-on-white pottery with contrasting painted designs flourished among the Ancestral Pueblo peoples. Intricate patterns like feathers, lightning, clouds, and corn symbolize important aspects of their culture and worldview.

Plains tribes like the Arapaho create coiled pottery with high, thin walls. Cheyenne potters adorn their work with horsehair for symbolic meaning. Comanche pots have distinctive hexagonal and zig-zag patterns made by indenting the coils before joining them.

In the Eastern Woodlands, coiled pottery historically had thicker walls and included textured decorative elements. Cherokee pots often depicted natural scenes like mountains, trees, or animals. Muscogee Creek potters crafted distinctive incised designs.

California tribes like the Mono and Miwok crafted elegant ollas and cooking vessels. Their coiled pots were sometimes so finely made that they did not even require an inner clay liner. Pacific Northwest tribes like the Clallam featured unique stepped patterns and appliqué designs on their coiled baskets and pots.

Across regions, Native potters personalized their work with representations of animals, celestial bodies, clan symbols, and abstract geometries that held deep symbolic significance.

Traditional Uses

Native American coil pots served numerous practical, ceremonial, and economic purposes for the tribes who created them.

One of the most common uses was for cooking, storage, and serving food. The pots were used to boil stews, make soups, and cook or store meat, grains, beans, and vegetables (The History of Coil Pottery in the Southwest United States). Their rounded bottoms and thick walls made the pots well-suited for placement directly in a fire or on hot coals to cook the contents.

Coil pots also played an important role in ceremonies and rituals. They were used to hold sacred medicines, paints, meals, and offerings for ceremonial uses. Pueblo tribes in particular used decorated coil pots in kiva rituals and ceremonies (Historical Coil Pots – A History of Coil Pots Over the Years).

Finally, coil pots were essential for trade and bartering between tribes. They were commonly exchanged as gifts and traded for other goods. Their portability and durability made them prized possessions.

Modern Revival

In the 20th century, there was a resurgence of interest in traditional Native American coil pots among indigenous artists seeking to preserve cultural practices. This revival was spurred on by a desire to keep coil pottery techniques alive for future generations. Native American artists began creating coil pots not just for utilitarian purposes, but also as works of fine art.

Contemporary Native American coil pots showcase both traditional and innovative designs, styles, and firing methods. While preserving customary shapes and embellishments, modern coil pots also experiment with contemporary forms, themes, and glazes. Native American coil pot artists today bring their own unique perspectives to this ancient art form.

Coil pots made by Native American artists can be found in museum collections and cultural centers across North America. Institutions like the National Museum of the American Indian and the Heard Museum exhibit contemporary Native American coil pots alongside older historical examples. This placement recognizes coil pottery as a continuing cultural tradition with both ancestral roots and modern expressions.

Notable Coil Potters

Many remarkable Native American potters have become known for their exceptional coil pots. Here are some of the most influential historic and contemporary coil pot artists and their notable works.

Maria Martinez was a celebrated potter from the San Ildefonso Pueblo in New Mexico. She helped revive traditional Native American pottery styles in the early 20th century. Martinez perfected an innovative black-on-black pottery technique and became renowned for her blackware ceramics. Her coil pots are extremely thin-walled and precisely coiled.

Nampeyo was a legendary Hopi potter born in the 1860s. She learned pottery making from her mother and became highly skilled at crafting very thin-walled vessels using the traditional coiling technique. Nampeyo’s pots were in high demand from collectors and museums. She greatly influenced Hopi and Southwest pottery.

Joyce Growing Thunder Fogarty is a contemporary Native American coil pot artist. She creates intricate, delicately coiled pots that incorporate traditional Missouri River designs. Her work combines ancient Indigenous coiling methods with modern forms and themes. She helped establish the Growing Thunder Creative Arts Center.

Preston Singletary is a contemporary Native American glass artist of Tlingit heritage. While he is best known for blown glass, Singletary also creates coil pots by layering and fusing colored glass. His coil pots incorporate Tlingit designs like ravens, killer whales, and tribal crests.

Cultural Significance

Coil pots have played an important role in Native American culture for centuries. They hold deep spiritual and social significance, representing tribal identity, heritage, and traditions. According to The History of Coil Pottery in the Southwest United States, coil pots were often used in sacred ceremonies and rituals by many tribes.

The painstaking process of constructing a coil pot – rolling out long coils of clay and carefully stacking them – represents patience, dedication, and reverence for the natural world. Coil pots connect each generation to their ancestors through shared knowledge and craftsmanship passed down over hundreds of years. As explained in Historical Coil Pots – A History of Coil Pots Over the Years, modern Native American potters see their work as a living link to history and cultural identity.

Intricate designs and symbols etched into the clay convey tribal stories, legends, and cosmology. Coil pots represent communal traditions, shared beliefs, and timeless wisdom. For many tribes, the continuity of coil pottery practice reinforces a sense of cultural endurance and pride.

Characteristics and Materials

Native American coil pots are made from natural clays found in the Southwestern United States. The most common types of clay used are red clay, grey clay, and white kaolin clay. These clays can be mixed together to achieve different colors and textures (The History of Coil Pottery in the Southwest United States).

Traditionally, Native American potters use simple tools like wooden paddles, round stones, gourd scrappers, and yucca leaf brushes. The clay is rolled into long coils or ropes and then built up to form the pot’s shape. The coils are smoothed together using fingers, tools, or a rubbing stone (Indigenous Coil Pots Craft Handout).

Coil pots are known for their round, spherical forms with curved sides. The clay can be textured by imprinting designs using tools or fingers. Traditional colors include natural clay tones of red, brown, grey, white, and black. Pigments are also used like iron oxide for red, manganese oxide for black, and mineral oxides for white.

The irregular, hand-built shapes and organic textures give coil pots a distinctive aesthetic. The simplistic forms contrast with the elaborate painted designs in traditional geometrical patterns or figurative motifs.

Conclusion

In summary, Native American coil pots have a long history, dating back thousands of years. Coil pots were originally created by Native American groups like the Anasazi for functional purposes, used for storing food and water. The process of making coil pots is labor intensive but allows artists to create unique shapes and designs. Traditional coil pots incorporated geometric patterns and natural earth tone colors. While the use of coil pots declined due to colonization, there has been a revival of coil pottery making since the early 20th century. Contemporary Native artists have innovated with new styles, materials, and colors while preserving important cultural traditions. Coil pots remain an important Native American art form that allows artists to connect with their heritage and pass on ancestral knowledge to future generations through the creative process.