Jar with Butterfly and Sityatki Inspired Designs

Grace Chapella’s designs are inspired by archaeological vessels from the ancient Hopi site of Sityakti, which dates from the fourteenth to the fifteenth century. The butterfly symbolizes man’s spiritual transformation. Mark Tahbo, an accomplished potter and Chapella’s great grandson, interprets the jar’s designs as symbolic of water’s life-giving cycle: the butterflies indicate a burst of life after the spring rains; the wave patterns dotted with cross forms are cornfields surrounded by water; the jagged peaks are the three Hopi mesas in northern Arizona; and the black fingerlike forms are prayer feathers used in rain ceremonies.