Quapaw Pottery
Quapaw Polychrome Bottle (A.D. 1500-1600) from Coahoma County, Mississippi.
Mississippian culture (900 A.D.-1,450 A.D) is well known for its expertise in pottery-making. However, in this post, we are focusing on the craftsmanship of the Quapaw people. The Quapaw also work pottery into effigy forms that depict animals like dogs, deer, otters, and frogs; objects like shells, and even people! The culture is well known for its beautifully painted vessels, which often use red, white, and black colors. It is incredibly distinct for their artistic style in North America. The bottle featured is considered a variation of the Avenue Polychrome classification with symbols interpreted as the sun, moon, and stars. It represents the Quapaw artisans' fine craftsmanship from 1500-1600 A.D. located in present-day Coahoma County, Mississippi.
The Quapaw were a branch of the Dhegiha Sioux, resting along the lower Arkansas River. The Dhegiha split into five tribes once they left the Ohio Valley. The exact date of separation is up for debate, even termed the "Quapaw Paradox." However, according to Quapaw oral history, while the Dhegiha were migrating away from the Ohio Valley and came across the Mississippi, a dense fog took over the area to cross the river. The people braided a grapevine, but the vine snapped. The people who fell in the river were washed downstream, separating them from the main group. The origin of the tribal Quapaw name, "O-ga-xpa," is translated to "Downstream people." Upon European arrival, many Mississippian people dwindled by disease. During the Indian relocation, many were forced to settle in N.E. Oklahoma, where the Quapaw Nation currently resides.
The Quapaw made pottery for multiple uses. Pottery was a part of a more extensive trade network. The French noted Quapaw vessels as a fine example of trade goods from the Quapaw people, along with painted buffalo robes and canoes. Today Quapaw pottery traditions are kept alive by Quapaw artisans like Betty Gaedtke. She is also known as Te-mi-zhi-ka (little buffalo woman). Gaedtke has a pottery studio focused on creating authentic Quapaw pottery, replicating the works of their ancestors. In an interview with the Arkansas Democratic Gazette, she notes that he wanted to keep the ancestral memory alive by first learning herself around 2012 then teaching others. In her classes, everyone makes two pots, with the second to be gifted for funerals. According to Gaedtke, women were the potters of the tribe who used bear claws, deer antlers, sticks, bones, feathers, shells, and mussels to craft the vessels. So she uses the same materials and tools they would have. While we don't know the meaning behind decorative red and white swirls, the tradition is still very much alive today.
Blog by Jazlyn Sanderson
References:
Martin, Karen. “Reviving an artistic tradition.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. September 8, 2019. https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2019/sep/08/reviving-an-artistic-tradition-20190908/
Gaedtke, Betty. “About Me and the Quapaw Nation.” Te-Me-Zhi-Ka Pottery by Betty Gaedtke, Quapaw. Accessed October 30, 2020. http://quapawpots.com/about-me-and-the-quapaw-tribe-2/
Brandy. “O-ga-xpa Ma-zho“ Quapaw Country.” Quapaw Nation. Accessed October 31, 2020. http://quapawtribe.com/DocumentCenter/View/8990/Quapaw-Country-10-30-2020
This phenomenal ceramic figure you see here is a part of the Jama-Coaque tradition from 1,400-2,300 years ago! While much of the culture remains elusive, their powerful ceramic figurines tell their stories to us today.