Evangeline Talaheftewa – Renowned Hopi Basket Weaver – 27 Inch Coiled (Poota)

Evangeline Talaheftewa (1912-1999) was a renowned Hopi basket weaver from Shungopavi. She won many awards for her large coiled (poota) trays and deep baskets including Best of Show at Santa Fe’s Indian Market in 1979. She demonstrated basket weaving at the Smithsonian and won many other prizes at SWAIA, the Heard Museum and the Museum of Northern Arizona. She is regarded as one of the most skilled Hopi basket weavers in history. 

This tray – with a feather design – is an amazing 27″ in diameter. As shown in photo 2, the basket is signed with her distinctive Corn Clan symbol. She is the first coiled basket maker featured in Helga Teiwes’ classic book, “Hopi Basket Weaving – Artistry in Natural Fibers,” U. of Arizona Press, 1996. The basket she is weaving in the photograph in Teiwes’ book on page 84 may well be this one.  Thanks to her son, Roy Talaheftewa, a fine jeweler, for identifying his mother as the maker when I posted this basket on Instagram. The Jimmie K Hoot’e in the last photo is provided for scale.