"I think the pottery took over me and I can't get away from it." Rick Dillingham quoting Dextra

Dextra Quotskuyva Nampeyo was born to Rachel and Emerson Namingha at Polacca, Arizona on September 7, 1928. She was a member of the Hopi-Tewa Corn clan. She was a great-granddaughter of Nampeyo of Hano and grew up surrounded by some of the finest Hopi potters of the time. After watching and working with her mother, Dextra began producing pottery in 1967.

Dextra always liked to experiment with her forms and designs, working to make each of her creations unique in its own way. She became known for combining traditional elements with contemporary. Some of her designs came directly from her great-grandmother's creations of the late 1800s.

Dextra always placed great importance on working with clay using only the ancient traditional methods. She used gourds to shape her pots, sandstone to smooth the surfaces and river pebbles to polish them. Some of her polishing stones were passed down through the family for several generations.

Most of Dextra's inspiration came from the designs of her great-grandmother and from pot sherds she found herself while walking through the ruins of ancient Sikyátki and Awatovi.

Dextra taught her daughter, Hisi Quotskuyva Nampeyo, and two nephews, Steve Lucas and Les Namingha, the traditional Hopi-Tewa way to make pottery. All three have gone on to become award-earning potters. She also worked with Hisi's partner, Loren Ami, after seeing his work.

Dextra was proclaimed an "Arizona Living Treasure" in 1995. In 1998 she received the first ever Arizona State Museum Lifetime Achievement Award. Among collectors of traditional Hopi pottery, Dextra is one of the best known of the descendants of Nampeyo of Hano. Dextra passed on in 2019.

Some Exhibits that Featured Works by Dextra

• One Trader's Legacy: Steve Getzwiller Collects the West. Desert Caballeros Western Museum. Wickenburg, Arizona. November 2017 - March 15, 2020. Note: exhibition dates based on the Desert Caballeros Western Museum website and not on the exhibition date printed on catalog
• Native Artists of Western North America. M.H. de Young Memorial Museum. San Francisco, California. August 19, 2017 to December 31, 2018
• Beauty Speaks for Us. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. February 10, 2017 - March 31, 2017
• It's Your Turn: a Home Studio. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. May 21, 2016
• Elegance from Earth: Hopi Pottery. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. March 24, 2012
• Buggin' Art. Heard Museum West. Surprise, AZ. March 24, 2012
• Our Stories: American Indian Art and Culture in Arizona. Heard Museum West. Surprise, AZ. June 26, 2006
• Home: Native Peoples in the Southwest. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. May 22, 2005
• Breaking the Surface: Carved Pottery Techniques and Designs. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. October 2, 2004
• The Collecting Passions of Dennis and Janis Lyon. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. May 1, 2004
• Every Picture Tells a Story. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. Setember 20, 2002
• Hold Everything! Masterworks of Basketry and Pottery from the Heard Museum. November 1, 2001
• Succeeding Generations. Faust Gallery. Scottsdale, AZ. March 13, 1997
• Rain. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. June 19, 1993
• Dan Namingha: Extensions of the Nampeyo Creative Spirit. California Academy of Sciences. Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California. November 16, 1978 - January 16, 1979