Paqua Naha and the Navasie Family of Potters
Paqua Naha (circa 1890 to 1955) was the First Frog Woman and mother of Joy Navasie, the current and Second Frog Woman. The name Paqua means “frog,” and thus a painted frog became Paqua’s signature or hallmark on her pottery. Paqua’s frog has straight lines for toes, while her daughter Joy signs her pots with a web-footed frog. The majority of her works are polychrome-paint-decorated on yellow or cream slip, but during the last three or four years of her life, she introduced a white ware base that has become a signature for Frogwoman pots.
Joy Navasie, the Second Frog Woman, was born in 1919 and started signing pots with her own hallmark around the age of 20. Joy no longer makes pots, but several of her children and grandchildren continue the tradition of white ware pottery started by Paqua Naha. The white ware bases continue to be a signature of the Navasie family and their many relatives who have become some of the foremost Hopi potters.