Christine McHorse (December 21, 1948 – February 17, 2021), also known as Christine Nofchissey McHorse, was a
Navajo
The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States.
With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...
ceramic artist
Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take forms including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is one of the visual arts. Whi ...
from
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label=Tiwa language, Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. ...
.
Early life and education
Born Christine Nofchissey on December 21, 1949, in
Morenci, Arizona
Morenci is a census-designated place (CDP) and company town in Greenlee County, Arizona, United States, and was founded by the Detroit Copper Mining Company of Arizona. The population was 2000 at the 2000 census and 1,489 at the 2010 census. Th ...
, she was the fifth of nine children of Mark and Ethel Yazzie Nofchissey.
McHorse lived off reservation in her childhood but spent summers in
Fluted Rock, Arizona, herding sheep and learning about Navajo oral history from her grandmother, Zonith Bahe.
At age 14, McHorse was introduced to Picasso, Gaudi and Matisse at her boarding school, and she said these artists "opened a whole new world to us" (referring to herself and older sisters who were also attending the school).
From 1963 to 1968, she studied at the
Institute of American Indian Arts
The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) is a public tribal land-grant college in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The college focuses on Native American art. It operates the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA), which is housed in the historic S ...
(IAIA) in
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label=Tiwa language, Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. ...
, when it was a high school for the arts on the campus of the
Santa Fe Indian School
The Federal Government established the Santa Fe Indian School (SFIS) in 1890 to educate Native American children from tribes throughout the Southwestern United States. The purpose of creating SFIS was an attempt to assimilate the Native American c ...
.
Originally intending to study glassblowing, she chose to study ceramics when the glassblowing major was discontinued the year she arrived, studying with Ralph Pardington (ceramics),
Charles Loloma
Charles Sequevya Loloma (January 7, 1921 — June 9, 1991) was an American artist of indigenous Hopi descent. He was a highly influential Native American jeweler during the 20th century. He popularized use of gold and gemstones not previously use ...
(jewelry),
Allan Houser (foundry arts) and
Fritz Scholder
Fritz William Scholder V (October 6, 1937 – February 10, 2005) was a Native American artist. Scholder was an enrolled member of the La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians, a federally recognized tribe of Luiseños, a California Mission tribe. Schold ...
(design).
She met her future husband Joel P. McHorse at IAIA and was influenced by her future grandmother-in-law, Lena Archuleta of
Taos Pueblo
Taos Pueblo (or Pueblo de Taos) is an ancient pueblo belonging to a Taos-speaking (Tiwa) Native American tribe of Puebloan people. It lies about north of the modern city of Taos, New Mexico. The pueblos are considered to be one of the oldest c ...
, to begin working with ceramics.
Archuleta inspired and instructed McHorse in using the shimmering micaceous clay that was common to the Taos area, and McHorse continued to use that clay in her work.
Personal life
In 1969
McHorse married Joel P. McHorse, a
Taos
Taos or TAOS may refer to:
Places
* Taos, Missouri, a city in Cole County, Missouri, United States
* Taos County, New Mexico, United States
** Taos, New Mexico, a city, the county seat of Taos County, New Mexico
*** Taos art colony, an art colo ...
Pueblo Indian and fellow art student whom she met at the
Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA). They had two children, Joel Christopher and Jonathan Thomas, originally living in
Taos
Taos or TAOS may refer to:
Places
* Taos, Missouri, a city in Cole County, Missouri, United States
* Taos County, New Mexico, United States
** Taos, New Mexico, a city, the county seat of Taos County, New Mexico
*** Taos art colony, an art colo ...
but later moving to Santa Fe.
McHorse died from complications of
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
in
Santa Fe on February 17, 2021, during the
COVID-19 pandemic in New Mexico
The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached the U.S. state of New Mexico on March 11, 2020. On December 23, 2020, the New Mexico Department of Health reported 1,174 new COVID-19 cases and 40 deaths, bringing the cumulative statewide to ...
. She was 72 years old.
Artwork and recognition
McHorse's artwork draws inspiration from Navajo, Pueblo, and Anglo cultures. McHorse's pottery was created with a traditional
coil-building method and she based her work on traditional Navajo designs and legends, influenced by the Pueblo artistry but her work is nontraditional in appearance.
Much of her work has a signature black surface, created by depriving the clay of oxygen during firing and making her creations popular in contemporary art venues.
She preferred to do the firing in the traditional mode but used the electric kiln for pre-firing larger pieces, some up to two feet, to prevent the chance of breakage.
She used cedarwood and cottonwood bark as fuel for her outdoor firing.
Although commonly Navajo potters have applied boiled pinon-pine pitch to the surface of fired pots to make them waterproof, McHorse used the pitch to increase value contrast in her incised designs.
Her large pottery has the sound of glass when tapped.
McHorse exhibited at
Santa Fe Indian Market
The Santa Fe Indian Market is an annual art market held in Santa Fe, New Mexico on the weekend following the third Thursday in August. The event draws an estimated 150,000 people to the city from around the world. The Southwestern Association for ...
for 23 years, winning 38 awards for both pottery and sculpture.
Her work can be found in the permanent collections of the
Heard Museum
The Heard Museum is a private, not-for-profit museum in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, dedicated to the advancement of American Indian art. It presents the stories of American Indian people from a first-person perspective, as well as exhibitio ...
, the
Denver Art Museum, the
National Museum of the American Indian,
Navajo Nation Museum
The Navajo Nation Museum is a museum and library on Navajo ground in Window Rock, Arizona. Its collections, exhibits, and other activities focus on the cultural history of the Navajo people. Its activities include traditional museum exhibits, a ...
, and more.
McHorse's work is also featured in the catalog ''Dark Light: The Ceramics of Christine Nofchissey McHorse'' (Fresco Fine Art Publications).
Selected awards
* 1985: Denver Annual Pottery Show, first prize
* 1990: Museum of Northern Arizona's Navajo Craftsmen Exhibition, Best of Show
* 1994:
Santa Fe Indian Market
The Santa Fe Indian Market is an annual art market held in Santa Fe, New Mexico on the weekend following the third Thursday in August. The event draws an estimated 150,000 people to the city from around the world. The Southwestern Association for ...
(SFIM), Best in Division, 1994
* 1994, 1987, and 1989:
Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial
Gallup may refer to:
* Gallup, Inc., a firm founded by George Gallup, well known for its opinion poll
*Gallup (surname), a surname
* Gallup, New Mexico, a city in New Mexico, United States
**Gallup station, an Amtrak train in downtown Gallup, New ...
, Gallup, New Mexico, first place,
* 2001: SFIM Best of Classification Award in sculpture, 2001
* 2006: SFIM Challenge Award
* 2012: SFIM Best Sculpture – first time the award had been won by a potter rather than a sculptor
Solo exhibitions
* 1993: Andrea Fisher Fine Pottery, Santa Fe, NM
* 2013–2017: ''Dark Light: The Ceramics of Christine Nofchissey McHorse'', traveling exhibition organized by the CFile Foundation,
Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art (2013),
Houston Center for Contemporary Craft
The Houston Center for Contemporary Craft is a non-profit arts organization that offers exhibitions, educational programming, and an artist-in-residence program from their building in the Houston Museum District. The center was founded in Septembe ...
(2014),
Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art
The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art is an art museum on the University of Oklahoma campus in Norman, Oklahoma.
Overview
The University of Oklahoma’s Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art holds over 20,000 objects in its permanent collection. The museum c ...
(2014),
Navajo Nation Museum
The Navajo Nation Museum is a museum and library on Navajo ground in Window Rock, Arizona. Its collections, exhibits, and other activities focus on the cultural history of the Navajo people. Its activities include traditional museum exhibits, a ...
,
Rockwell Museum of Western Art
The Rockwell Museum is a Smithsonian Affiliate museum of American art located in the Southern Tier region of New York in downtown Corning, New York. Frommer's describes it as "one of the best-designed small museums in the Northeast." In 2015, The ...
,
IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (2015),
Arizona State Museum (2016),
National Museum of the American Indian (2017)
Group exhibitions
* 1972: Taos Pueblo Arts and Crafts Shop, New Mexico (through 1977)
* 1983: Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah
* 1985: Eileen Kremen Gallery, Fullerton, California
* 1985: ''Eight Northern Artist and Craft Show,'' San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico
* 1987: Kornbluth Gallery, Fair Lawn, New York
* 1988: ''anii ánáádaalyaa'íí: Continuity and Innovation in Recent Navajo Art'', Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Santa Fe, New Mexico
* 1989: ''Navajo Pottery'', Southwest Museum, Los Angeles, California
* 1989: ''Scripps 45th Ceramics Annual'', Lang Art Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, California
* 1989: ''From this Earth: Pottery of the Southwest'', Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe
* 1990: ''The Cutting Edge'', traveling exhibit organized by the Museum of American Folk Art, New York; Venues: New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut; Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California; Telfair Museum, Savannah, Georgia; Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, Florida; Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, Washington
* 1994: ''Honoring the Legacy'', Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff
* 1994: ''Diversity of Expression: New Mexico Folk Art'', New Mexico State Capitol/Governor's Gallery, Santa Fe
* 1994: ''Contemporary Art of the Navajo Nation'', traveling exhibit organized by Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Museum of Art; Venues: Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico; University Art Museum, State University of New York, Albany, New York; Museum of the Southwest, Midland, Texas
* 1996: ''Contemporary Women Artists of the West, 1946–1996'', Karan Ruhlen Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
* 2019: ''Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists'',
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
Public collections
* Denver Museum of Natural History, Colorado
*
Museum of Indian Arts & Culture
The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture is a museum of Native American art and culture located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is one of eight museums in the state operated by the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs and is accredited by the Ameri ...
, Santa Fe, New Mexico
* Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe
* Navajo Nation Museum, Window Rock, Arizona
*
School for Advanced Research, Santa Fe
Further reading
Books
* ''Navajo Pottery: Traditions and Innovations'', by Russell P. Hartman, Northland Press, Flagstaff, 1987
* ''Beyond Tradition, Contemporary Indian Art and Its Evolution'' by Lois Essary Jacka, Northland Publishing Co., Flagstaff, 1988
* ''anii ánáádaalyaa'íí: Continuity and Innovation in Recent Navajo Art'', exhibition catalog by Bruce Bernstein and Susan McGreevy, Wheelwright Museum, Santa Fe, 1988
* ''Museum of American Folk Art Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century American Folk Art and Artists'' by Chuck and Jan Rosenak, New York, 1990
* ''The People Speak: Navajo Folk Art'' by Chuck and Jan Rosenak, Northland Publishing Co., Flagstaff, 1994
* ''Enduring Traditions, Art of the Navajo'' by Lois Essary Jacka, Northland Publishing Co., Flagstaff, 1994
* ''Contemporary American Folk Art: A Collector's Guide'', by Chuck and Jan Rosenak, New York, 1996.
Articles
* ''New York Times,'' 17 March 1985
* interview with Rebecca Friedman, ''THE Magazine,'' November 1994
* "The 'Gold Pots' Stand Out in Elegant Beauty," by Dottie Indyke, ''Santa Fe New Mexican's Pasatiempo,'' 2 June 1995
* "Meet the Masters," by Michael Hice, ''Indian Artist Magazine,'' Spring 1996
* "Mother Earth's Shining Gift," by Melinda Elliott, ''New Mexico Magazine'' vol. 74, no. 7, August 1996.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:McHorse, Christine
People from Morenci, Arizona
1948 births
2021 deaths
20th-century ceramists
20th-century American artists
20th-century American women artists
21st-century ceramists
21st-century American artists
21st-century American women artists
American ceramists
American contemporary artists
American women ceramists
Artists from Arizona
Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in New Mexico
Institute of American Indian Arts alumni
Native American potters
Native American women artists
Navajo artists