The Lost Art of Hopi Coal Fired Pottery With Bobby Silas 

One of the best youtube videos ever. A person can learn a lot by listening, watching, and applying certain principles to their life.

Please never stop doing this a new old art

That was very inspirational, love the history and story, Thank You for sharing Andy Ward and Bobby Silas!!!! I am Tohono O'odham and live in Ohio where I am teaching my grandchildren how to hunt for clay, weave, bead and survive. Hugs and Blessings

What a fantastic story of experimental archaeology and rediscovery!

What an amazing journey ! Wow ! Beautiful ! Well done ! To be able to recapture the art and skills of your Hopi ancestors had to be momentous !

very impresive ceramic you make it very especial thank you very much

You are an inspiration Bobby, thank you

Such a beautiful journey into this young man's history. Thanks Bobby. I appreciate your sharing your discoveries w/ us.

2nd time watching this video. The artistry is phenomenal. His story and adventure to discovery is inspiring. Thanks for sharing.

How wonderful! Exquisite art.😊

Some of the only happy memories I have from childhood is building models with my father. Due to a lot of damage & pain, I can no longer hold things steady for details. I so envy the delicate strokes,, the precision of the lining. Pursue your passion and you will never work a day as the old saying goes (kinda lol).

Incrível !!! 😊 ❤❤❤❤❤❤ Parabéns por todo esse carinho de " dar vida " ao passado ! Que talento impressionante ! 😊 ❤❤❤❤❤

Beautiful pottery and story.

Phenomenal to see the steadiness of his hand . It would be informative to learn the meaning of the motifs.

The story telling, videography and editing was supreme. This by far is my favorite video (still binge watching to get to the current video). So glad you were able to document this and hope it receives a wider audience. Have you and Bobby Silas considered submitting this to the Library of Congress? A week or more ago I enrolled in your newsletter list. Hoping there will be a future workshop/class with Bobby Silas and yourself. Thanks for sharing.

God provides the ingredients, including your heart, to bring it all together. 🙏🏼💜

Gosh dang! This guy makes amazing pottery!

Absolutely beautiful!

Amazing story

So much symbolism from the dragon fly to the clouds it feels so true to the ancestral people.

Amazing information, especially about the colours and the same clays etc they used. Thank you for this

Beautiful!!

WOW!! What a beautiful piece! 🤩🔥

What a beauty!!!

Amazing story of success ! Very enjoyable and inspiring video !

Amazing and so beautiful 🤩

Andy you did a fantastic job producing this video. It’s one of my favorites. I’m really impressed. Pete

Amazing artwork! ❤

Amazing.

This is magical . I literally wept ❤

Beautiful

Absolutely amazing 😮❤

Sooooo interesting! Thank you for sharing!

Stunning

Wow! So beautiful! 😍

This video is a treasure.

Amazing! Thank you for this!

Wow! Thank you

Very cool!

Awesome episode! Great story behind a beautiful piece of work!

I'm so thankful that I am not the only one who has to find the letters through the tears 🥹 As always, tio Andy, your efforts you so generously share with us all is truly a timeless gift I am so grateful for 🥰 thank you 🙏🏼

20:20 stunning, Gift from Earth.

Bobby you do a great job narrating this video and telling us your story. I figure 400 years and 5 generations per century then you have gone back 20 generations in time to bring back the ancestors knowledge and craftsmanship. INCREDIBLE ACCOMPLISHMENT! In my humble opinion that is a heroic achievement on your part. Your skill set is impressive and your work is beautiful. Thank you for sharing your story with us all. I wish you all the best and continued success. Sincerely, Pete

That is a beautiful pot!

You had me at coal-fired, but the detail in that pottery is incredible! I can hardly believe all that was done freehand, and it's all the better with indigenous materials. Add: For anyone else who's never tried or worked with coal, it's takes a lot of heat to get it going, and depending on type, lots of sustained airflow. Typically you have to have a fire to start a coal fire. I've tried bituminous and it smells godawful until you burn off the impurities like sulfur and cokes up; it smokes a ton and if you try it in the city, you'll stink up the whole block. Lignite is a less refined version of bituminous and I can only imagine the stink he had to put up with. I switched to anthracite about two years ago now, and while it's a bit of a pain to get started, you'll need constant airflow to keep it going or it will go out on its own, but you can't match the heat it gives off or burn duration (I've melted down a 1" cast iron plate for example without meaning to!). Start with a charcoal fire and a small automated blower (leaf blower is a bit too much volume but the right size if you have a long run of tubing to get to your firebox) On the flip side, it pops a lot and will not hesitate to start nearby objects like lawns or kiddie pools on fire, and you'll be filthy by the end of it. The aroma anthracite puts off is fairly pleasant to me, almost like an earthy sugar aroma.

inspiring!

This made me so emotional. My sister and I were at Acoma Pueblo years ago and were awestruck by the pottery (we bought a few pieces, and now I appreciate mine even more). It’s so nice to see how this Hopi descendant figured out how to revive the ancient practices of his ancestors. I’d love to see more videos like this.

That was so cool!

OMG the burning beehive of coal is the coolest thing I have ever seen

Love the excitement and pride in his voice! So well done and so absolutely beautiful! I hope he's teaching everyone who wants to learn, this is knowledge that should not be lost ever again.

F man, this was amazing in so many ways. Thank you

amazing

genius...

beautiful!!!1

What an INCREDIBLE story! Thank you so much for sharing Bobby. Thank you for bringing his story to us Andy.

Incredibly talented artist, his design work is amazing

So cool to see a young man enthusiastically uncovering his culture through art. I hope to visit and learn about Hopi art one day

This is the most beautiful and meaningful way to connect to the land and to those who walked it before. ❤️

Video about the Mata Ortiz pottery was far more interesting and informative.

That was the best video l!! The story telling and how Silas and his partner developed and recreated the yellow pottery. Beautiful!!! Thanks for bringing that story to us Andy!!!

Second time watching this video, and this time around I paid attention to the pot shards you pulled out of the old mound of rubble. GORGEOUS STUFF, breath taking. I love it. Years ago I went on a tour of ancient archeology sites of Ancient Greece and Minoan Crete (big island between Greece and Egypt) and it was common to see pot shards in the gravel paths. I would stop and stare at my feet in disbelief. Pete

This is one of my favorite videos on RU-vid I watch it 3 are 4 times a week

Pottery and poetry. This was moving, interesting, and focused. I so appreciate your story, and sharing this detailed documentary. I am a tribal member of the Pima (Gila River) and Crow (Montana). It was a pleasure to see all of your work. I hope you the very best and look forward to another venture via RU-vid or otherwise. "A-ho,"... the word for, "thank you," in the Crow language.

Amazing and beautiful. I really appreciate that you documented this technique. As far as i know, no one has done it before.

Soo amazing!! What material is your brush?

Would I like to have your pottery? What a honor to own your pottery.

I get like crying! Amazing work Bobby and Andy for providing such wonderful insight

I adore this video. Just starting this primitive pottery journey, and it’s so fun to see this process. Plus, the Ramones shirt with this traditional calling- what’s more punk than making time traveling art?! Great stuff.

Thank you, Andy, for sharing this inspiring story of a creative journey that begins as a desire to find yellow but evolves into recreating historic native culture.

that was truly beautiful! It gave me goosebumps when he unveils the finished pottery! stunning beyond belief and Im so happy that he was able to resurrect this authentic lost process of firing with coal.

I felt her emotion as her desire was building in achievement and that emotion erupted through me and like a sort of volcano, tears of Joy flowed down my cheeks. Energy Vibration and Frequency Our everything, and it manifests into our reality. The "True Science" "Quantum Physics Science" and the "True Natural Magic" of Creating. Excellent communication of her Journey, in an Excellent Documentary Production. I'm simply stunned at my Discovery of this Contrnt. It is Awards worthy ... Beth Barrett Sociologist/Behavioralist and Historian Tennessee, USA ... an artist by gift of birth 🏹

Thank you for sharing your story. Absolutely beautiful pottery and so interesting how it is made.

Wow... just.... wow, i'm from Colombia, i remember as a child going to the preconquest museum, checking all the pottery from 600 years ago, i feel like i can bring back some of those designs, i will do it the next time i go back to my old town.

This is such an inspiring story. Thank you for telling his story and journey.

Oh wow, what a masterful artist!

Such talent and creativity. Some of the most beautiful pottery ever.

A beautiful and inspiring video.

I hung on every word and didn’t blink during entire video. Thank you so much for sharing this. ❤️

Ohh so nice. Well done on the pottery and the video. Beautiful story.

What an inspiration.

Great job! Bobby and Andy!

So happy for you Bobby! That’s quite an accomplishment!

Bobby & Andy , what an amazing Documentary of a beautiful art that was almost lost & a truly blessed young man to bring pride back to his Nation ! It was very obvious that his Elders were encouraging Bobby all along the way to realize his heart-felt love & desire ! Kudos to the both of you !

Wow. Amazing story and fantastic video. Just beautiful all of it. Thanks you both for sharing this story.

I've been working throwing and hand building for 30+ years. This man has joyfully shown me how very little I know about the true passions of the art. Simply stunning. There are no words except thank you for sharing his journey of heritage.

Beautiful work of hopi ppl, love the one with butterfly design. Could look at those patterns all day.

Oh my ! That jar is breathtaking!

Made Hopi replicas all my life exactly like this. Nice job Bobby Silas.

No question that his ancestors were watching over him and helping him to remember. This is such a beautiful and inspiring story. Thank you for sharing it I feel blessed.

This is so incredibly moving.

Absolutely amazing

incredible story and technique there finished pieces are museum quality.

FANTASTIC video, beautifully photographed, recorded and what a gorgeous piece of pottery created. I’m amazed and so happy to have seen this. GREAT WORK, Andy and thank you Bobby Silas. WOW.

I could watch this over and over. Magical!

Awesome Bobby 🕷 I am so proud of you.

Amazing colors!!!. Thanks for sharing.

Awesome story! At 14:20 he mentions a video on firing. Can someone tell me the name or point me to the video? Thank you

Amazingly beautiful 🤩. Thanks so much for sharing. Stunning

Very nice, thanks.

beautiful! i´m so glad this method gets recovered for hopi. a true sign of the resilience of natives. fuck (neo)colonialism. long live peace and solidarity amonst all peoples.