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- By Chickasaw Nation Media
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A nationally recognized Chickasaw/Jemez Pueblo potter, who has won top awards at prestigious art shows, will be in Sulphur, Oklahoma, April 5 for the 12th annual Artesian Arts Festival.
Marcella Yepa’s unique blend of southwestern and southeastern First American pottery and sculptures have captivated art show judges nationwide.
Her works have been purchased by some of the finest museums – the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian and the U.S. Department of the Interior Museum both in Washington, D.C. Yepa also has art displayed in the internationally acclaimed Heard Museum, located in Phoenix, Arizona.
Art galleries spanning America – Oklahoma, Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oregon, Maine, Texas and Utah – are stocked with Yepa’s creations for sale to discerning art aficionados.
Yepa’s piece titled “Hummingbird Vase” was awarded first place in the pottery division last year at Artesian Arts Festival. Her work earned a blue ribbon in sculpting at the 2024 Southeastern Art Show and Market (SEASAM) and another sculpture won second place at the Hushtola Art Market in December.
Yepa’s creations have won best of division and first place ribbons in the annual Cherokee Art Market; second place in Santa Fe Indian Market – one of the most acclaimed First American art shows in America; Eight Northern Pueblos Annual Art Show; and Gallup Intertribal Indian Ceremonial Art Show, in addition to many others.
Her sales at Santa Fe Indian Market in August 2024 were a smashing success. “I believe I had 30 pieces of art, and I sold all of them except two,” she said.
She celebrates her First American bloodline with two tribal nations – Chickasaw and Jemez Pueblo.
“My mother, Dorene Carpenter, was full-blood Chickasaw and my father, Salvador Yepa, was full-blood Jemez Pueblo,” Yepa said with pride when recalling her childhood. “Both were proud First Americans and passed that pride on to me at a very young age.”
For more than 41 years, Yepa has been making pottery, a skill her grandmother, Felipita Yepa, handed down to her.
Harvesting clay on the New Mexico reservation, shaping it by hand, painting First American designs and symbols on creations and firing the finished pottery in a kiln or over an open fire were just the basics her grandmother showed her over many years.
“I started helping my grandmother when I was 9 years old. I helped her harvest clay and helped find color-hued clay we used as ‘slips,’” she said. “Slip painting refers to a decoration technique using a liquid clay mixture to create designs on pottery.
She was about 19 when she created her first piece of art. “My grandmother taught me how to find and harvest the finest clay, how to make fine pottery using traditional construction and firing techniques. I loved her so much that I usually stayed with her most of the time,” Yepa said of the relationship they shared. “I have used this knowledge, passed down by my family, to create one-of-a-kind works of art.”
Her grandmother taught her traditional hand coiling, stone polishing and firing methods. “Each piece is an opportunity to explore new possibilities and create something beautiful,” she said.
“I am so fortunate. I create art as my livelihood. It’s my business,” Yepa said, adding traveling to many art shows and festivals annually keeps her inventory steady and her standards razor sharp. “It is so gratifying for my pottery to win ribbons and be appreciated by the public. It inspires me to do more art and to enter more shows.”
Belonging to Southeastern and Southwestern tribes, Yepa dedicates herself to producing pottery honoring both cultures and each tribe’s historic symbolism. When creating a piece to honor her Chickasaw heritage, Yepa uses traditional spirals, wind swirls and animal sculptures.
At Oklahoma art shows, raccoon sculptures are one of her bestselling creations. Yepa said her aunt, the late Pauline Brown, informed her the family belonged to the raccoon clan. “Those animal creations sell very well and are fun to craft,” Yepa said.
Brown, who passed in 2022, was a fluent Chickasaw language speaker and a member of the Chickasaw Hall of Fame.
Yepa’s cousin, LaDonna Brown, recently gifted the artist a book illustrating centuries of Chickasaw symbolism adorning ancient pottery and utilitarian items. Yepa said she uses the gift as a reference guide to produce pottery highlighting Southeastern tribal symbols.
Brown is director of anthropology for the Chickasaw Nation Department of Culture and Humanities. She is a nationally recognized expert on Chickasaw history, heritage, culture and tradition.
“I plan to bring lots of pottery to the Artesian Arts Festival as well as handcrafted earrings,” Yepa said. “I plan to be in Oklahoma early enough to have my pottery evaluated by festival judges. I am looking forward to participating and competing again this year.”
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