Christine McHorse

Christine McHorse (December 21, 1948 – February 17, 2021), also known as Christine Nofchissey McHorse, was a Navajo ceramic artist from Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Early years.
Born Christine Nofchissey on December 21, 1948 in Morenci, Arizona, 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 (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, when it was a high school for the arts on the campus of the Santa Fe Indian School. 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 (jewelry), Allan Houser (foundry arts) and Fritz Scholder (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, 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 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 but later moving to Sante Fe.
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 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 Denver Art Museum, the National Museum of the American Indian, Navajo Nation Museum, and more. McHorse's work is also featured in the catalog "Dark Light: The Ceramics of Christine Nofchissey McHorse" (Fresco Fine Art Publications).
Death.
McHorse died from complications of COVID-19 on February 17, 2021 in Santa Fe, New Mexico during the COVID-19 pandemic in New Mexico. She was 72.
Further reading.
Books
Articles