Reuel Claw

Artist Profile

Reuel “Ral” Claw was born in 1960 into the Navajo Nation and was raised in Tuba City, AZ. He married into the Nampeyo family (his wife is Carla Claw-Nampeyo). She is the granddaughter of the famous “Nampeyo”. Carla taught Ral the fundamentals of hand coiling traditional Hopi pottery. She is a strong believer in continuing family traditions and encouraged him to learn the Hopi methods of pottery making. He has been working with clay since 1997.

Ral has crossed cultures and has developed his own unique style of art. He specializes in handmade Hopi pottery. However, his pottery represents the history of his Navajo people with some pertaining to the healing ceremonies and others are stories of the Mountain People. He paints contemporary styles of traditional warriors and healers on his pottery. He signs his pottery: R. Claw or Ral for short, followed by Navajo. Ral is related to “Silver” John Claw, Jr. (father) known for his oil paintings.