Hopi Pueblo artist AL Qöyawayma occupies a unique spot among artists today. He produces pottery and bronze work that is equal in quality and spiritual content to that of the most traditional artist living a monastic, aboriginal life. Alfred H. Qöyawayma (1938- ) is a well-educated modern citizen with a dual career as an aeronautical engineer who designs aircraft guidance systems.“The earliest corn motif is found on pottery in Ecuador dating to 1900 BC. The technique was to push out from the inside of the pottery the basic form of the corn ear shape and then sculpt the kernel decoration or relief. Al and Elizabeth White (his aunt) saw an exhibit of “Ancient Ecuador, CUlture, clay, and creativity” at the Field Museum in Chicago in 1975. They realized that they were creating a similar technique at Hopi. Elizabeth began using this motif in the early 1960s. The corn motif is used in sacred respect of the corn in sustaining Native Americans over at least the last several thousand years.” Al Qoywayama, Hopi Potter, 1984 Although his pottery pieces at first glance appear thoroughly modern, they are re-enactments from his ancestral Hopi people from the village of Sikyatki. If any pottery can be called sensuous, it is the pottery of this artisan. He uses the traditional coil method to build the pottery after processing clay by hand. He then pulls the vessel walls vertically, a technique he believes was used by potters in ancient Sikyatki. Like those ancestors, he polishes with stones.