“Masterworks: The Judith and Allan Cooke Collection of American Indian Ceramics” a national treasure of 14 prehistoric American Indian ceramics donated to the Desert Caballeros Western Museum (DCWM) in Wickenburg, Arizona.

By Dr. Tricia Loscher, The Dita and John Daub Curator of Western Women’s Art & Chief Curator at the DCWM

Dr. Allan Cooke, a retired medical doctor, author, and art collector, began collecting in the 1980s with his late wife, Judith. He selected DCWM to donate fourteen prehistoric American Indian ceramics because it is important for Dr. Cooke to return them to the area of their origin. He is a pottery expert in his own right and has authored two publications with co-author Dr. Edwin L. Wade, also a pottery expert and scholar: “The Call of Beauty: Masterworks by Nampeyo of Hopi” (2022) and “Canvas of Clay: Seven Centuries of Hopi Ceramic Art” (2012). Many of the vessels in this collection appear in “Canvas of Clay.”

This collection includes prehistoric pottery created by what are now considered Southwestern tribes of the Ancestral Puebloan (formerly Anasazi), Hopi, and Zuni artists. Most of these ceramics were created by Indigenous Peoples before contact with Spanish settlers pre-1540 AD, and they are from the Four Corners Region of the United States and derived from the Hopi Pueblo of Sikyatki.

Others were created much earlier, circa 1200 to 1300 AD, and two large pottery vessels were made when they would have been primarily utilitarian yet designed beautifully on their exteriors. Each was crafted by Native artists using the coil and scrape technique of pottery making, then painted, sometimes polished, and then earthen fired. The fact that the large-scale size of two black-on-white storage jars survived intact before and once fired speaks to the skills and artistry of their creators.

These masterworks will be on view to the public starting April 16 in the Museum’s Cultural Crossroads Learning Center. Please call (928) 684-2272 for Learning Center hours before planning your visit. Children 17 and under are free with an adult. Senior, AAA and military discounts apply.

Members’ Opening: Tuesday, November 4, 2025.

This display of pottery will be ongoing