This is a new design by Steve Lucas.  He remains one of the leading Hopi-Tewa potters working today.  Each piece is coil-built, stone polished, painted with native clay slips and bee-weed (black), and traditionally fired.  Steve has won “Best of Show” at Santa Fe Indian Market, and his work remains some of the most refined and creative.  This jar has a cylindrical shape.  It is entitled, “Night Birds”.  There are four Night Birds painted on the jar using bee-weed and clay slips.  Each bird has polished red and white areas.  Note the thin lines and fluid shapes.  There are stars near the rim that are also highlighted with red and white clay.  The jar was traditionally fired to create the blushes on the surface. Steve said he also did something unusual in the firing, as he fired the bowl upside down. The interior is smoky with just a bit mica, looking like the night sky!  Genius!  It is signed on the bottom in the clay, “S. Lucas” and a mudhead (koyemsi) and an ear of corn (corn clan).  It is an innovative design in a classic form.

“When I first learned to make pottery, the red slip painted in the designs was difficult to work with. It wouldn’t take heat very well and would scorch and turn black. The red was also difficult to polish. My aunt Dextra had a deep red clay slip, so I experimented with it. I took some of our base clay and added the red to it, and it polished very well. I then decided to put some mica in there to get that sparkle. That’s where the new red came from, and Dextra liked how it turned out. I introduced them to that. It was nice that for my teacher, Dextra, I was able to share and teach her something.”  Steve Lucas, Spoken Through Clay