This is a stunning piece by Toni Roller.  A daughter of Margaret Tafoya, she continues to balance tradition and innovation in her pottery.  This is a larger jar with a round body and a short neck.  The jar is not slipped with clay but simply polished with water to create a stone polished shine on the surface.  The leaves the jar the natural color of the clay.  This coloration is unique with a gold/green tint to the piece after it is fired.  The design is a water serpent that encircles the center of the jar.  Below the avanyu are the mountain or mesa designs.  The shape is wonderful and the high shine from the stone polish is balanced by the color from the clay.  It is such a traditional form and yet has such as modern visual appearance!  It is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Toni Roller 5/13”.  It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.

Toni said of the water serpent design:

“The water serpent, we were told, it represents life. It represents the water, which is important to life, to people, plants, and animals. The water design is very important to put on pots to honor that serpent. We used to ask, “What is the water serpent?” We were told the water serpent is in the rivers, the big rivers. At one time, when my mother was young, there were no bridges to cross over the Rio Grande. They were always told that if you see a water serpent, your life is going to be long. She did see one laying on the rock. She said it was huge, snakelike, and she said she just stared at it and couldn’t holler for anyone else to see. If you look at the serpent design, it has all the weather designs. The lightning on the tongue of the serpent, and there are mountain designs and rain designs and all the weather elements.”  Toni Roller, Spoken Through Clay