Scott, Rain – 13″ Tall “Flying High” Origami Water Jar with Lid

11"w x 13"h (w/ lid) 15"h with feathers

$ 5,800.00

Rain Scott is the son of jeweler Raynard Scott (Navajo) and a descendant of Marie Z. Chino of Acoma.  He says that growing up in Arizona, he wanted to learn to make pottery but didn’t have anyone to teach him.  In 2011, he began working with origami, the art of creating objects with folded paper.  From 2013 to 2018, he experimented with the art form and, in 2018, made his first vessel, an Acoma jar.  He calls his style “contemporary Indigenous origami.”  Each piece is made from thick paper and creates a corrugated texture.

This is one of the larger pieces of his work we have had in the gallery.  The starburst design works perfectly for this shape, as it captures the shoulder and the length of the neck.  It is entitled, “Flying High”.  Rain says of this piece:

There are over 7,000 individually cut and folded metallic copper and white modules.  The lid is a combination of scarlet, blue, and gold, green wing, and hyacinth macaw feathers.  The jar too a little over two and a half months from start to finish. An olla is a semi-functional storage vessel with a lid that detaches and feathers that are ready to use for a dance at a moment’s notice. I got the idea to make the feathers detachable by observing people from Acoma who take part in traditional dances. They usually store their feathers in drawers, hang them on walls, or suspend them from the ceiling.  My vessel is a decorative way to display your feathers and have them ready to be used when called upon at any moment.

Rain used white 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of paper to make the design.  Each full sheet is folded to make each section! The jar has an elegant form with a high shoulder and elongated neck.  The jar has an elegant form with a round shoulder and elongated neck.  The jar has a lid with a piece of coral attached as the finial.  Rain keeps on innovating his art form with each new piece!  Believe it or not, thousands of pieces of paper were used to make this jar! The piece is signed on the bottom, “Rain Scott”.  There is a Third Place ribbon from the 2024 Eiteljorg Museum Show.  It’s exciting to have such innovative work in the gallery.  Most recently, Rain’s indigenous origami has been featured in First American Art magazine and Native Art Magazine. 

“I call my work contemporary origami pottery.  I came up with them as I wanted to learn to make traditional pottery.  I never had a teacher to show me how to get the clay or slips.  I was always creative with paper.  I started out with swans and then one day wanted to see how I could make a vase.  It took a lot of experimentation”.  Rain Scott

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