Appleleaf, Martha Fender – Black-and-Green Terraced Bowl with Deer and Sun Designs

Martha Appleleaf learned to make pottery from her mother, Carmelita Vigil Dunlap. Today she continues to create distinctive pottery with traditional designs.  This is a classic terrace bowl. There is one side of the bowl that is taller with carved ‘terraces”. The outside is fully polished and then painted with prayer feather and prayer feather design.  The interior has a sun and deer as the design on a micaceous clay background.  The designs are painted with green clay and then the entire piece was fully fired black.  After the firing, the painted areas were re-heated to burn off the black and expose the green underneath.  The jar is signed on the bottom, “Marth Appleleaf”.  It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration, or repair.

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Fender, Martha Appleleaf (b. 1950)

[caption id="attachment_47763" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Martha Apple Leaf Fender[/caption] Martha Appleleaf Fender learned to make pottery from her mother, Carmelita Vigil Dunlap. Her brother, Carlos Dunlap, and sisters Linda Duplap and Jeannie Mountain Flower Dunlap are also well-known pottery. Her son, Erik Fender, continues the family tradition of making pottery.  As a child Martha would watch her aunts, Maria Martinez and Desideria Montoya make pottery. During her early years, she experimented, making green on red pots like her uncle, Tsa-Pe, and cream on red pots like her other uncle, Albert Vigil.