Autumn Borts-Medlock is known for her creative and fancifully carved pottery. When she brought in this piece, she said it was among the most complicated and varied polished cloud jars, and the first one with a lid!  This piece is entitled, “Summer Skies”.  Over the past several years Autumn has been working to create sculptural pieces using native clay. While still a “vessel” and coil built, they have angles and shapes that speak to an organic form, like the movement of clouds.  This is why she calls them “cloud jars”.  This jar is rounded and moving in various directions and carved in at least four different levels!  On this piece, there are SIX butterflies and three large flowers, in addition to all the movement and rounded flow of the clouds. Each of the six butterflies is different.  They are polished both red and tan and highlighted with blue clay slip. The dramatic coloration and variation in the style of each of the butterflies is extraordinary!  There are three large flowers, each with four polished red petals and an incised center.  The clouds are carved on at least four different levels into the clay!  There are areas in the background areas where she has more deeply carved away the clay, Autumn slipped it blue, as if the sky was seen through the clouds!  On the flatter side, the clouds swirl in white, blue, matte, and stippled surfaces.  The top has a lid, which fits perfectly and continues the design up from the jar itself. There is a red polished lightning pattern that continues onto the lid! Just AMAZING!  Overall, quite extraordinary in form, design, and technique.  It is amazing how she is able to create pieces with dimensionality and flow of design.  The jar is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Autumn Borts-Medlock”.

“These pieces were inspired by watching the clouds at Puye Cliffs (the ancestral home of the Santa Clara people) and at the Pueblo. I wanted to carve into the clay to create multiple layers on each piece.  More importantly, I wanted to create a sense of movement.  I did this through both colorations of the clouds and layers of carving. The cloud colorations combine several colors of clay and are meant to appear as if they are moving and you can see through them.  The birds are captured in flight, amongst the clouds and the cliffs.”