This is a classic and colorful water jar by Autumn Borts-Medlock.  She is known for her often fancifully carved pottery.  This piece is entitled, “Dragonfly Messengers”.  It is a wide-shoulder and long-neck water jar. The neck is carved with colorful flowers and clouds. The body of the jar has four interlocking dragonflies.  The dragonfly is the “cloud messenger”.  Each flower is carved and stone polished red or blue.  The dragonflies are VERY deeply carved into the shoulder of the jar.  The wings are highly polished and interlocking from one dragonfly to the next.  They have either polished red or blue eyes and red or blue clay accents.  The bodies of the dragonflies are stippled and there are more carved clouds near the base.  Autumn said she wanted to use the clay to give them a sense of motion in both colors and in her carving.  The kar 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.”