This is an exceptional sculptural jar by Autumn Borts-Medlock.  She is known for her often fancifully carved pottery.  This piece is entitled, “Sky Flight”.  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!  The clouds are matte and some are slipped blue-gray.  There are three large carved birds on the jar.  Each is stone polished red and accented with white or blue clay slips.  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.  There is a small lightning “hole” in the clouds, which is the opening to the piece!  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.”