This is a striking large jar by Susie Crank.  She is a daughter of Rose Williams and a sister of Alice Cling.  Each piece is coil built, stone polished and amazingly, she says he may burnish a piece over and over as many as 15 times to get a high shine!  This jar has a sharp shoulder and an elongated neck.  Around the top of the neck is a raised relief mountain design.  It is rounded out and incised with vertical lines.  There is a “spirit line” or break in the pattern, which is seen on traditional Navajo pottery. The jar is traditionally fired to create the fire-clouds on the surface.  The colorations on this jar range from black to a deep red.  The jar was covered in pine-pitch after the firing, a continuation of the traditional Navajo pottery when pinon pitch was used to make the pottery waterproof.  Today, the pinon pitch seals the vessel and gives it the shine.  This jar has a stunning shine and a great feel to the surface!  It is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Susie Crank”.