Juan Cruz creates complex painted polychrome pottery.  He is a son of noted potter Lois Gutierrez.  Lois made the jar and Juan, who is noted for his illustrations, painted the design using natural clay slips.  This jar has a rounder shape and intricately painted figures.  Juan wrote of the scene he painted as follows:

“This piece was inspired by my admiration for ancient Greek pottery and is my own interpretation of the Pleiades star cluster, which is also known as the Seven Sisters.  In Greek mythology, the Pleiads were the seven daughters of Atlas and the oceanid Pleione. The sisters were Maia, Electra, Alcyone, Taygete, Asterope, Celaeno and Merope.  In my design, I’ve depicted them as Tewa women with some holding stylized star pattern baskets.

The jar is truly polychrome (more than three colors of clay).  Note the intricacy of the painted designs and the flow of imagery across the piece.   The description is written on the back of a hand-painted graphic of the four directions.  What a phenomenal addition to this piece and the painting helps to better understand how exceptional Juan is with his art.   While Juan is new to the pottery world, he recently won “Best of Pottery” at Gallup Ceremonials in 2017 and has been featured in articles in Cowboys & Indians Magazine and Native Art Magazine in 2018.