Duwyenie, Preston -16″ Wide Plate 34 Rows of Shifting Sand Design and 6 Silver Insets

WOW!  This is an amazing plate by Preston Duwyenie.  It is made from white Hopi clay found near Third Mesa at Hopi.  The back of the plate is stone-polished, and the front is carved to resemble “shifting sand”.  The sand design has an organic and natural flow to each ribbon of sand, giving the appearance of them flowing across the surface.  On this plate there are 34 rows of shifting sand.  The narrower each row, the more shadows and the more complicated the plate becomes.  Amazingly, Preston has been working on this for over a year, and it has finally turned out perfect!   There are six inset rows of silver that have been cast from cuttlefish bone.  The silver is cast from cuttlefish bone.  The textured surface of the silver is similar to that of the surface of the plate.  The plate is signed on the back in the clay with Preston’s hallmark which is a woman carrying a child, which comes from Preston’s Hopi name, which means “carried in beauty”.  We had a museum mount stand made for the piece, which adds to the overall impact and presentation of the plate.

“Why the shifting sand designs? Preston says he remembers watching a smooth pebble caught in sand being shifted by the wind, “there was beauty in its isolation within the sea of sand. It was like an island.  The endless sands of time, and the fact that people, too are tossed about by the wind. There is always rippling in our lives”.