This is a wide-shoulder small jar by Preston Duwyenie.  The jar has a wide shoulder and an asymmetric neck.  The piece is made from micaceous clay and slipped with mica.  It was fired black, and the mica gave it a silvery appearance.  There is one silver inset on the top of the shoulder of the jar.  The silver piece has the appearance of “shifting sands”, much in a similar style to the pottery where he has carved a shifting sand pattern.  It is cast from sterling silver by Preston using cuttlefish bone to create a distinctive texture. The jar is signed on the bottom with Preston’s hallmark.  It is a woman carrying a child on her back, which is also Preston’s Hopi name, which means “carried in beauty”.  Preston is from Third Mesa at Hopi and taught ceramics for years at the Institute of American Indian Art (IAIA) in Santa Fe.  He is married to pottery Debra Duwyenie and now resides in Santa Clara Pueblo.  Preston has won numerous awards for pottery, including “Best of Show” at the Heard Indian Market.

“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”.