This is a striking wide shoulder jar by Preston Duwyenie.  It is made from Hopi clay and then slipped with mica on the base and neck. The shoulder of the jar is carved in a natural manner to represent the sand in the desert and its constant movement.  The “sand” sections are matte while the remainder is slipped with mica.  The entire jar is fired black and the result is stunning!  The micaceous areas are almost metallic in appearance.  The matte is a perfect contrast.  There are also three inset pieces of silver, which have an additional “shifting sand” pattern.  The silver is cast against cuttle-fish bone (a type of squid).  This process creates a similar style of shifting sand design to complement the clay.  The jar is flat on the bottom and signed in the clay with Preston’s hallmark which is a woman carrying a child as the hallmark for his name in Hopi.  Preston is from Third Mesa at Hopi, and taught ceramics for years at Institute of American Indian Art (IAIA) in Santa Fe.

“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”.