Duwyenie, Preston – Large Wide Shifting Sand Bowl

11.5"w x 4"h

$ 1,500.00

Preston Duwyenie is known for his Hopi pottery which blends modern and traditional aspects of the art. This wide bowl is made from white clay that he finds near Second Mesa at Hopi.  The shape has a wide shoulder and sloping sides.  The sides are where he has carved the shifting sand pattern.  There are four panels of the shifting sand design.  The depth of the shifting sand creates subtle shadows in the clay.  What makes the “sand” area so fascinating is how Preston carves it so that it has a very natural appearance.  The thin walls of the bowl and the organic visual appearance of the shifting sand is elegant on this piece.  The piece is signed on the bottom with is hallmark signed on the bottom in the clay with Preston’s hallmark which is a woman carrying a child and his 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.

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”.