Duwyenie, Preston – Red Micaceous Plate with Silver “Turtle” Inset

2.75" diameter

$ 175.00

This small plate by Preston Duwyenie is made from micaceous clay and slipped with a red micaceous slip.  The red color is a clay from Santa Clara.  The central medallion is an inset piece of silver.  The design around the silver is a turtle.  The silver is meant to represent the shifting sands found in the areas around Hopi, and here, the back of the turtle.  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 plate is signed on the back in the clay with Preston’s hallmark which is a woman carrying a child.  Preston is from Third Mesa at Hopi, and taught ceramics for years at Institute of American Indian Art (IAIA) in Santa Fe.