The coloration on this wide shoulder jar by Preston Duwyenie is striking.  It is made from Hopi clay and stone polished on the neck and below the shoulder.   Around the shoulder of the jar it is carved in a natural manner to represent the sand in the desert and its constant movement.  The “sand” sections are matte with  just a bit of mica visible int he clay.  There are 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 signed on the bottom 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”.