Preston Duwyenie is renowned for his elegant pottery, which is often highlighted with silver medallions.  This seedpot is made from micaceous clay and fired black.  The sparkle on the surface comes from the mica clay slip.  The lid is cast from cuttlefish bone, so there is a “shifting sand” design on both sides.  It is cut into the shape of a “fan”.  Preston makes the lid fit perfectly into the seedpot.  The lid and the seedpot are 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”.  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”.