Jody Folwell is known for her creative pottery shapes and designs.  This jar is one of her classic shapes with a high shoulder and an asymmetric rim.  The entire surface is fully polished, even the inside of the neck!  The jar was traditionally fired outside.  The black comes at the end of firing when she places a piece of cow manure against the top and it creates the dark coloration from the smoke.  The “dots” are from the ash falling onto the clay surface.  The result is that each time there is a different appearance to the black, which makes the work unique.  It is signed on the bottom, “Jody”.

“For the asymmetrical shape, I early on thought about how everything was so symmetrical in the Indian world. How far can I go to make a change? It was a little tiny change of not having everything so symmetrical. Once that became a part of Pueblo tradition, I went on to something else.”  Jody Folwell, Spoken Through Clay