This new jar by Tammy Garcia is part of her new “Earth Songs” series.  Each piece is inspired by the rattles used in Pueblo dances.  The rattles are made from gourds and held during dances.  Shells are often worn during dances to create sound.  The rattles are about creating a rhythm of movement in the dances, and a sense of harmony.  Tammy coil-built each piece with the shape of the rattle in mind. She created a rounded base that rounds out to the central “bowl” and then a fluted or flower rim.  She said these were among the most difficult forms she had ever created, as the vessel takes different directions when coil building and she said there were so many possibilities for it to crack or break during carving, drying, or firing.

This jar has ten carved and stone-polished shells.  Each shell is carved with six sections, along with three sections at the base.  Amazingly, this makes 90 carved and polished sections on this jar!  The shells are polished both red and tan.  There is one large shell with an inset piece of turquoise and it is surrounded by a carved “frame”.  There are two heartline bears carved into the clay.  Each has a stone-polished red heartline surrounded by an area of stippling.  As the pieces are about creating harmony and healing, she has used the imagery of a heartline bear.  It is carved with her “pillow effect” style of rounded edges.  This is distinctive to her work and is accentuated by the surrounding stippled surfaces.  There is certainly a “gem-like” quality to her tightly carved designs and the multiple layers of carving on each piece.  The piece is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Tammy Garcia”.  Tammy has won numerous awards for her pottery and has been the recipient of the New Mexico Governor’s award.  It’s not surprising that with the intricate nature of her pottery she makes only about ten pieces of pottery a year.  Yet each piece is unique and expands on her distinctive style and voice in the clay.  We are pleased to be the exclusive gallery representing Tammy’s new work in clay.

Tammy says of her new evolving art in clay:

Do you think the idea of “Layers” applies to both your life and art? “We hear the terms “layers” and think about levels and a progression of one idea on top of another.  I love to have options.  To me the “layers” are options.  It’s about quality.  Native clay takes effort to dig and refine and temper. There are layers in just making the clay pure enough to coil a vessel.  Because of that, with the little clay I have, my mindset has been quality, not quantity.  My love for jewelry also reveals itself in the clay.  I want to make each piece I make precious, jewel-like. My new “pillow effect” is really tapering.  It’s achieved in the carving process.  I do it so that the area surrounding the carved designs is higher and the edges are recessed.  It makes the carving more delicate but also less fragile.   I love the detail.  When I’m carving a piece the smaller the carved line the more fragile.  Each layer is a fragile, delicate balance of one design on top of another. I want to be able to get more detail and create the optical illusion of even more layers from a distance.  I’ve been working to create even more detail in my work than ever before. “

“The stippling (little dots) on my pottery takes patience.  It’s time-consuming and technical to make one dot at a time.  I must wrap my fingers with cloth because the pressure of the metal on my hands begins to hurt.  I can spend several days just stippling a single pot.”