This an unuusal seedpot by Joseph Lonewolf.  It is from 1988 and it is highly polished and fired red.  On the top is a realistic hummingbird  Note the detail in all the feathers!  The design extends backward to the hummingbird’s tail. Between the two is a highly polished red flower.  What is unusual are the five medallions on the lower half of the piece.  In the medallions are hummingbirds, butterflies, and flowers.  They are lightly etched into the clay and then highlighted with clay slips.  The piece has red, green, and white clays used to accentuate the designs.  There is a realistic butterfly near the base, along with the yearly symbol for 1988, the “Bear Paw”.  The piece is very highly polished and intricately designed.  It is signed on the bottom, “Joseph Lonewolf”.  It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration, or repair. 

Joseph Lonewolf said of his use of Mimbres imagery in his pottery:

“I regard the Mimbres as my ancestors. Though I refine their designs, each design must have meaning for me. In my dreams I see how to use the design, how to make the pot happen. Then when I work the clay, everything flows. Some people wonder why I keep changing styles, colors, forms. But I can’t just sit there and make pots. Like any artist, I must try different things, different techniques. I must meet the challenge with my hands. The patterns and the methods I see in my mind during my dreams.” —Joseph Lonewolf, 1974, Spoken Through Clay