Lucas, Steve – “Floating Feathers” Storage Jar

9"w x 9"h

$ 4,000.00

This is a complex larger jar by Steve Lucas.  He remains one of the leading Hopi-Tewa potters working today.  Each piece is coil built, stone polished, painted with native clay slips and bee-weed (black), and traditionally fired.  Steve has won “Best of Show” at Santa Fe Indian Market and his work remains some of the most refined and creative.  This jar has a round form which creates a lot of space for design.  The top and bottom are slipped red.  The red has just a bit of mica in the clay. Steve said of the deep red clay slip he uses on his pottery:

“When I first learned to make pottery, the red slip painted in the designs was difficult to work with. It wouldn’t take heat very well and would scorch and turn black. The red was also difficult to polish. My aunt Dextra had a deep red color clay slip and I decided to experiment with it. I took some of our base clay and added the red to it and it polished very well. I then decided to put some mica in there to get that sparkle. That’s where the new red came from, and Dextra liked how it turned out. I introduced them to that. It was nice that for my teacher, Dextra, I was able to share and teach her something.”  Steve Lucas, Spoken Through Clay

The jar has a top band of design with lighting, wind, and cloud patterns.  They swirl about the row of feathers.  Each feather “dangles” from a point, giving them the impression of movement when the jar is turned.  They are highlighted with white, brown, and red clay.  Separating them are areas with polished brown and red.  Note the precision in Steve’s work!  Even the mottled sections are precise and evenly spaced.  This amazing jar has both an ancient and modern appearance to the design. The tight precision painting gives the jar an impressive appearance.  It is signed on the bottom in the clay, “S. Lucas” and a mudhead (koyemsi) and an ear of corn (corn clan).  Spectacular!