Lucas, Steve – Jar with Quail and Star Designs

8.25"w x 7"h

$ 3,600.00

This jar by Steve Lucas is an elegant shape with a wide shoulder and a sloping neck.  The jar is thin-walled and stone polished before it is fired.  The top of the jar is painted with quail on two sides. Separating them are larger tail feather designs.  The jar is painted with bee-weed for the black and there are two different colors of clay slip.  Both the brown and red are stone polished before firing.  Around the shoulder of the jar are star, rain and lightning designs.  The base is fully polished red.  The jar was traditionally fired with amazing fire clouds on the surface.  It is signed on the bottom with his name and an ear of corn (Corn Clan) and a Mudhead Katsina.

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