Lucas, Yvonne – Four Color Jar with Clouds

11"w x 8"h

$ 3,600.00

Yvonne Lucas learned to make pottery from her husband, Steve Lucas and his aunt, Dextra Qutoskuyva.  She is one of the few Laguna potters who use all traditional materials and traditionally fires their pottery.  The jar is slipped with white clay which is polished.  She then paints the designs with bee-weed (black) and red and tan clay slips for color.  The neck and base of the jar are fully polished a deep red. It’s the red clay slip which has just a bit of mica in it which Steve Lucas introduced to Hopi.  There are very intricately painted cloud and plant motifs around the jar. The large diamond-shaped sections are very classic for Laguna pottery and are highlighted with an additional tan clay.  The jar is very thin-walled and was traditionally fired. There is just a slight bit of a blush from the firing.  The jar is signed on the bottom in the clay.  It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.  Yvonne has said of her pottery art:

“Am I a Laguna revivalist? I don’t think of myself as a revivalist. Nobody taught me from Laguna. My only tie is Evelyn Cheromiah. I’ve researched by looking at books and taking pictures of historic pots in museums. I pull different designs from the historic pots or just from my imagination. Sometimes, when I look at my pottery, I think, “I can’t believe I made this.”  Yvonne Lucas, Spoken Through Clay