Medicine Flower, Grace – Jar with Mulit-Color Hummingbirds and Flowers (1982)

2.5"w x 3.5"h

$ 1,600.00

This intricate seed jar by Grace Medicine Flower is from 1982. It is fully polished and has a round shape and a short neck. The jar was etched with the design before it was fired.  There are two realistic hummingbirds on the jar, along with flowers.  Below the hummingbirds is a flower design.  There is an additional cloud and lightning design along the base and sides of the jar.  Most significantly on this jar is her use of blue, green, and white clay slips.  These were slips given to Grace by her brother Joseph Lonewolf.  She only used them for a short time and then when she ran out she no longer had these colors on her pottery.  While it was only about a 2 year period, they created a dynamic appearance in her work for a few years.  The jar is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Grace Medicine Flower”.  It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks restoration, or repair.  Definitely a piece of history in clay!

Grace said of her pottery:

Once you start designing it something just comes to you. You don’t put her aside. She tells you while your mind is still fresh to keep going. Even at night I’d have this dream about forming this piece of pottery. I would have dreams about it, think about it and then say, “This is the next one I’m going to do.” I would picture it. Once in a while I would draw it on a piece of paper while it was fresh in my mind.” Grace Medicine Flower, Spoken Through Clay