Namingha, Les – “Pueblo Series” Water Serpent and Clouds Jar

6.5"w x 5"h

$ 1,800.00

This jar is part of a new series of pieces by Les Namingha.  This, “Pueblo Series” is focused on universal design similarities among various Pueblo pottery. As Les is both Zuni and Hopi-Tewa, he has a lot of cultural imagery to pull from for this body of work.  Les says of this piece:

“I’m using the avanyu as a theme for a small collection of pots. These two jars are leading towards creating jars that will have a Zuni style representation of “Kolowisi” or rather, my interpretation of the water serpent. They are part of my “Pueblo Jar series” that I started recently. This series interprets or incorporates elements from other Pueblos outside of my Zuni and Tewa-Hopi influenced work.  My focus is on finding similarities in design elements across all Pueblo communities.”

The jar is one of Les’s classic shapes with the wide body and short neck.  It is hard to tell in the photo but coming up from the base there is a slight ridge, which is often seen in Zuni pottery from the puki in which the pieces are built.  The jar is painted with two water serpent encircling the piece.  Above the water serpent are rounded cloud designs. The jar has slight mica sparkle to the surface.  It is a subtle but intriguing piece by Les.   It is signed on the bottom.