This large bowl by Jody Naranjo is from 2014.  The bowl is thin-walled, and 14 circular medallions are polished on the exterior. They are connected with more deeply incised swirls. The swirls and circles match the undulating shape of the rim of the bowl.  Each of the 14 polished medallions is etched with her signature kiva step design.  Jody said of this design:

“As for the design on the top and the bottom, it was the kiva step in the beginning. My family used them but just parts of them, the top half of the design. I started making them just around the top of the pot in one row. Then it became two rows and three rows, and then I started filling in between them.  Now it looks more like a textile, and it’s a signature pattern that I do on everything.” Jody Naranjo, Spoken Through Clay

She also has five rows of lightly etched kiva step designs inside the rim of the bowl!  The piece was traditionally fired a dark brown coloration that varies in depth of color across the surface.  It is signed, “Jody Naranjo” and it is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration, or repair.

Jody says of her pottery:

“The clay is cathartic. I spend a lot of time carving. That’s my peace. That’s the time I release my energy, any good or bad energy. If I have some issue going on, I focus and the whole world goes away.  I can sit there and build this piece from nothing. It makes me happy. You should do the part you like more. If you like it, you are good at it.  I started carving in the center where the polish didn’t meet and then my polish still looked nice. My carving in the middle was on the matte surface. Before you know it the matte surfaces started getting bigger, and it was less about masking my polishing and more about making my carving larger.  Bigger pieces tend to overwhelm me in the amount of designing I have to do.” Jody Naranjo, Spoken Through Clay