This is a charming jar by Jody Naranjo.  The piece is from 2008, and it has a round shoulder and an elongated neck.  The jar was fired a dark brown coloration and then etched with designs.  The neck and base are both fully polished, while the central band is matte. The neck and base have etched stars. The central band has a series of New Mexico Churches.  The inside of the rim also has star designs.  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