This is a new traditional design inspired jar from Virgil Ortiz.  This piece is coil built, polished and painted with wild spinach for the black.  Virgil said that he was inspired by some historic Cochiti pottery recently to create this piece which has such classic imagery.  This jar has a wild spinach design around the rim. The “wild spinach” is the plant used to paint the black on the pottery.   Around the side of the jar, Virgil painted Cochiti style birds and clouds.  Both designs are often seen on historic Cochiti pottery.  The birds, of course, are somewhat modernised in Virgil’s interprertive style.  Separating the birds are cloud designs.  Virgil tried something a bit different with his painting and firing to give clouds a sense of motion. The “motion” comes through the darker areas around them creating what Virgil called, “shadow clouds”. Take a closer look and you can see it’s not just smoke clouds, but also designs created by them!  In addition to the classic imagery, Virgil has also included his signature “x”, which he uses on all his pottery.  On the neck of the jar, there is a space on the rim of the neck where it is unpainted, which is the “heartline”, which Virgil always paints on his clay vessels.  The jar is signed on the bottom.