This is a striking large four-color water jar by Robert Patricio.  It is a classic Acoma water jar shape with a high shoulder and an elongated neck.  The design was inspired by a historic Acoma design.  The jar has an interlocking rainbow painted encircling the jar.  Note how many angles there are to the rainbow edges!  Above the rainbow are thin line butterflies with orange slip areas.  Below the rainbow are black wing butterflies with large polished orange sections.  Note the flower designs in the medallions.  The jar has a variety of designs and colorations.  The combination of thin lines and larger painted areas also incorporates the negative white space and accentuates Robert’s exceptional painting.  The jar has four different colorations and what makes it so exceptional is the flow of the design and the complex style of the painting.   It’s exciting to see a piece so dynamic in person.  The jar is made from traditional Acoma clay and then painted with bee-weed (black) and two different red clay slips. The base is painted with red clay.  It is signed on the bottom, “R.  M.  Patricio”.  The jar is an exciting extension of his artistry in clay and continues the amazing Acoma legacy. 

Robert said recently of his pottery:

““The pottery inspires me to keep going.  Keeping the tradition alive in making pottery, that’s how we were brought up.  Our ancestors started making pottery.  It’s amazing what comes of a piece of clay. When you come to Acoma it’s peacuful and quite.  When you look a piece of pottery, you see the same peacefulness.”   Robert Patricio, 2020