This is a tightly painted water jar by Robert Patricio.  He is known for his classic forms and use of both traditional and pre-historic imagery.  This wide jar is coil-built and thin-walled. The design is painted with bee-weed (black) on the white clay surface.  There are sixteen stars patined as the design, eight around the neck and eight around the shoulder.  They are surrounded by thin lines for cloud and rain patterns. The simplicity in color is exceeded by the strong modernist appearance of the thin lines and the use of white space.  Robert said it was very time-consuming to paint all the thin lines and have them consistent and “connect” between each section. Robert is certainly one of the leading traditional Acoma potters working today which is evidenced by his stunning forms and complementary designs.  The jar is signed on the bottom, “R. M. Patricio”.

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