This is an old-style water jar by Robert Patricio.  He is known for his use of both traditional and pre-historic imagery.  This jar is coil-built using Acoma clay and thin-walled.  The jar is painted with bee-weed and clay slips. The jar is an elegant shape with a high, round shoulder and short neck.  There are eight rainbows around the side of the jar.  They are in red with clouds below them in black.  Around the neck are hatchure plant designs.  They are thinly painted lines to create the center of each flower. Robert is certainly one of the leading traditional Acoma potters working today, as evidenced by his stunning forms and complex designs.  The jar is signed on the bottom, “R. M. Patricio”.

““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