WOW!  This large four-color painted water jar by Robert Patricio is amazing in the complexity of design and the vibrant clay colors used throughout!  It is a classic Acoma water jar shape with a wide shoulder and short sloping neck.  The complex painted design and color are what make the jar so striking!  There are two large sections that have bands of polished “rainbows” in red and orange color clay.  The center bands have the Acoma “fields” and on the rounded ends are plant and rain designs.  There are birds above and below the shoulder.  The are painted with plants and surrounded by complex rain and cloud designs.  Note the complex use of the fineline patterns around the surface.  So much and yet he allows the white of the clay to have it’s own strength of voice on this jar, drawing the eye from one section to another.  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 continuing the amazing Acoma legacy.  The last photo is of the jar before it was fired. 

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