Sanchez, Russell & Arthur Lopez – Immaculate Conception & Avanyu Jar

6.75"w x 12.75"h (w/ lid)

$ 9,000.00

Russell Sanchez (San Ildefonso) and Arthur Lopez (Spanish), have created unique collaborative works for the first time this year.  The vessel was made by Russell and stone polished with a black clay. The wood sections were carved by Arthur.  After the piece is carved, is covered in gesso (a glue made from rabbit hide) which is allowed to dry and then sanded.  It is painted with both natural and water color pigment.  Natural colored pigments, such as the brown, are derived from black walnut hulls.  Russell uses traditional clay from San Ildefonso, which is then coil built, stone polished and traditionally fired.  These are the time involved and historic foundations for this collaboration.

The jar has a black and red polished surface. The neck and base are polished black and there are very classic San Ildefonso style handles.  The central band is polished with a deep red clay. There are inset bands of turquoise hei-shi beads.  The coloration of the firing of the black is deep and a striking complement to the deep red.

Arthur and Russell said of this jar:

This jar combines to similar concepts, the Immaculate Conception and the pueblo Avanyu.  The vessel is a classic San Ildefonso water jar.  The black, red and tan are representative of the San Ildefonso polychrome pottery.  The jar is a “pot within a pot”, where the outer pot represents the acceptance of the pueblos of Catholicism.  People looked at the religion and not how it was forced on the pueblo people.  The avanyu (water serpent) encircling the back of the jar is representative of the avanyu as a symbol of cleansing.  In a similar manner the wood lid is a representation of the Immaculate Conception.  The painted section is painted in a Spanish style and has baby Jesus and a lamb, representing ‘the Lamb of God’.  So, much as the, “lamb of God washes away the sins of the world”, the avanyu is a cleansing force in the Pueblo world.