Rain Scott is the son of jeweler Raynard Scott (Navajo) and a descendant of Marie Z. Chino of Acoma.  He says that growing up in Arizona, he wanted to learn to make pottery but didn’t have anyone to teach him.  In 2011 he began working with origami, the art of creating objects with folded paper.  From 2013 to 2018 he experimented with the art form and in 2018 made his first vessel, an Acoma jar.  He calls his style, “contemporary indigenous origami”.  Each piece is made from thick paper and creates a corrugated texture.

This piece is entitled, “Plumed”.  Rain used black and white 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of paper to make the design.  Each full sheet is folded to make each section! The jar has an elegant form with a high shoulder and elongated neck.  The design has a Pueblo-style water serpent encircling the piece outlined with white paper.  He has carved into the paper to create space to attach turquoise stones. The jar has a paper origami lid and there are nine macaw feathers attached as part of his design.  Rain keeps on innovating his art form with each new piece!  Believe it or not, there are thousands of pieces of paper used to make this jar! The piece is signed on the bottom, “Rain Scott”.  It’s exciting to have such innovative work in the gallery.  Most recently, Rain’s indigenous origami has been featured in First American Art magazine and Native Art Magazine. 

“I call my work contemporary origami pottery.  I came up with them as I wanted to learn to make traditional pottery.  I never had a teacher to show me how to get the clay or slips.  I was always creative with paper.  I started out with swans and then one day wanted to see how I could make a vase.  It took a lot of experimentation”.  Rain Scott

is one of his larger pieces.  “Opus Number Seven: Honoring the Past”.  It has four different birds representing the different matriarchs: the grandmother, the mother, the daughter, and the grandchild (the future).  Combines three different styles of Pueblo pottery.  The body is San Ildefonso and their large ollas. The parrot designs are Acoma.  The triangular spaces on the sides are inspired by Hopi-Tewa designs. The sunray pattern on the inside/outside is something Rain said he created to help make the round shape of the vessel.  You can see the “sunray” design looking down into the jar!  Rain says this jar has about 6000 pieces of paper to make the vessel.  WOW!  The piece has two ribbons from the 2020 Heard Indian Market.

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