Helen Shupla is certainly most famous for her exceptional melon jars.  However, she is also known for her creative carved and painted vessels. This bowl is round and painted with stylized avanyu encircling the piece.  Helen’s painted black-on-black pottery has boldly painted imagery.  The bowl is from the late 1960s and it is highly polished and fired a deep black.  It is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Helen, Santa Clara Pueblo”.  It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration, or repair.