This is a highly polished and creatively designed jar by Jennifer Tafoya. The piece is square in shape with a short neck, and it is fully polished.  The jar was fired a glassy black and then etched with design.  The top has four Pterosaurs. There is a Tropeognathu, a Nyctosaurus, a Pterragnodon, and a Caviramus.  Jennifer had done an amazing job of etching them into the clay with her own style of realism.  She has given them depth and a sense of motion.  The colors are all derived from natural clays.  Most interesting on this piece is how she carved the matte are into swirling clouds!  This is more time-consuming but creates additional depth to the piece with the subtle shadows surrounding each of the Pterosaurs.  It is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Jennifer Tafoya”.  Jennifer continues to be one of the leading innovative potters working today!  She most recently won the “Tony Da Award” for innovative pottery at Santa Fe Indian Market in 2019 and “Best of Show” in 2023!

What’s an Trilobite?

Trilobites (meaning “three lobes”) are extinct marine arthropods. Trilobites form one of the earliest known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the Atdabanian stage of the Early Cambrian period (521 million years ago) and they flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic before slipping into a long decline, when, during the Devonian, all trilobite orders except the Proetida died out. The last trilobites disappeared in the mass extinction at the end of the Permian about 251.9 million years ago. Trilobites were among the most successful of all early animals, existing in oceans for almost 270 million years, with over 22,000 species having been described.