This is a very colorful bowl by Mark Tahbo.  He was known not just for his painted pottery but especially for the blushes on his pottery from the firing.  This bowl is from 2005.  It is classic Hopi coloration on the top with eight jumping fish.  The larger fish each have different designs on their bodies.  The smaller fish have mauve clay slip for the heads and tails.  While the top is colorful, the bottom is slip red and painted with black and white clay outline.  The frog design encompasses the entire surface of the bottom of the bowl.  This style of coloration is called, “black-on-red with white outlines).  The bowl was traditionally fired.  This is a detailed and colorful bowl.  In the early 2000’s, Mark began experimenting with various clays that he would find around Hopi.  It is signed on the bottom “M. Tahbo”.  The bowl is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration, or repair. 

For traditional Hopi-Tewa pottery, there are no shortcuts. I feel that the younger people, they aren’t as fortunate as I was. I was born at a time where I was with the elder women who revived Hopi-Tewa pottery and brought it to this level. I learned the old style. From how to get the clay, how to process it, from start to finish. They were simple, maybe even crude ways, but they worked. Today, it seems like the storytelling is almost gone. I always tell younger potters that it’s one of the most important foundations we can have as Hopi-Tewa potters. A story. Something to lean back on. If you don’t have that root or that foundation, you have nothing. You are just floating on your own. Soak it all in and listen to all the old stories that you can. There are just no shortcuts. You have to learn the hard way and have patience.”  Mark Tahbo, Spoken Through Clay