This is jar is an iconic piece by Mark Tahbo.  He learned to make pottery from his great grandmother, Grace Chapella.  His pieces reflect the wonderful symmetry and thin walls of an excellent potter. The designs are painted using native clay slips and bee-weed (a plant) for the black. The jar has a high shoulder and turned-out rim.  It is polished in a vertical manner, creating an “onion skin” appearance.  The jar has one of his anthropomorphic “bird men”.  He made this figures in place of using katsinas on his pottery.  They were part of the stories he would tell about his work, and certainly, an influence came from the Awatovi murals. This figure has a bird head and is holding a red and black bird in its hand.  If I remember correctly, this is one of the first pieces he made and brought into the gallery with his “Bird man” story.  He tried the design out on a smaller piece to see what I’d think about it.  I remember talking to him a long time about the design, what he was thinking and if he was going to do more.  Of course, it was the beginning of so many pieces he made that included this type of iconography.  The jar was traditionally fired and has dynamic colored blushes across the surface.  The plate is signed on the rim, “M. Tahbo”.  It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.