Tahbo, Mark – Open Bow with Bird Man and Hummingbirds (2000)

12.5"diameter x 2.25"h deep

$ 2,800.00

This is a large open bowl which is fully painted 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 bowl is shallow and has a slight extended rim.  On the inside is 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 white bird and a gourd canteen. The rim of the bowl is painted with a checkerboard pattern.  It is the surprise of the back which is so dynamic.  The center is a very tightly painted hatchwork flower.  There are four hummingbirds encircling the flower.  The bodies of each are painted with various colored clay slips.  There is a distinctive rainbow band with four different colors connecting each bird.  Mark would seek out the various colors used on his pottery and the mauve clay (the bottom rainbow band) was always the most difficult to find.  The plate was traditionally fired and has dynamic colored blushes across the surface.  The plate is signed on the rim, “Mark Tahbo 2000”.  It won a “Challenge Award” at the 2000 Santa Fe Indian Market.  It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.