Dominique Toya is known for her intricately carved pottery with sharply ridged melon swirls.  She has created her distinctive style of pottery using native clay and micaceous clay slips for the surface.  This seedpot is fully polished on the top and bottom.  There is a swirl of carved melon ribs from the opening on the top to the base.  There are two carved ribs and the carved section is slipped with mica.  When fired black, the ribs have a nearly silvery metallic appearance!  The contrast of the polished and micaceous areas is visually striking in terms of how the light hits the surface. It is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Dominique Toya”.  Dominique has won numerous awards for her pottery and continues to be one of the leading Jemez potters working today!