Dominique Toya was 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 jar is fully polished a gray-blue clay slip from Jemez that she called “Frost Gray”.  It is very difficult to polish but the result is stunning in coloration! There is a swirl of a single sharp-edged melon rib slipped with mica that extends from the opening to the base. The piece was traditionally fired outdoors, giving the “frost gray” a subtle coloration and depth.  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!