Christopher Youngblood creates intricately carved vessels that reflect a perfect balance of matte and polished surfaces with intricately carved designs.  This piece is part of a series entitled, “Reflections”, which draws inspiration from the painted pottery of Sarafina Tafoya This is an intricately carved jar with three turtles.  Each turtle has a different style of melon ribs that create the “shell”.  One is a spiral, the next is an “s swirl”, and the third is a waterfall swirl.  They are deeply carved into the clay and highly polished. Chris has incised the legs and heads of each of the turtles and slipped them with mica.  There are small circles or “bubbles” that are also highly polished. The jar was fired a glassy black coloration.  This piece is in response to the unusual animals often seen in Sarafina’s painted work, the famous “Boar Plate” (see last photo).  Chris says that if she could paint animals that interested or inspired her, the turtles and the creative designs he can carve in their shells is a similar creative inspiration.   It is signed on the bottom, ‘Chris Youngblood”.  Chris has won “Best of Pottery” at Santa Fe Indian Market and “Best of Pottery” at Gallup Ceremonials.  He was featured in the book, Spoken Through Clay, and continues to be one of the leading young potters working today.