Youngblood, Christopher – Red Carved Bowl with Two Koi

3.5"w x 2"h

$ 1,800.00

Christopher Youngblood creates intricately carved vessels that reflect a perfect balance of matte and polished surfaces with intricately carved designs.  This small wide bowl is carved with two koi on the top.  They are fully polished and separated by circular water “bubbles” and plants created out of melon ribs.  Chris also incised the fish after the firing.  Chris has often used koi as designs on his pottery.  He created a large vessel with koi with which he won “Best of Pottery” at Santa Fe Indian Market in 2014.  Chris said of his koi:

I decided on the koi, and this time I polished each of the scales on both fish. I designed the piece to have two koi with interlocking tails.  From there I added the water; the water circles, the waves, and plant life on the sides. For me, the melon ribs look cool as waves. They give it a different dimension than if I had just put squiggly lines to represent the water.

Note the complexity of the design and the highly polished surface.  The bowl was traditionally fired a deep red coloration.  The bottom is matte.  It is signed on the bottom, “Chis Youngblood”.  I’m pleased that I have been working with Chris since 2010 when I wrote the first article on him for Native People’s magazine.  It is exciting to see how his work has progressed over the years and the awards for his pottery.  He was featured in the book, Spoken Through Clay, and continues to be one of the leading young potters working today.