This is a striking lidded piece by Christopher Youngblood.  He is creating intricately carved vessels that reflect a perfect balance of matte and polished surfaces with intricately carved designs.  The bowl is a shape that is made to allow for strong graphic imagery.  The piece is entitled, “Dragonfly Dreams”.  Dragonflies are often depicted as prayer messengers.  On this piece, there are five dragonflies.  Chris has deeply carved them into the clay and rounded the edges with his polishing.  It is a visually striking style of polishing and reminiscent of the style of his grandmother, Mela Youngblood.  Each dragonfly has 10 to 12 different carved sections that are each individually polished  The jar has a creative lid with four melon ribs that curve up and over the top of the piece.  Chris said he tried a new polishing technique that allowed him to polish all the ribs at one time.  Within the context of the jar, the ribs become the “prayers’ or “dreams” that are floating upward.  Beautiful!   The bowl was traditionally fired red, which is always more difficult than creating the black pieces.  Chris says that he focuses on each piece, taking the time to work on the shape and stone polish the surface to a high shine, often polishing a piece several times to get it right. He has won numerous awards for his pottery, including the 2104 “Best of Pottery” at Santa Fe Indian Market and “Best of Pottery” at Gallup Ceremonials in 2021.  It is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Chris Youngblood”.

Chris has said of his pottery:

“I’ve had generations of people before me who have had to learn the hard way. I’ve had that information given to me without having to go through all the struggles. But, I would say on the flip side, having someone so technically advanced as your teacher (Nancy Youngblood), let alone your mother, it’s hard. The expectations are a lot higher.  I’ve learned that now, I never think it’s done. I keep going until I cannot find anything I can refine or add to the piece. To achieve an ever-higher level of precision takes a lifetime. ’s not something you learn, it’s something you live.”  Christopher Youngblood, Spoken Through Clay