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Joseph Lugo-Youngblood is the youngest son of noted potter Nancy Youngblood and a great-grandson of Margret Tafoya.  He learned to make pottery from his mother, so his technical skills are exceptional.  Each piece is coil-built, carved, stone polished, and native-fired outdoors. This jar has a round shoulder and a short neck.  The inside of the neck and the rim of the jar are fully polished.  The jar has two large birds carved on each side with clouds.  Joseph said of his jar:

My Great-Grandfather Alcario Tafoya passed away three days before I was born. My family chose to pass Alcario’s Tewa name, Bird in the Mist, down to me. I hold my name with great pride and honor Alcario’s legacy through the imagery of rainbirds in the mist.

There is a striking contrast of the polished, matte, and micaceous areas on the jar.  The matte areas are perfectly sanded, creating strong visual contrast to the polished areas.

It is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Joseph Lugo”.  Joseph said it has been over ten years since he made pieces and his new work is creative and thoughtful.

“Our tradition is in the clay.  Traditional pottery is doing the process yourself, including digging the clay, respecting our ancestors, and thanking the earth for providing the clay for us.  The Pueblo pottery from a century ago is timeless and can remain an important source of inspiration in the future.” Joseph Lugo, “Future in Clay”, 2022