Joseph Youngblood-Lugo 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 melon bowl has eight wide melon ribs.  They are each rib is deeply cut and rounded and then very highly stone-polished.  Joseph said of this piece:

“The first melon bowls were made to represent gourds.  I wanted to make wide, thick ribs so that the piece looked like a gourd.”

The piece was stone polished to a high shine. It was traditionally fired to silvery black coloration.  It is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Joseph Youngblood Lugo”.  Joseph continues to make creative and thoughtful works in clay.

“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