Sergio Lugo is the middle son of noted potter Nancy Youngblood and a brother to Joseph Lugo and Christopher Youngblood.  He learned to make pottery from his mother.  Each piece is coil-built, carved or painted, stone polished, and traditionally fired.  This jar is entitled “A New Season“. The jar has a round body and an elongated neck, and it is the upside-down shape of a mushroom!  Just like each season, there is a new group of mushrooms; it’s now time for a new season of polychrome pottery at Santa Clara.  The various clay slips and style of painting brings to mind the early polychrome work of both Margaret Tafoya and Sarafina Taofya in the 1930s.  The neck of the jar is slipped with mica, and it is painted with 16 feathers. The feathers are tightly painted before it is fired with red and black clay.  The bottom of the piece is fully polished red and then incised with circles.  Note the precision of each circle and how each is a different size.  The jar was traditionally fired outdoor to create a strong depth of color.    It is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Sergio Lugo”.