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Youngblood, Nathan – “Water Brings Life” Red Carved Jar
4.5"w x 5.25"h
$ 6,000.00
This is a deeply carved red jar by Nathan Youngblood. The jar has a round shoulder and a short neck, much in the style of a storage jar. The neck and base are fully polished red. The piece is entitled, “Water Brings Life”. Nathan has carved designs throughout that are all connected to water. On one side is the bear paw, which tells the story of a bear leading the Pueblo people to water during a drought. Nathan’s bear paw is highly polished and on the rim above is an etched deer track (his name in Tewa). Below the bear paw is a turkey track, which tells a story about tracking and following to find water. The opposite side has a water serpent (avanyu) that cuts across the jar in an arc, much like a rainbow. Below is the sun rising over the mesas with the mists and rain in the morning. On opposite sides of the sun design are clouds. WOW! For a smaller piece, this piece is not just full of complicated carving, but powerful meaning. The jar is VERY deeply carved and fired a deep red coloration. On Nathan’s redware pieces, after they are fired, he uses screwdrivers to scrape the background area and the side of the carving. This can take almost as much time as carving or polishing itself! Amazing the amount of time that goes into each vessel and yet how stunning they appear! It is signed on the bottom in the clay with his name and hallmarked name in Tewa, which means “Deer Path”.
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Description
This is a deeply carved red jar by Nathan Youngblood. The jar has a round shoulder and a short neck, much in the style of a storage jar. The neck and base are fully polished red. The piece is entitled, “Water Brings Life”. Nathan has carved designs throughout that are all connected to water. On one side is the bear paw, which tells the story of a bear leading the Pueblo people to water during a drought. Nathan’s bear paw is highly polished and on the rim above is an etched deer track (his name in Tewa). Below the bear paw is a turkey track, which tells a story about tracking and following to find water. The opposite side has a water serpent (avanyu) that cuts across the jar in an arc, much like a rainbow. Below is the sun rising over the mesas with the mists and rain in the morning. On opposite sides of the sun design are clouds. WOW! For a smaller piece, this piece is not just full of complicated carving, but powerful meaning. The jar is VERY deeply carved and fired a deep red coloration. On Nathan’s redware pieces, after they are fired, he uses screwdrivers to scrape the background area and the side of the carving. This can take almost as much time as carving or polishing itself! Amazing the amount of time that goes into each vessel and yet how stunning they appear! It is signed on the bottom in the clay with his name and hallmarked name in Tewa, which means “Deer Path”.
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Youngblood, Nathan (b. 1954)
Nathan Youngblood
Nathan Youngblood is the grandson of noted potter Margaret Tafoya and the son of Mela Youngblood; Nathan has a traditional legacy of highly polished, deep, carved pottery. In 1976, he moved in with his grandparents and began an intense apprenticeship making pottery under their guidance. Attention to the small details was also imparted to him by his mother and grandmother. His work's precision is particularly evident in his forms, which have near geometric perfection in shape and symmetry. Nathan says, "I realize I don't make pots; I'm just involved in the process. The clay does what it wants and goes where it wants to go. I stick my hands in the clay, and where it goes, I follow."
Nathan Youngblood's clay art has evolved dramatically throughout his career. His early work focused on classic Santa Clara shapes and designs. In the early 1990s, Nathan re-examined his experiences with art worldwide and how it could be incorporated as part of his designs. His love of Asian ceramics influenced how he designed his pottery and utilized matte and polished surfaces to emphasize form. As a result, the designs seemed more complicated, less linear, and more ethereal in concept. As a result, he "opened the door for other potters to use clay as a vehicle for their personal and cultural experiences."
Over the years, Nathan has won over 140 awards for his pottery. He is one of only a handful of Santa Clara potters who use natural clay slips to create color contrasts of red and tan in his pottery. This combination of polished red and tan sections with matte or micaceous surfaces has become the new Santa Clara "polychrome." Throughout his career, he has continually built on the lessons learned from his mother and grandmother. This legacy has created a solid foundation for the evolution of his pottery, and "he has set the bar high for any potter to balance creativity, innovation, and technical expertise.